How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI

More customers are skipping the search results page entirely. Instead, they ask an AI tool: “Who’s a good plumber near me?” or “What’s the best CRM for a small real estate team?”

If the answer names your competitors and not you, you’ve lost that customer before you knew they existed.

Here’s a practical checklist to improve your chances of being recommended.

Step 1: Find out what AI says about you today

Before changing anything, get a baseline. Open the AI tools your customers are likely to use, such as ChatGPT, Google (look for AI Overviews), Perplexity, and Gemini, and ask:

• “What is [your business name]?”
• “What does [your business name] offer?”
• “Who are the best [your service] providers in [your city]?”
• “What’s a good alternative to [a competitor]?”

For each answer, note:

• Were you mentioned?
• Was the information accurate? Services, location, hours, prices.
• Which sources were cited? These are the sites AI trusts for your industry.
• Which competitors appeared?

Write it down. Answers change over time, so you’ll want to compare later.

Step 2: Make your website crystal clear

AI tools can’t recommend what they can’t understand. Your website should make it obvious:

• What you do. Use plain, specific language, not slogans.
• Who you serve. Industries, customer types, company sizes.
• Where you operate. Cities, regions, or “nationwide.”
• What makes you different. Specialties, experience, guarantees.

Give each core service its own page with a descriptive title, a clear summary at the top, and answers to common questions. One vague “Services” page listing everything is much harder for AI to interpret than focused, detailed pages.

Step 3: Answer the questions customers actually ask

Think about the questions you hear on sales calls, then answer them on your site:

• How much does it cost?
• How long does it take?
• What’s included?
• How do I choose between options?

An FAQ section on each service page is a simple, effective way to do this. Keep answers direct: lead with the answer, then explain.

Step 4: Add structured data

Structured data (schema markup) labels your information in a standard, machine-readable format. For most businesses, the most useful types are:

• Organization or LocalBusiness: your name, logo, contact details, and location
• Service: what you offer
• FAQPage: your frequently asked questions
• Review or AggregateRating: only for genuine reviews, following search engine guidelines

Structured data doesn’t guarantee inclusion, but it removes ambiguity about who you are and what you do.

Step 5: Make your listings consistent everywhere

AI tools cross-check information from many sources. Inconsistencies create doubt. Review and update:

• Google Business Profile. Complete every section, add photos, and keep hours current.
• Bing Places for Business. Microsoft’s AI features and some other tools draw on Bing data.
• Apple Business Connect.
• LinkedIn company page.
• Industry directories and review sites relevant to your field.

Your business name, address, phone number, website, and description should match across all of them.

Step 6: Earn genuine reviews and mentions

Reputation is one of the strongest signals for any recommendation, human or AI.

• Ask happy customers for reviews on Google and relevant industry platforms.
• Respond to reviews, positive and negative, professionally.
• Get mentioned on reputable sites: local news, industry publications, podcasts, partner websites, and community organizations.

Never buy fake reviews. Beyond being unethical, it violates platform policies and can seriously damage your reputation.

Step 7: Check that AI tools can access your site

Some websites unintentionally block AI crawlers through robots.txt rules, firewall settings, or security plugins. Review these settings and decide deliberately which crawlers you allow. Major AI providers publish the names of their crawlers in their documentation, so you can check each one.

Step 8: Track and repeat

Re-run your Step 1 questions every month or quarter. Look for:

• More frequent mentions
• More accurate descriptions
• Your website appearing as a cited source
• Visits from AI tools in your website analytics

A word of caution

AEO is new, and some providers promise guaranteed placement in ChatGPT or Google AI answers. No one controls what AI tools say. Be wary of any guarantee. What you can do is consistently improve the quality, clarity, and credibility of the information AI relies on.

Want help?

We’ll run these checks for you and give you a clear, prioritized plan. Request your free AI visibility audit, or see a sample audit report to know exactly what you’ll get.