How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews

How AI assistants decide who to recommend

Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews build their answers from two places: what the model learned during training, and what it finds when it searches the web in real time. When someone asks for a recommendation, the assistant looks for businesses it can confidently connect to that need.

In practice, that confidence comes from three signals:

• Clarity: it is easy to understand what you do, who you serve and where you operate.
• Consistency: the same facts about your business appear across your website, profiles and third-party sites.
• Corroboration: other trusted sources mention or review you, so the assistant is not relying on your word alone.

This is why the practice is often called AI search optimization or GEO (generative engine optimization). It builds on SEO but focuses on being described and cited, not just ranked.

Step 1: Make your website easy for machines to understand

Start with your own site, because AI tools crawl it and use it as the primary source of truth about you.

• State what you do in plain words. Your home page and each service page should say, in the first paragraph, what the service is, who it is for and where you offer it.
• Use one page per service. A single “Services” page that lists everything makes it harder for a model to connect you to a specific need.
• Add structured data. Schema markup such as Organization, LocalBusiness, Service and FAQPage tells machines exactly who you are, what you offer and how to contact you.
• Allow AI crawlers. Check your robots.txt file is not blocking crawlers like GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Google-Extended if you want to be included.

Step 2: Write answer-first content

AI assistants quote content that answers a question directly. Look at the questions your customers ask on sales calls and turn each one into a clear section of your site.

1. Use the question as a heading, for example “How much does a kitchen renovation cost in Austin?”.
2. Answer it in the first one or two sentences, with a specific range or recommendation.
3. Follow with detail, examples and caveats.

FAQ sections, comparison pages (“X vs Y”) and “how to choose” guides are especially useful, because they match the way people phrase prompts. Our guide to SEO, AEO and GEO explains how this fits with traditional SEO.

Step 3: Keep your business facts consistent everywhere

If your website says you open at 9, your Google Business Profile says 8 and a directory lists an old phone number, an AI model has to guess which is right, and it may choose not to mention you at all.

• Use the exact same business name, address, phone number and website on every profile.
• Describe your services the same way across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories.
• Update or remove old listings after a move or rebrand.

Step 4: Earn mentions on the sources AI trusts

AI models give extra weight to independent sources. Focus on the places your industry and customers already use:

• Reviews: Google reviews and respected industry review sites. Ask happy customers consistently and reply to every review.
• Directories and associations: trade bodies, chambers of commerce and curated “best of” lists.
• Publications and podcasts: expert quotes, guest articles and interviews in relevant outlets.
• Community answers: helpful, non-promotional answers in forums where your buyers ask questions.

A handful of strong, relevant mentions is worth far more than dozens of low-quality links.

Step 5: Measure your AI visibility every month

You cannot improve what you do not measure. Create a list of 15–30 prompts your buyers might use, such as “best accountant for small businesses in Leeds” or “Shopify agency for fashion brands”. Each month, run them in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google, and record:

• Whether your business is mentioned or recommended.
• Which competitors appear instead.
• Which sources the assistant cites.

The cited sources show you exactly where to earn your next mention.

Common mistakes that keep businesses out of AI answers

• Vague positioning. “We provide solutions for businesses” gives an AI model nothing to match against a buyer’s question. Name the service, the audience and the location.
• Blocking AI crawlers by accident. Some security plugins and default settings block bots you may actually want. Review your robots.txt and firewall rules.
• Thin or duplicated service pages. Ten near-identical pages with a city name swapped in look low quality to search engines and AI tools alike.
• No reviews, or old reviews. A steady flow of recent reviews signals that you are active and trusted.
• Chasing tricks. Hidden text aimed at AI models or fake reviews can damage trust with both search engines and customers. Focus on genuine clarity and reputation.

A quick AI visibility checklist

1. Your home page states what you do, for whom and where, in the first paragraph.
2. Each core service has its own detailed page with an answer-first introduction.
3. Organization or LocalBusiness, Service and FAQPage schema are in place and valid.
4. Your name, address, phone and service descriptions match across your site and profiles.
5. Your Google Business Profile is complete, with recent reviews and replies.
6. You appear on at least a few respected industry directories or publications.
7. Your robots.txt allows the AI crawlers you want to be visible to.
8. You track 15–30 buyer prompts across the main AI assistants every month.

A realistic timeline

Fixing your site structure, schema and business information can be done in a few weeks. AI tools that search the web live, such as Perplexity and ChatGPT search, can start reflecting changes within weeks; changes to what models “know” from training take longer. Most businesses see a steady rise in mentions over three to six months of consistent work.

If you would like a baseline, our free audit includes an AI visibility check across the major assistants.