How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and Google's AI (2026)

How ChatGPT and Google's AI choose local businesses

AI assistants don't keep a private list of approved businesses. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google's AI Mode for "a good electrician near me", the assistant reads sources it can reach, such as business websites, Google Business Profiles, review sites and directories, and names the businesses those sources describe clearly. The more places that tell the same story about you, the easier you are to recommend.

This is no longer a niche habit. In BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, 45% of US consumers said they had used AI tools to find local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier. ChatGPT was the most used (31%), followed by Google AI Mode (23%). And 97% of those AI users said they sometimes double-check a recommendation against real reviews, so your reviews still do the closing.

AI answers are also less stable than the map. In BrightLocal's September 2026 study of about 200,000 local searches, asking the same question again gave a largely different set of businesses: the average overlap was 23% for ChatGPT, 21% for AI Mode and 33% for AI Overviews. Google Maps named a tracked business in 66% of searches, against 32% to 38% for the AI tools. ChatGPT named 4.1 businesses per answer on average, AI Mode 3.5 and AI Overviews 2.5.

Where ChatGPT gets business information

Assistants cite their sources, and studies that log those citations show a clear pattern: your own website and your listings do most of the work.

Business websites made up 93% of the unique domains cited, so most of what assistants read is small business sites like yours. The platforms differ, though. BrightLocal found that Google Business Profile is a major source for AI Mode and AI Overviews but "hardly used by ChatGPT", which relies more on Yelp and Bing. That's one reason ChatGPT names different businesses than Google does: its picks overlapped only 19% to 20% with either Google surface.

Insites' 2026 audit of 10,000 US local businesses found the same two layers at the center. The business's own website was cited in 72.3% of questions about the business itself and 50.7% of recommendation questions. Directory and listing sites showed up in 35% to 39% of questions. When people asked for a recommendation rather than about a named business, review sites rose from 1.8% to 11.51% of answers and trade sites from 10.07% to 23.02%.

Google's own AI features draw on Google Search. Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode: a page has to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet. Google also says an up-to-date Business Profile can help your products and services show in AI responses.

Step 1: Make your facts match everywhere

Assistants get basic facts wrong more often than you'd think. In Insites' benchmark, 93.59% of businesses were known to ChatGPT, but only 55.58% of its answers fully matched the Google Business Profile. 30.09% had the wrong phone number and 15.59% the wrong website. Insites found that directory coverage and consistency went with more accurate answers.

Write down one set of facts and use it word for word everywhere:

• Name: exactly as it appears on your Google Business Profile, with no added keywords.
• Phone: one main local number.
• Address or service area: if you don't receive customers at your address, list the cities you serve instead of a street address.
• Hours: include emergency hours only if someone really answers the phone then.
• Services and areas: the same list on your site, your profile and your listings.
• Website address: the same one in every listing.

Then check the places assistants read: your Google Business Profile, your website, Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, the Better Business Bureau, Nextdoor and the directories for your trade. Fix wrong phone numbers and old addresses at the source, because an assistant can only repeat what it finds. Our Google Business Profile checklist covers the profile side.

Step 2: Give each service its own answer-first page

Assistants quote pages that answer a question plainly. A single "Services" page that lists twelve things in one paragraph gives them little to quote. A page for each service, with the answer in the first two sentences, gives them something specific.

Local search experts rate this highly. In Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey, a dedicated page for each service is the top factor for local organic results and one of the top factors for AI search visibility. Insites found that deeper website content went with more accurate AI answers, and that a recently updated website had the strongest link to positive descriptions.

A good service page:

• Names the service and the main city in the title and the main heading, for example "Water heater replacement in Tulsa".
• Opens with a two or three sentence answer: what you do, where, how soon you can come and what's included.
• Lists real details an assistant can quote: price ranges you're willing to publish, warranty length, brands you work on, licenses.
• Answers the questions customers really ask, in plain text, not inside images or PDFs.
• Links to your other services and to the areas you serve.

Google's guidance for AI features asks for the same basics: let search crawlers in, link your pages to each other, and keep important content in text. If your site is thin or missing, our guide on whether you need a website explains why it matters. Every GrowLevel website has a page for each service.

Step 3: Earn reviews and get on the lists assistants read

Reviews are the strongest signal in the data available. In Insites' benchmark, businesses that both ChatGPT and Perplexity surfaced averaged 133.4 Google reviews, while those that neither surfaced averaged 10.7. The most recommended group averaged 304.2 reviews, and 74.6% of them also showed in Google's local pack (the three businesses shown with the map), against 21.1% of the least recommended group. That is correlation, not proof, but it points the same way as everything else: businesses customers already choose get recommended more.

Whitespark's experts put expert "best of" lists, prominence on industry sites, mentions in articles and authoritative review sites near the top of their AI factors, and note that "3 of the top 5 AI Search visibility factors are citation factors." A citation here means a mention of your business on another site, with or without a link.

• Ask every customer for a Google review, and build reviews on Yelp and the review sites for your trade. Our guide on getting more Google reviews shows how to ask without breaking Google's rules.
• Find the "best [trade] in [city]" lists that assistants cite for your competitors, and ask to be considered. BrightLocal recommends checking which sources AI uses for you and your competitors, then getting listed there.
• Join your trade association and local business groups that list members online.
• Get mentioned for real work: local news, sponsorships, community projects and supplier directories.

What doesn't have evidence: llms.txt, schema and AI hacks

A lot of "AI SEO" advice sells files and code. Here is what the evidence says about the most common ones.

Google's own summary is blunt: prioritize effective SEO strategies over "AEO/GEO hacks". The work that gets you recommended is the same work that gets you found on Google and chosen by customers.

Foxxr, an agency that sells AI search work to home service businesses, makes the same point in its SEO pricing guide: for a local service business, "AI search visibility is built from the same assets that drive local rankings," meaning your Google Business Profile, service pages, reviews and listings. That's why it prices AI search for a contractor as a layer on local SEO, not a second retainer.

Check what assistants say about you today

Start by finding out where you stand. It takes about ten minutes.

1. Ask ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity what your customers ask: "best plumber in [your city]", "emergency plumber near [your neighborhood]", "who fixes garage doors in [city]".
2. Ask about your business by name: "What is [business name]'s phone number?" and "Is [business name] any good?" Check every fact against your Google profile.
3. Ask each question three times. Answers change, so one try tells you little.
4. Open the sources the assistant cites. Those are the sites to fix or get onto.
5. Note which competitors keep coming up and where they're mentioned.

Our free AI visibility checker runs checks like these for you. With AI search optimization, GrowLevel builds your site and profile so assistants can quote you, then checks every month whether ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity mention or cite your business.