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RESEARCH REPORTApril 2026

Florida Pest Control AI Visibility Study

Google AI Overviews trigger 69% of the time for pest control. The highest rate of any industry.

Last updated: April 2026

1,776

Businesses Analyzed

5

AI Platforms Tested

10

Florida Metros

829

AI Queries Tested

Study scope

829

AI queries tested

Across 5 pest control specialties: general pest control, termite treatment, mosquito control, rodent removal, lawn pest control

10

Florida metro areas

Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Naples, Sarasota, Tallahassee, St. Pete

5

AI platforms tested

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude

15

Queries per city/specialty

3 query types per specialty across 5 platforms: best in city, need a provider, top rated with reviews

Key findings

Executive summary from the full report. No email required.

  • AI names pest control companies 80.9% of the time. Four out of five queries returned specific local pest control business names. AI is actively recommending exterminators across Florida.
  • But 96.7% appear on just one platform. Of the 1,776 pest control businesses named across all queries, almost none appeared on more than one AI tool. Worse fragmentation than plumbing (95.4%) and dental (94.7%).
  • Zero pest control companies made all five platforms. Not a single business appeared on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Only 3 businesses made 4 platforms.
  • Google AI Overviews triggers 68.7% of the time for pest control. This is the highest AIO trigger rate of any Florida industry we have studied. Mosquito control triggers AIO 83.3% of the time.
  • Franchises have their highest AI share in pest control. Orkin, Terminix, and other franchises account for 13.4% of AI recommendations, more than double any other industry. But independents still dominate at 86.6%.
  • Yelp is the #1 source AI cites for pest control. Yelp was cited in 216 queries, far exceeding Angi (158) and BBB (92). A strong Yelp presence is now essential for pest control AI visibility.
  • Ft. Lauderdale and Miami lead. Naples trails. A-Response Rates range from 85.7% in Ft. Lauderdale to 75% in Naples. South Florida markets with higher pest activity get better AI coverage.
  • AI platforms almost never agree on who to recommend. ChatGPT had 0% overlap with Claude and Google AIO. The highest agreement was Perplexity and Claude at 21.4%. Every platform recommends completely different pest control companies.

Platform comparison

How often each AI platform named specific local dental practices (A-response rate).

ChatGPT100%

217/217 queries returned local practice names

Claude100%

28/28 queries returned local practice names

Gemini97.7%

212/217 queries returned local practice names

Google AIO68.7%

103/150 queries returned local practice names

Perplexity51.2%

111/217 queries returned local practice names

The bottom line

Pest control has the highest Google AI Overview trigger rate and the highest franchise share of any industry we have studied. But 96.7% of businesses still only appear on one platform. If you only optimize for Google, you are invisible on ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini, where every platform recommends someone different.

Cite this research

Valero, A. (April 2026). Florida Pest Control AI Visibility Study. Local Vitals. getlocalvitals.com/research/florida-pest-control-ai-visibility

This research is published under CC BY-NC 4.0. You may cite and reference this data with attribution.

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The complete study with city-by-city breakdowns, specialty analysis, platform deep dives, DSO vs. independent data, and the full cross-platform fragmentation analysis.

Free. Just takes an email.

About this study

829 queries were run across ChatGPT (GPT-4o with search), Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and Claude during April 2026. Queries covered 10 Florida metro areas and 5 pest control specialties. Every response was coded by type (local business named, general advice, franchise only, platform referral, or not triggered). No sponsored placements or paid tools were used. Full methodology is included in the report.

Questions about the data or methodology: hello@getlocalvitals.com

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