Named in AI answers 5× as often, across ChatGPT and Google
Secret Gardens is a landscape architecture studio in Sydney. Since AI tracking began in November 2025, the same questions put to ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews went from naming the studio in 6 answers to 31 by June 2026, and from naming it first in none to 13. Visits from AI assistants rose 4.6× year on year.
When people want a landscape architect, more of them now ask ChatGPT or Google's AI for a recommendation and get a short list of names back. Being on that list matters as much as ranking in the search results below it.
When we began tracking in November 2025, Secret Gardens was named in 6 of 68 AI answers to the questions its clients ask, and ChatGPT didn't name it for any of 16. Its own website was cited as a source just once.
Every month we put the same list of questions to ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, such as "best landscape architect in Sydney" and "residential landscape architect Sydney". We record whether each answer names Secret Gardens, where it sits in the answer, and which websites it cites.
The comparisons below use the same questions on the same engine, measured with the same tool.
Between 26 November 2025 and 3 June 2026, the studio went from being named in 6 of 68 answers to 31, five times as often. Of the answers that named any business, the share that included Secret Gardens rose from 10% to 49%.
- ChatGPT: from 0 of 16 questions to 8
- Google AI Mode: from 4 of 26 to 14
- Google AI Overviews: from 2 of 26 to 9
It was named first in 13 answers, up from none, and its own website was cited as a source in 27, up from 1.
In the latest scan, at the end of September 2026, Secret Gardens was named in more answers than any other firm across the 26 questions we track, and first in 16. In Google AI Mode it comes first for "best landscape architect in Sydney", "what are the best landscape architects in Sydney?", "who is the best landscape architect in Sydney" and "residential landscape architect Sydney".
Across a wider set of searches, Google's AI Overviews cite secretgardens.com.au for at least 25 questions, about 19,400 AI searches a month between them, from "sydney landscape architect" to "landscape design with pool", "tropical garden" and "roof garden".
More people are clicking through, too. Visits from AI assistants rose 4.6× year on year, from 73 between May and September 2025 to 336 over the same months in 2026, more than double the growth across our other clients. ChatGPT sent most of them, 64 up to 289, and Gemini went from 3 to 36.
AI assistants now bring 1.9% of all visits to the site, up from 0.5%. About half of those visitors land on the homepage, which fits being recommended by name. The rise starts in February 2026, the same month the scans first show Secret Gardens being named regularly.
These figures only count people who click through. Many read the AI answer and never visit, so they understate how many people see the studio recommended.
