AI SEO Statistics: Life Coaches (2026-07 edition)

Reading the 120 answers model by model shows how differently the three assistants treat the same life coaches questions. On the most consequential behavior — whether to send the buyer to a professional at all — the rate ranged from 80% (ChatGPT) down to 47.5% (Gemini), a 33-point gap on an identical question set.

Across the 40 life coaches answers it produced, ChatGPT recommended hiring a professional in 80% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 7.5% of the time. It named a specific provider in 10% of answers (about 0.3 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 10% of the time. ChatGPT asked a clarifying question before answering in 67.5% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 30%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 47.5%, averaging 529 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 20%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 35%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 20%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 67.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 10%.

Across the 40 life coaches answers it produced, Claude recommended hiring a professional in 62.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 10% of the time. It named a specific provider in 10% of answers (about 0.4 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 10% of the time. Claude asked a clarifying question before answering in 65% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 37.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 32.5%, averaging 285 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 10%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 62.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 2.5%.

Across the 40 life coaches answers it produced, Gemini recommended hiring a professional in 47.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 0% of the time. It named a specific provider in 10% of answers (about 0.3 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 7.5% of the time. Gemini asked a clarifying question before answering in 0% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 12.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 15%, averaging 280 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 0%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 2.5%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 37.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 0%.

Taken together, ChatGPT is the assistant most likely to route a life coaches buyer to a professional (80%) and Gemini the least (47.5%). ChatGPT produced the longest answers, at 529 words on average. Specific providers were named most often by ChatGPT (10%) — even there, roughly one answer in 10 carried a name.

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

• Names a specific provider: 10% across all three models.
• Gives price or cost information: 7.5%–10% across all three (a 3-point spread).
• Suggests a DIY approach first: 0%–10% across all three (a 10-point spread).
• Recommends multiple quotes: 0%–10% across all three (a 10-point spread).

Measured question by question, the three assistants coded a response the same way most consistently on "recommends multiple quotes" (identical coding in 87.5% of questions) and least consistently on "asks a clarifying question" (15%).

Beyond whether to hire, the rubric codes how carefully each assistant protects the life coaches buyer once a decision is made. Telling the buyer to check reviews or ratings appeared in 13.3% of answers on average. Verifying credentials or certifications appeared in 31.7%. Warning about red flags or scams appeared in 26.7%.

On structuring the decision, a selection-criteria checklist showed up in 55.8% of answers on average and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 4.2%. The single least-reproduced protective signal for life coaches is "recommends multiple quotes" at 4.2% 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 life coaches (professional 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 life coaches 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.