How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants
AI assistants recommend businesses whose information is clear, consistent and backed up by others. Complete your Google Business Profile and Bing Places, give every service an answer-first page with FAQs and schema, keep your details identical everywhere, earn honest reviews and trusted mentions, and test the questions your customers ask every month.
How AI assistants choose which businesses to name
When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot for the best provider in their area, the assistant draws on search results, business listings, reviews, your website and what other trusted sites say about you. It favours businesses whose information is clear, consistent and backed up by others. Interest is growing fast: Ahrefs reported US searches for "AI visibility" up 145% in a year.
10 steps to get recommended
- Ask the questions yourself. Write down 10 to 25 questions your customers would ask AI and test them monthly.
- Complete your Google Business Profile. Every field, category, service and photo.
- Claim Bing Places. Microsoft Copilot draws on Bing.
- Give every service its own page that opens with a two-sentence answer: what it is, who it's for, price range, timeline.
- Add FAQs that answer real questions in plain language.
- Add schema markup (Organization or LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ) so machines can read your facts.
- Make your details identical everywhere: name, address, phone, hours.
- Earn honest reviews that mention the service and location.
- Get mentioned by trusted local sites, associations and media.
- Keep it fresh: update prices, hours and services when they change.
How to measure it
- Track the same questions every month across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity and Google AI, and note who's named.
- Set up AI referral tracking in Google Analytics to see visits from AI assistants.
- Ask new customers how they found you, and add "an AI assistant" as an option.
Myths to ignore
- "You can pay to be recommended." Not in organic AI answers.
- "Guaranteed placement." Nobody controls AI answers.
- "SEO is dead." AI assistants still lean on search indexes; SEO is the foundation.
Shopify store? Product data matters even more: see how to get Shopify products recommended in ChatGPT. Want it done for you? See AEO & GEO or request a free AI visibility check.
Three examples by business type
A roofing company. Assistants answering "who repairs storm damage in Tampa?" lean on Google reviews, home-services directories and pages that state service areas and response times. Priority: reviews that mention storm repairs and a page that says "inspections within 24 hours".
A med spa. For "best place for lip filler near me", treatment pages with practitioner credentials, clear consultation pricing and before-and-after policies matter, alongside review volume. Priority: one page per treatment with facts, not adjectives.
An online store. For "best waterproof daypack under $100", product data does the work: titles, attributes, price, shipping and reviews. Priority: complete catalogue fields. See agentic commerce explained.
A monthly routine that takes 30 minutes
- Ask your 10 to 25 test questions in each assistant.
- Record who was named and which sources were used.
- Fix one thing: a listing, a page opening, a missing price.
- Ask five recent customers for a review.
Small and regular beats a one-off overhaul.
Related guides
The scoring method is in how to check your AI visibility. For the terminology, see AEO vs GEO vs SEO.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT?
Listing and website fixes can show up within weeks; trusted mentions take longer. Judge progress over about 90 days.
Do I need a website to be recommended by AI?
It helps a lot. AI assistants read websites, listings and reviews; a clear website gives them the facts to quote.
Is this the same as AEO and GEO?
Yes. Answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) are names for this work.
How much does it cost to have it done?
Current prices are on the pricing page.
Can I ask ChatGPT to recommend my business?
You can ask what it knows about you, which is a useful test, but you can't instruct it to recommend you to others. Recommendations come from the sources it reads.
Want help with this?
See what each package includes, or book a free 30-minute call.