Research ยท July 2026
How ChatGPT recommends assisted living and memory care
We ran 462 ChatGPT searches across 12 markets to see which sources it trusts when a family asks for care. Directories own the broad questions. A community's own website wins the specific ones.
The main finding
The more specific the question, the more often your own site is the source.
Share of ChatGPT answers that cited a community's own website, by how the family phrased the search. Nine national markets, 63 searches per question.
"Best assisted living in [city]"Generic
"Memory care in [city]"Category
"Small residential memory care home in [city]"Specialty
"Secured memory care for late-stage dementia in [city]"Specialty
What else we found
Directories own the top of the search, and they pay to keep it.
Caring.com is everywhere
Caring.com was a source in 87% of the "memory care in [city]" answers. A Place for Mom, Seniorly and Memorycare.com held most of the rest.
Ads inside the answer
Ads appeared inside 81% of the "best assisted living" answers, mostly from A Place for Mom. For late-stage dementia searches the ads disappeared entirely.
"Best" hands it back
Adding only the word "best" to a residential memory care search cut citations of community websites from 95% to 24%. Ranking questions send ChatGPT to ranking sites.
What to do about it
Say what makes you different, in plain detail.
A family's real question is rarely "what's the best assisted living." It's closer to "who can care for my mother with late-stage dementia near us" or "what does memory care cost here." Those are the questions where your own site gets cited, as long as it answers them.
Name everything
Care levels, the conditions you care for, your staffing ratios, your secured units, your programming and your pricing range. Generic phrases like "a caring community" give an AI nothing to quote.
Write headings the way families ask
"Memory care for late-stage dementia in Shelton" holds a citation. "The best memory care in Connecticut" gives it to a directory.
Fix your directory listings
Directories still own the broad questions, so make sure what they say about you is accurate and that your reviews there are current. Caring.com first.
Give every home its own page
Groups with several homes often send every search to one generic page. Each home needs its own page with its own address and details to be cited for its own town.
Method
Method
Twelve markets: nine large U.S. metros and three smaller markets where we work. Four questions per market, from generic to specific, each run seven times, plus a controlled test of the word "best" in three metros. 462 searches in total, with ChatGPT's web search turned on. The full study, with sources, is in the PDF above.
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