The Search and AI Tools Franchise Prospects Are Finding Most Useful
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
May 27, 2026 – 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.
Our survey question asked 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 1.6 tools in their responses.
“Google searches” got the highest ranking at 54.2% of respondents. Google’s AI Overviews, launched in May 2024, now appear in about 76% of search results, according to SearchEngineLand. AI Overviews were cited by 12.5% of respondents, and tied with Google’s Gemini AI chatbot. In May 2026, Gemini was incorporated into Google’s Chrome browser, which recently had just over 50% browser market share in the US (April 2026).
Google’s multipronged approach with Chrome, Search, AI Overviews and Gemini remains the most useful set of research tools for franchise prospects.
ChatGPT was preferred over Google’s Gemini in Orbit Media’s survey of the general public by 36% to 33% as we highlighted last week. Similarly, in this survey of franchise prospects, ChatGPT at 16.7% ranked above Gemini at 12.5%.
Gemini tied in ranking at 12.5% 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, 45.8% 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 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 higher than the AI tools used 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 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.
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Published on Wednesday, May 27th, 2026.