More on the Tools Franchise Prospects Are Finding Most Useful in Their Search Processes
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
Our monthly survey asks persons who had inquired about one or more franchises on the Franchise Ventures lead generation platform “which tools did you find most helpful in your franchise search?” and allowed up to three answers. The respondents gave an average of 1.9 tools in their responses, up from 1.6 back in May. So one change is that almost all prospects are using more than one tool.
“Google searches” got the highest ranking at 57% of respondents, up from 54.2% back in May. Google’s AI Overviews, launched in May 2024, now appear in about 76% of search results, according to SearchEngineLand. AI Overviews were cited by 14% (up from 12.5%) of respondents, just below Google’s Gemini AI chatbot at 15%. In May 2026, Gemini was incorporated into Google’s Chrome browser, which recently grew to 54.7% browser market share in the US (August 2026). This no doubt helped Gemini grow from 12.5% in May to 15% in the four-month period.
Google’s multipronged approach with Chrome, Search, AI Overviews and Gemini are the most used set of research tools for franchise prospects.
In a surprising contrast with surveys of the general public about their broad use of AI, franchise prospects are more dependent on traditional tools for researching franchises of interest.
ChatGPT was preferred over Google’s Gemini in Orbit Media’s survey of the general public by 36% to 33% as we highlighted back in May. Similarly, in this survey of franchise prospects, ChatGPT at 27% ranked above Gemini at 15%.
Gemini tied again in ranking at 15% with “other search engine(s) than Google.” Other search engines might include Bing or Perplexity among others, but not Apple’s Safari. Recall that users of the Safari search bar are directed to Google, per exclusive agreement with Apple.
Perhaps the most surprising result is that, despite the plethora of options available, 45% of respondents said that they found franchise directory sites (portals) among the “most useful” tools in their search. It should be noted that all survey recipients were at least aware of franchise directory sites given that they had already submitted an inquiry about a franchise on at least one of them.
Franchise directories were cited by almost half of the respondents as being among the most useful tools in their search for the ideal franchise opportunity.
Why do franchise searchers rank traditional Google searches and franchise directories (portals) higher than the AI tools used by the general public, per the Orbit Media survey? We do not know, but one hypothesis is that AI tools excel at the ends of the spectrum – an answer to a quick question, or a detailed or multi-step answer to a problem that does not require knowing much about the user, e.g. “plan an itinerary to see the most popular destinations in Italy by bus.”
The discovery of a perfect franchise fit, on the other hand, requires much knowledge about the user’s preferences, skills and financial situation.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
Interested in more insights from our proprietary data set? Subscribe here to make sure you hear about them first.
Contact Franchise Ventures to get your share of today’s aspiring franchise owners.
Published on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026.