NAMEBEAM The dated record of who AI names

MARKET REPORT · CHARLOTTE, NC · SEPTEMBER 2026 · DATED RECORD

Who AI Recommends in Charlotte, NC

Window, corrected 2026-10-05: this report counts September 1 to 28, 2026 (28 run days). Our Perplexity collection method changed on September 28. The full-month record (30 run days) is the September panel: /panels/charlotte-nc.html.

For 28 days we asked five AI engines the same buyer questions a Charlotte, NC customer would ask, about tanning salons, and wrote down every business they named. This is the dated record of what they said.

Botanical Tans was named on 22 of 28 days. Most-named business in Charlotte, NC, September 2026 · full table below

Key findings

Botanical Tans leads Perplexity, but Google prefers the chain.

Perplexity named Botanical Tans on 22 of 28 days, more than anyone. Google's most-cited salon domain is palmbeachtan.com at 10 days; Botanical Tans' domain doesn't crack Google's top table.

Gorgeous Glo splits its own vote.

Perplexity named ‘Gorgeous Glo Beauty Bar’ on 19 days and ‘Gorgeous Glo’ on 6 more, almost certainly one business, divided against itself.

Anthropic named zero Charlotte businesses.

Across 28 run days, Anthropic answered the tanning questions without naming a single business. Gemini named 27 distinct businesses answering the same questions.

Google's salon leaderboard held to the final day.

Five of the six top-cited salon domains were still being cited on September 28, this race isn't settled.

Most named by Perplexity

Businesses Perplexity named most often when asked Charlotte, NC buyer questions, 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-28.

BusinessNicheDays namedFirst to last
Botanical Tanstanning salons222026-09-01 to 2026-09-26
Gorgeous Glo Beauty Bartanning salons192026-09-01 to 2026-09-27
Palm Beach Tantanning salons192026-09-05 to 2026-09-26
No Shade Spray Tanningtanning salons72026-09-08 to 2026-09-23
Organic Bronze Bartanning salons72026-09-09 to 2026-09-23
Gorgeous Glotanning salons62026-09-01 to 2026-09-27
Sweet Serenity Spatanning salons52026-09-21 to 2026-09-25
Dilworth Tantanning salons42026-09-06 to 2026-09-22
Bronzed Glow Luxury Spray Tanningtanning salons32026-09-13 to 2026-09-15
Muse Tantanning salons32026-09-08 to 2026-09-26

Most cited in Google results

Domains Google's results cited most often on the same questions.

BusinessDomainDays citedFirst to last
Palm Beach Tanpalmbeachtan.com102026-09-04 to 2026-09-28
Dilworth Tandilworthtan.com92026-09-04 to 2026-09-28
Muse Tanmusetan.com92026-09-19 to 2026-09-28
No Shade Spray Tanningnoshadespraytanning.com92026-09-04 to 2026-09-28
Organic Bronze Barorganicbronzebar.com92026-09-04 to 2026-09-28
Gorgeous Glogorgeousglo.com82026-09-19 to 2026-09-26

The engines disagree

Same questions, same days, different answers. That disagreement is the point: a check that skips an engine is guessing on your behalf.

EngineDays askedDistinct businesses
Anthropic280
Gemini2827
Google SERP288
OpenAI2811
Perplexity2816

Days asked counts the days each engine received the questions. Gemini returned no business names after September 26, so its answered days are fewer than its days asked.

Anthropic answered all 28 days and named zero businesses; it returned buying criteria and directories instead of names. Perplexity named 16 distinct businesses. If your customer asks Perplexity and you're invisible there, the other four engines don't save you.

What this means if you run a Charlotte, NC business

If you run a Charlotte, NC business, this page is your competition's report card and yours. The engines were asked the same questions your customers ask, every day for a month, and their answers are dated above. The free 5-engine check runs the same test on your business specifically, all five engines, one dated transcript, no card.

See where your business stands on all five engines.
Free. No card. Dated transcript by email.

Run my free 5-engine check

Method

Same buyer questions asked to each engine once a day, every answer stored with its date and file hash. Counts computed from the record; nothing estimated. Dated record 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-28, 28 run days, generated 2026-09-29 03:15:35 UTC from Namebeam_E1_Dataset_LATEST.csv. 58 distinct businesses tracked across 1 niches.

Full machine-generated panel: https://markets.namebeam.ai/panels/charlotte-nc.html. NameBeam's own public record: proof.namebeam.ai. NameBeam is an educational/marketing service; AI answers change over time and no rankings, traffic, or revenue are promised.