Perplexity, Claude, Gemini: Why Optimising for ChatGPT Alone Is Not Enough

When most financial advisers think about AI visibility, they think about ChatGPT. It is the name they recognise, the platform their clients mention, the tool that dominates headlines.

Our research on 149 UK IFA firms found that 79% were invisible to ChatGPT alone, but ChatGPT is one of four major AI platforms that prospective clients are using to find financial advisers. The others, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's Gemini (including AI Overviews), each evaluate and recommend firms differently. A firm that appears prominently on ChatGPT may be completely invisible on Perplexity. A firm that is missing from ChatGPT may be the top recommendation on Claude.

Optimising for only one platform is like optimising your website for only one browser. You miss a significant portion of your potential audience. Understanding how each platform differs, and what each one prioritises, is essential for a complete AI visibility strategy.

The Four Platforms and How They Differ

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

ChatGPT is the most widely used AI assistant globally, with over 300 million weekly active users. When ChatGPT generates recommendations, it draws on two sources: its training data (a massive synthesis of web content) and, when web search is enabled, real-time web results.

What ChatGPT prioritises:

• Brand recognition and frequency of mention across the web
• Content authority, particularly from well-established websites
• Google Business Profile data (when web search is active)
• Review presence, particularly Google reviews
• Consistent entity information across multiple sources

ChatGPT's tendencies:

ChatGPT tends to recommend larger, nationally recognised firms unless the user specifies a location. It responds well to specific geographic queries and will surface local firms if they have a strong local digital presence. It also tends to provide relatively detailed descriptions of recommended firms, drawing on information from multiple sources.

What this means for IFAs:

To perform well on ChatGPT, you need a strong overall web presence: complete Google Business Profile, consistent directory listings, substantial website content, and visible client reviews. ChatGPT rewards firms that appear credible across multiple data sources.

Perplexity

Perplexity is growing rapidly among professionals and researchers because of one distinctive feature: it cites its sources. Every claim Perplexity makes is accompanied by a clickable link to the web page it drew from. This makes Perplexity uniquely transparent about why it recommends particular firms.

What Perplexity prioritises:

• Recent, indexable web content (Perplexity searches the web in real time)
• Source authority and credibility
• Content that directly answers the user's specific query
• Pages with clear, well-structured information
• Recent publication dates (freshness matters more here than on ChatGPT)

Perplexity's tendencies:

Perplexity tends to recommend firms that have recently published relevant content. It also favours firms listed on high-authority directories (VouchedFor, Unbiased) because these platforms appear frequently in its search results. Perplexity is more likely to cite a specific page on your website than to reference your firm generally.

What this means for IFAs:

Perplexity rewards content freshness and specificity. Publishing regular, high-quality content about your specialisms gives you more indexed pages that Perplexity can cite. Having complete profiles on established directories ensures you appear in Perplexity's results even if your own website's domain authority is modest.

Claude (Anthropic)

Claude approaches recommendations differently from both ChatGPT and Perplexity. It tends to be more cautious, more nuanced, and more focused on providing balanced, well-reasoned responses rather than definitive lists.

What Claude prioritises:

• Depth and quality of content over quantity
• Balanced, well-reasoned information
• Specific expertise signals (qualifications, specialisms, regulatory status)
• Content that demonstrates genuine authority rather than marketing language
• Professional credentials and regulatory compliance signals

Claude's tendencies:

Claude is less likely to produce a confident "top 5" list and more likely to describe what to look for in a good adviser, occasionally naming firms that exemplify those qualities. When Claude does recommend specific firms, it tends to reference firms with very strong authority signals: detailed content, professional credentials, and substantive third-party mentions.

What this means for IFAs:

Claude rewards genuine expertise. If your website contains deep, authoritative content written by qualified professionals, Claude is more likely to reference your firm. Marketing-style content and keyword-stuffed pages are less effective on Claude than on other platforms. Focus on quality and depth rather than volume.

Google Gemini and AI Overviews

Google's AI capabilities appear in two forms: Gemini (the standalone AI assistant) and AI Overviews (AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google search results). Both draw heavily from Google's existing search index.

What Google AI prioritises:

• Traditional SEO signals (domain authority, backlinks, page quality)
• Google Business Profile completeness and review quality
• Structured data (schema markup, particularly FinancialService schema)
• Content relevance to the specific search query
• Local search signals (proximity, local backlinks, local reviews)

Google AI's tendencies:

Google AI Overviews lean heavily on the same data sources that power traditional Google search. This means that firms with strong Google SEO performance have an advantage on this platform that they may not have on ChatGPT or Perplexity. Google AI is also the most responsive to schema markup and structured data.

What this means for IFAs:

Google AI is where your traditional SEO investment pays the most dividends for AI visibility. If you have already invested in SEO, you have a head start on this platform. Adding schema markup and maintaining your Google Business Profile will maximise the AI visibility benefit of your existing SEO work.

Where the Platforms Agree

Despite their differences, all four platforms share some common priorities. Understanding these shared signals helps you build a foundation that works everywhere.

Reviews matter everywhere. Every platform weights client reviews when making recommendations. As we explain in our guide on how reviews determine AI recommendations, Google reviews and VouchedFor reviews are referenced most frequently across all four platforms.

Consistency is universal. All four platforms cross-reference information from multiple sources. Consistent entity data (name, address, services) across your website, Google Business Profile, directories, and social media strengthens your position on every platform.

Depth outperforms breadth. All four platforms prefer detailed, authoritative content over thin, generic pages. A single comprehensive guide on your specialism is more valuable than ten superficial blog posts.

Structured data helps everywhere. While Google AI benefits most directly from schema markup, all platforms can extract structured information more efficiently than unstructured prose.

Building a Multi-Platform Strategy

The practical implication is that you should not optimise for one platform at the expense of others. Instead, build a layered strategy:

Layer 1: Foundation (works across all platforms)

• Complete, verified Google Business Profile
• Consistent firm information across all directories
• Active review collection on Google and VouchedFor
• FinancialService schema markup on your website
• At least three to five detailed content pieces on your specialisms (see our content strategy guide)

Layer 2: ChatGPT-specific

• Broad web presence with mentions across multiple sources
• Complete directory profiles (VouchedFor, Unbiased, PFS)
• Strong brand consistency across all platforms

Layer 3: Perplexity-specific

• Regular content publication (at least monthly)
• Well-structured content with clear headings and factual density
• High-authority directory listings that Perplexity can cite

Layer 4: Claude-specific

• Deep, expert-level content that demonstrates genuine authority
• Professional credentials clearly stated
• Content written by named, qualified individuals

Layer 5: Google AI-specific

• Traditional SEO best practices
• Local SEO signals (local backlinks, local press mentions)
• Schema markup and structured data

The Danger of Single-Platform Thinking

Focusing exclusively on one platform creates a fragile visibility position. Platform dynamics change frequently. ChatGPT updates its web search capabilities. Perplexity changes its ranking algorithm. Google modifies how AI Overviews select sources. A firm that is visible on one platform today could become invisible tomorrow if that platform changes its approach.

A multi-platform strategy creates resilience. If your visibility drops on one platform due to an algorithm change, your presence on the other three platforms continues to generate recommendations. This diversification is particularly important for financial advisers, where a single new client relationship can be worth tens of thousands of pounds in lifetime fees.

Measuring Across Platforms

Understanding your visibility on each individual platform, not just an overall score, allows you to identify specific gaps and target your efforts effectively. You may discover that you perform strongly on Google AI but poorly on Perplexity, which would indicate a need for more recent published content. Or you may find strong Perplexity visibility but weak ChatGPT presence, suggesting your broader web footprint needs strengthening.

Presenzia's free AI visibility score tests your firm across all four major platforms, giving you a separate score for each and an overall grade. This platform-by-platform breakdown shows you exactly where you are strong, where you are weak, and which specific actions will have the greatest impact on each platform. It takes under 60 seconds and provides the multi-platform view that manual testing across four separate AI tools would take hours to replicate.

The firms that will dominate AI-driven client acquisition are those that treat all four platforms as important, building a presence that is visible, authoritative, and consistent across the entire AI landscape that prospective clients are using.

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