By Ethan LafranceFounderUpdated ·
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Become the business ChatGPT can verify. In order of impact: claim and align your listings, make your website readable to AI, keep reviews fresh, and earn mentions in sources it trusts. It matters because 45% of consumers now use AI to find local businesses.[1]
The steps
Five moves, in order of impact
Claim and align your listings
Claim your Google Business Profile, then make your name, address, phone, and hours identical everywhere AI looks: Google, Apple Maps, Bing, and the directories for your trade. ChatGPT cross-checks these, and entries that disagree read as unverifiable.
Make your website readable to AI
Each assistant sends a reader to your site before it will vouch for you. Plain, server-rendered pages with clear headings and your services and service area in text, not buried in images or scripts, give it something to confirm.
Keep reviews fresh and answered
It is not just the star rating. ChatGPT weighs how many reviews you have, how recent they are, and whether you reply. A steady trickle from this month beats a wall of five stars from three years ago.
Earn mentions in sources it trusts
Local press, established directories, and trade associations are vouches. A business that exists only on its own website has no one corroborating it, and assistants lean hard on outside confirmation.
Re-test, and fix in order of impact
Ask ChatGPT your customers' questions each month and watch which names it gives. Fix the weakest signal first. The order matters more than the effort, because guessing wrong wastes months.
The catch
Ranking on Google is not enough
Fewer than half of the businesses leading traditional local search are also among the most AI-recommended.[2] ChatGPT weighs different evidence than the search results page, so the work above is its own job, not a byproduct of good SEO.
The fastest way to know where you stand is to measure it. The free analysis tests your business across the assistants and hands you the fix list in order of impact. For the background, start with What is AEO? or Why isn’t my business in ChatGPT?
Questions
Related questions
How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT?
Listing and website fixes tend to get re-read within weeks. Movement in the actual answers usually takes one to three months, because review and mention signals build more slowly. Anyone promising overnight placement is guessing.
Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing to find businesses?
ChatGPT's live search leans heavily on the Bing index, so a healthy Bing presence and Bing Places listing matters as much as Google. It also draws on what it learned in training, which is why consistent, widely-corroborated information helps.
Can I just pay to be recommended?
No. There is no paid placement in an AI recommendation, and anyone selling guaranteed rankings is lying. You earn the spot with evidence the assistant can verify, which is exactly the work above.
Find out if AI recommends you
Book a 15-minute call and we’ll walk you through your full analysis, live, and show you exactly where you stand.