Ask ChatGPT "who's the best family dentist in [your town]?" right now. Then ask Perplexity. Then Google it and look at the AI Overview. Are you in any of those answers?
If not, this guide is for you. It's a practical, honest playbook for getting your business recommended by the major AI tools, with no tricks and no promises anyone can't keep.
Can you actually get your business recommended by ChatGPT?
You can't force it, but you can make your business much easier for AI tools to find, verify and describe, which improves your odds. Anyone promising guaranteed placement in organic AI answers is overselling.
AI tools build recommendations by summarizing what they know or find about businesses. Your job is to make sure that what they find is:
- Findable: your site and listings can be accessed and indexed.
- Verifiable: the same facts show up consistently across many trustworthy sources.
- Describable: your content clearly states what you do, where and for whom.
Everything in this guide serves one of those three.
How do ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews find businesses?
They use a mix of what the model learned in training and what it retrieves from the web or a search index when answering. Each tool works a little differently, and none publishes a full selection formula.
| Tool | How it generally gets current information | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Can search the web when answering and cite sources; otherwise relies on training data | Be crawlable and well-represented on the web; training data alone may be thin or outdated for small businesses |
| Perplexity | Built around live web search with visible source citations | Pages that clearly answer the question are more likely to be cited |
| Google AI Overviews | Google says it draws on its regular search systems and index | Standard SEO and a strong Google Business Profile carry over directly |
| Gemini / Copilot | Can draw on Google and Bing search respectively | Being well-indexed in both Google and Bing helps |
The common thread: if search engines and AI crawlers can't access your site, or your information is inconsistent, every tool has less to work with.
What's the step-by-step playbook to get recommended?
Work through seven steps in order: audit, fix your facts, define your business, answer real questions, earn reviews, earn mentions, and make sure you're crawlable. Many small businesses can complete the first pass in a month or two.
Step 1: Audit what AI tools say about you today
Pick 10 questions your customers actually ask. Mix in:
- Recommendation questions: "best [service] in [city]," "who does [specific job] near [neighborhood]"
- Problem questions: "why is my furnace blowing cold air," "is a chipped tooth an emergency"
- Brand questions: "is [your business name] reputable," "what does [your business] charge for [service]"
Run them through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google. Record who gets named, which sources are cited and anything wrong about you. Save this as your baseline.
Step 2: Fix your business facts everywhere
Inconsistent details make it harder for any system to be confident about who you are. Make these identical everywhere:
- Business name (exactly the same spelling)
- Address or service area
- Phone number
- Hours
- Primary category and core services
- Website URL
Start with Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, Facebook and the top directories in your industry. Then check your own website's header, footer and contact page.
Step 3: Write a page that clearly defines your business
AI tools need plain statements they can summarize. Your "About" or home page should say, in simple sentences:
- What you do ("We're a residential plumbing company specializing in water heaters and repiping")
- Where ("serving Tempe, Mesa and Chandler")
- Who you serve best ("homeowners and small property managers")
- Credentials and history ("licensed, insured, family-owned since 2009")
- What makes you different, stated specifically
This is the heart of entity SEO: making your business a well-defined thing that machines can recognize and describe.
Step 4: Answer real customer questions on your site
Build or rewrite service pages using answer-first structure: the question as a heading, a direct 1–3 sentence answer, then detail. Cover costs (honest ranges are fine), timelines, "do I need this," and "repair or replace" questions.
Our AEO guide walks through this format with examples.
Step 5: Earn a steady stream of detailed reviews
Reviews are one of the most public, crawlable signals about a local business. What helps most:
- Consistency: reviews coming in every week, not a burst once a year.
- Detail: reviews that mention the specific service and location.
- Responses: thoughtful replies from you, which add context.
The hard part is remembering to ask. Review automation sends a request by text after every completed job, so it happens without anyone on your team chasing it. Never buy or fake reviews.
Step 6: Earn mentions on other trusted sites
Generative tools tend to synthesize what many sources say. Places worth getting listed or mentioned include:
- Manufacturer or supplier "find a dealer/installer" pages
- Industry associations and licensing boards
- Local chamber of commerce and business associations
- Local news (offer expert comments on seasonal topics)
- Community sponsorships with a link back to you
Step 7: Make sure you're technically accessible
- Confirm your important pages are indexed in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Check your robots.txt isn't accidentally blocking search engines or AI search crawlers you want to reach you.
- Add schema markup for your business type and FAQs.
- Consider an llms.txt file, understanding it's an emerging, proposed convention rather than an official standard.
Our technical AEO checklist covers all of this in detail.
Should you let AI crawlers access your website?
If you want AI tools to recommend you, generally yes: at minimum, allow crawlers used for AI search features. Blocking them means those tools have less first-hand information about you.
Some AI companies use different crawlers for different purposes. For example, OpenAI documents separate user agents for model training (GPTBot) and for search features (OAI-SearchBot). Google offers a "Google-Extended" control for whether your content is used for its Gemini models, separate from regular Google Search crawling. That lets you make deliberate choices.
The mistake to avoid is accidentally blocking everything because a security plugin, CDN setting or website builder turned on a default. Check your robots.txt and firewall settings on purpose.
What mistakes stop small businesses from being recommended?
Common problems include inconsistent information, vague websites, few recent reviews and an unanswered phone. Here's a quick diagnostic.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| AI lists wrong hours or old phone number | Outdated directory listings | Update listings at the source (Step 2) |
| AI describes you vaguely or not at all | Website doesn't clearly state what you do | Write a defining page (Step 3) |
| Competitors named, you're not | Fewer reviews and mentions | Steps 5 and 6 |
| You're mentioned but leads don't convert | Calls go to voicemail or slow follow-up | AI receptionist and fast lead response |
| Nothing from your site is ever cited | Crawl or indexing issues, or no answer-style content | Steps 4 and 7 |
That fourth row deserves attention. When an AI tool recommends three businesses, the customer often calls all three. Whoever answers first often wins. If you're missing calls today, more AI visibility just means more missed opportunities. Our post on AI receptionists vs answering services explains the options.
How do you measure whether it's working?
Combine monthly manual checks, analytics referral data and simply asking new customers how they found you. No single metric captures AI visibility yet.
- Re-run your baseline questions monthly and note changes in who's named and what's said.
- Check analytics for referrals from AI tools; some, like ChatGPT and Perplexity, can show up as referral sources when users click links, though not every visit is labeled clearly.
- Ask on every call or form: "How did you hear about us?" Add "ChatGPT / AI assistant" as an option.
- Watch Search Console for growth in question-style queries.
Key takeaways
- No one can guarantee AI recommendations, but you can make your business findable, verifiable and describable.
- Consistent business facts across the web are an often overlooked fix.
- A clear "who we are" page and answer-first service pages give AI tools something accurate to summarize.
- Detailed, steady reviews and third-party mentions build the corroboration AI tools look for.
- Don't accidentally block the crawlers and search engines you want to reach you.
- Be ready to answer every call, because AI recommendations send customers shopping fast.
Want to see what ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google currently say about your business? Start with our free AI Search Readiness Checker, then book a free AI audit. We'll run the checks for you, show you exactly where competitors are getting named instead of you, and map out the fixes through our AEO & GEO service.
Free AI audit
Let us find the hours AI can save you.
We integrate AI into small and medium businesses — back office, phones, follow-up, custom tools and more. Done for you, built around the software you already use.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How does ChatGPT decide which businesses to recommend?
OpenAI doesn't publish a complete ranking formula. When ChatGPT searches the web to answer a question, it summarizes sources it finds relevant and credible, so clear, consistent and well-corroborated information about your business helps. Without search, it relies on what the model learned during training, which may be outdated or incomplete for small businesses.
Can I submit my business to ChatGPT or Perplexity?
There's no general submission form that guarantees organic recommendations. The practical route is making sure your website is crawlable and your information appears consistently on the sources these tools draw from, like your own site, major directories, review platforms and maps listings.
How do I get my business into Google AI Overviews?
Google says AI Overviews draw on its regular search systems, and there's no special markup required to be included. That means standard SEO best practices apply: indexable pages, helpful content that answers questions directly, and a strong, accurate Google Business Profile for local queries.
Should I block AI crawlers from my website?
For most small businesses that want to be recommended, blocking AI search crawlers works against that goal. Some companies separate crawlers used for training from those used for search features, so you can make more granular choices. Review your robots.txt settings deliberately rather than accepting defaults from a plugin or host.
How long does it take to start showing up in AI answers?
It varies and can't be guaranteed. Fixes to your listings and website need to be recrawled, and AI answers fluctuate between sessions. Plan to check monthly and look for trends over a few months rather than expecting overnight changes.
Do reviews affect AI recommendations?
Reviews are one of the most visible public signals about a local business, and AI tools that search the web can read and summarize them. Detailed reviews that mention specific services and locations give AI tools more to work with. Never buy or fake reviews; it violates platform rules and can backfire badly.