How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

To give your business the best chance of being recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants, make sure you’re well indexed on Google and Bing, keep your business details identical everywhere they appear, and build up genuine reviews. Then make your website spell out clearly what you do, where, and roughly what it costs. Nobody can guarantee an AI will recommend you, but these steps make you much easier to find and to trust.

More people now ask an assistant “who’s a good electrician in Southampton?” instead of typing it into Google. This is sometimes called GEO (generative engine optimisation) or AI search. The name is new, but most of what works is good, old-fashioned local SEO done properly.

Where AI assistants get their answers

When you ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Microsoft Copilot about local businesses, they usually search the web before answering. That means they lean on search engine indexes and the sites those indexes point to:

• ChatGPT search draws on several sources, and Bing is widely understood to be one of them.
• Microsoft Copilot uses Bing.
• Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini use Google’s own index.
• Perplexity runs its own searches across the web and shows its sources.

The details change often and none of these companies publish exactly how they choose. But the pattern is clear: if search engines can’t find and understand you, AI assistants probably can’t either.

1. Get properly indexed on Google and Bing

Lots of small businesses set up Google Search Console and forget Bing completely. Given how many AI tools rely on Bing, that’s worth fixing.

• Set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools (both free) and submit your sitemap to each.
• Check that your important pages are actually indexed, not just published.
• Fix anything blocking search engines, such as pages accidentally set to “noindex”.
• Keep the site fast and working well on phones. A slow website puts off people and search engines alike.

2. Keep your business details identical everywhere

AI assistants cross-check information from lots of places. If your website says one phone number, Google says another and Yell still has your old address, you look less certain, and less trustworthy.

• Google Business Profile, fully filled in with the right categories, hours and service areas.
• Bing Places for Business, which feeds Bing and the tools built on it.
• Apple Business Connect, for Apple Maps and Siri.
• Key UK directories such as Yell, plus trade bodies relevant to your industry.

My local SEO checklist walks through this step by step.

3. Build up genuine reviews

When someone asks for “the best” or “a reliable” business, assistants often mention review ratings and what reviewers say. A steady flow of real reviews on Google and other platforms helps, and so does replying to them. As always, never buy or fake reviews. It’s against platform rules and UK consumer law.

4. Write clear, factual pages

AI assistants are good at pulling facts out of plain, well-organised pages, and much worse at it when everything’s buried in vague marketing copy. Make it easy for them:

• Services: what you do, written as plainly as a customer would ask for it.
• Prices: even “from £…” starting prices help. They answer one of the first things people ask.
• Areas: the towns and neighbourhoods you actually cover.
• FAQs: real questions customers ask, answered in a sentence or two.
• Answer first: start each page or section with the direct answer, then add the detail.

5. Add structured data and an llms.txt file

Structured data (schema) is hidden code that labels your business name, address, opening hours, services and so on in a format machines can read reliably. Search engines have supported it for years.

llms.txt is a newer idea: a short plain-text summary of your site, written for AI tools. It’s an emerging, optional standard. It’s not yet clear how much weight the big assistants give it, so think of it as a cheap, sensible extra rather than a magic switch.

Every Solent Web site includes structured data, a sitemap and an llms.txt file as standard.

6. Get mentioned on other reputable sites

Assistants tend to trust businesses that other sources talk about. Local news coverage, a listing on your trade association’s site, a supplier’s “where to buy” page, a sponsorship of a local club or a write-up on a respected local blog all help confirm you’re real and well regarded. Focus on genuine, relevant mentions, not bulk link schemes.

7. Check what the assistants actually say

The simplest research costs nothing. Every month or so, ask a few assistants the kinds of questions your customers would ask:

• “Who are good [your trade]s in [your area]?”
• “What do people say about [your business name]?”
• “How much does [your service] cost in Southampton?”

Note whether you appear, whether the details are right, and which sources they cite. If they’re quoting an out-of-date directory listing, you know exactly what to fix.

Be wary of guarantees

This field is young and changes quickly. Anyone promising they can make ChatGPT recommend you is overpromising. Nobody controls those answers. What you can do is make your business easy to find, easy to understand and easy to trust, and keep checking.

How I can help

If you’d rather not keep on top of all this yourself, Solent Web’s Growth plan (from £79 a month) includes everything in the care plan plus Google Business Profile posts, profile updates and review replies. It also keeps your listings on Bing, Apple Maps, Yell and others accurate. Each month you get a short plain-English report on how you’re doing on Google and what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity say about your business.

Prefer a one-off job? The local SEO boost covers the groundwork. Or start a project and I’ll get back to you.