AI SEO Statistics: Outdoor (2026-07 edition)

Reading the 120 answers model by model shows how differently the three assistants treat the same outdoor questions. On the most consequential behavior — whether to send the buyer to a professional at all — the rate ranged from 75% (ChatGPT) down to 45% (Gemini), a 30-point gap on an identical question set.

Across the 40 outdoor answers it produced, ChatGPT recommended hiring a professional in 75% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 25% of the time. It named a specific provider in 0% of answers (about 0 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 27.5% of the time. ChatGPT asked a clarifying question before answering in 60% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 15%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 32.5%, averaging 503 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 15%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 17.5%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 32.5%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 42.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 20%.

Across the 40 outdoor answers it produced, Claude recommended hiring a professional in 60% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 20% of the time. It named a specific provider in 0% of answers (about 0 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 32.5% of the time. Claude asked a clarifying question before answering in 52.5% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 17.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 27.5%, averaging 276 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 22.5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 10%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 30%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 52.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 22.5%.

Across the 40 outdoor answers it produced, Gemini recommended hiring a professional in 45% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 20% of the time. It named a specific provider in 7.5% of answers (about 0.2 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 32.5% of the time. Gemini asked a clarifying question before answering in 0% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 20%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 15%, averaging 286 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 2.5%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 17.5%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 35% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 2.5%.

Taken together, ChatGPT is the assistant most likely to route an outdoor buyer to a professional (75%) and Gemini the least (45%). ChatGPT produced the longest answers, at 503 words on average. Specific providers were named most often by Gemini (7.5%) — even there, roughly one answer in 13 carried a name.

On other behaviors the three models move almost in lockstep — the points of near-consensus for outdoor, where all three landed within a few points of each other:

• Suggests a DIY approach first: 20%–25% across all three (a 5-point spread).
• Gives price or cost information: 27.5%–32.5% across all three (a 5-point spread).
• Warns about red flags or scams: 15%–20% across all three (a 5-point spread).
• Names a specific provider: 0%–7.5% across all three (a 8-point spread).

Measured question by question, the three assistants coded a response the same way most consistently on "names a specific provider" (identical coding in 92.5% of questions) and least consistently on "asks a clarifying question" (20%).

Beyond whether to hire, the rubric codes how carefully each assistant protects the outdoor buyer once a decision is made. Telling the buyer to check reviews or ratings appeared in 14.2% of answers on average. Verifying credentials or certifications appeared in 25%. Warning about red flags or scams appeared in 17.5%.

On structuring the decision, a selection-criteria checklist showed up in 43.3% of answers on average and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 15%. The single least-reproduced protective signal for outdoor is "tells the buyer to check reviews" at 14.2% on average — the clearest opening for content that supplies it, since the models are not yet reliably surfacing that guidance on their own.

The 40 questions behind every percentage on this page were drawn from real outdoor (home services; buyer hiring decisions for this specific service) buyer journeys. Each was put to all 3 models once, with identical wording, so the rates above describe how the assistants handled this exact outdoor question set — not a general prior or a hand-picked subset. The full list is shown earlier on this page; the coded percentages are what those specific questions produced.