How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and AI search
More people now ask an AI assistant who to call instead of scrolling through search results. These tools usually name only a few businesses. Nobody can control their answers directly, but you can make your business much more likely to be one of the names. Here is how they work and what to do.
How AI assistants find local businesses
When you ask an AI assistant something like "who is a good plumber near me", it does not have a hidden directory of favorite businesses. For local questions it usually searches the web and looks at map and business data, then summarizes what it finds. Which sources it uses depends on the tool:
| Assistant | Where it tends to get local information |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT search | Web search results, including Bing, along with other sources and the websites it visits |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing and Bing Places |
| Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini | Google Search and Google's business data, including Google Business Profiles |
| Siri and Apple Intelligence | Apple Maps and web results |
| Perplexity | Live web search and the pages it reads |
The details change as these tools develop, but the pattern holds: they lean on business listings, reviews, your website and other sites that mention you. Businesses with clear, consistent and well reviewed information everywhere get named. Businesses that are hard to pin down get skipped.
Step 1: Get your core listings right, beyond Google
Most businesses look after Google and forget the rest. AI tools use more than Google, so:
- Google Business Profile: complete, accurate and active
- Bing Places for Business: claim it. You can import your details from Google, then check everything is correct.
- Apple Business Connect: claim your listing so Apple Maps and Siri have accurate details
- Yelp, Facebook, the BBB and Nextdoor: claimed and accurate
Step 2: Make your details identical everywhere
Your business name, address, phone number, hours, website and services should match exactly on every platform. When an assistant sees conflicting information, it becomes less confident, and a less confident assistant tends to recommend someone else. Watch especially for old addresses, previous phone numbers and slightly different versions of your name.
Step 3: Make your website easy for AI to understand
AI tools read your website to check what you do. Help them:
- Say plainly what you do and where. A clear sentence near the top of your home page, for example the services you offer and the cities you serve.
- Give each main service its own page with a clear heading and description.
- Answer common questions directly, such as your service area, whether you offer emergency service, and what areas you cover, in plain sentences.
- Add structured data, a type of code that labels your business name, address, phone, services and reviews in a way machines can read reliably.
- Keep your business details on the site identical to your listings.
Step 4: Build reviews that say something
Assistants often summarize what customers say about a business. Reviews that mention specific jobs, the town and what made the experience good give them concrete details to repeat. A steady flow of recent reviews also signals that your business is active and trusted. See how to get more Google reviews.
Ask Maps: AI inside Google Maps
Google has replaced the old questions and answers section on business profiles with Ask Maps, which uses Gemini to answer people's questions about a business. It draws its answers from your Business Profile, your website and your reviews. Questions like "do they do emergency callouts?" or "do they take my insurance?" are now answered from what you have published, so a complete profile, a clear website and detailed reviews matter even more.
Step 5: Get mentioned on other trusted sites
Being mentioned on other reputable websites, such as local news, community organizations, trade associations, supplier websites and well known directories, adds to the picture AI tools build of your business. It also supports your normal search and map rankings.
Step 6: Check what AI says about you
Ask the main assistants the questions your customers would ask, for example "Who is a good electrician in Cary, NC?" or "Who should I call for AC repair in Plano?". Note whether your business appears, how it is described and which competitors are named instead. Repeat every month or two. If an assistant gets something wrong about your business, trace it back to the source, often an outdated listing, and fix it there.
Be realistic
Nobody can guarantee an AI recommendation, and the answers change as these tools change. What you can control is the quality and consistency of the information they find, which also happens to be what helps your Google Maps rankings. Businesses that put this in order early will have an advantage as more customers switch to asking AI.
If you would like this done for you, alongside your Google Maps rankings, see our AI search optimization service, or get your free Maps audit and we will check what the main AI assistants say about your business today.
Questions owners ask
Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend my business?
No. Normal AI answers cannot be bought. They are based on information the assistant finds and trusts, which is why the steps in this guide are the way in.
Why does ChatGPT recommend a competitor and not me?
Usually because it found clearer, more consistent or better reviewed information about that business. Check how your business appears on Google, Bing, Apple Maps and the main review sites, and compare it with the business it named.
Do different AI tools give different answers?
Yes. They draw on different sources and change over time, so it is worth checking several. The foundations that help with one generally help with all of them.
Find out who is getting your calls
The free Maps audit shows where you rank across your service area, which competitors are taking the calls you are missing, and exactly what it would take to become the first call. The findings are yours to keep.
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