How do I get my business recommended by AI?

There's no secret "AI trick" for getting named when a customer asks ChatGPT, Google, or Perplexity for the best plumber (or cleaner, or HVAC company) nearby — and anyone selling you one is selling air. The businesses these tools recommend are the ones that already have the fundamentals in place: a complete, accurate Google Business Profile, real and recent reviews, the same name, address, and phone number everywhere online, and clear service and service-area info. The reason is simple — AI answer engines don't have secret local knowledge. They read the same public web everyone else does and summarize it, so your job is to make sure what they read is complete, consistent, and present in more than one place. And you don't have to take my word for it: Google's own documentation says there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary."

That's the answer. Here's why it's worth your attention now, how these engines actually work, and the three-step check you can run yourself.

The new leak: you never knew you were in the running

Picture the customer. Their sink is backing up, and instead of typing "plumber near me" into Google, they open ChatGPT and ask, "Who's the best plumber near me?" They get back a short list — sometimes a single name — and they call it. If you weren't on that list, you never knew you were in the running. There's no missed-call log for this one. It's a quiet leak.

How real is it? Be honest about the numbers, because this is where hype lives. In one local-search firm's 2026 survey, the share of consumers who said they'd used an AI tool to find a local business recommendation in the past 12 months jumped from 6% to 45% in a year (BrightLocal). Read that the honest way: BrightLocal's own data shows that only 3% treat an AI tool as their default for local search. So it's growing fast — fast enough to pay attention to — but it is not most people's first stop yet. Don't let anyone scare you into a panic purchase over it.

What it does mean: customer attention is spreading out. Google's still the giant, but reliance on it is loosening, and a slice of your future customers are asking a chatbot instead. The businesses that show up in both places are the ones whose information is complete and consistent everywhere — not just inside Google.

There's no honest dollar figure on "getting found in AI" yet, and I won't make one up. The value is plain: being visible, and being chosen, in a place more people are starting to look.

How AI actually picks (and the part nobody can sell you)

Here's the mechanism, in plain language. When you ask an AI engine for a local pro, it goes and reads the open web and the public business data that's already out there — your Business Profile, your reviews, your website, directory listings, mentions on other sites — and writes a short answer from what it finds. Your public footprint is the input. Make that footprint complete and consistent, and you've given the engine something solid to recommend. Leave it thin or contradictory, and you've given it a reason to name someone else.

Now the part that keeps us honest: none of these companies publishes how it decides which business to name. Not Google, not OpenAI, not Perplexity. So if someone tells you they know the secret formula to rank #1 in ChatGPT, they're guessing — or selling. What you actually control isn't a formula. It's whether your business is complete, consistent, well-reviewed, and present where the engines look.

"Nobody can sell you a secret door into ChatGPT — there isn't one. The businesses it names are the ones that did the boring work: a finished profile, real reviews, the same name and number everywhere it looks." — Eric

One concrete, real example of how literal this gets: Google has rolled out a feature where its AI will call local businesses on your behalf to check pricing and availability when the details aren't online — for services like auto repair, pet grooming, and home services. The takeaway for you isn't the gimmick; it's the lesson. If your hours, services, and pricing are clear online, the AI can just read them. If they're not, you're at the mercy of whether a robot reaches you by phone. Complete information online is the whole game.

The fix: the 3-step "get cited by AI" checklist

Getting cited by AI is the same work as getting found in local search, broken into three moves. Every one of them is free, and every one is something you own and control — no software to buy.

1. Complete your Google Business Profile — every field. This is the single biggest lever, because it's the structured record Google trusts and a complete profile is what makes you eligible to show up in Google's own AI answers — Google says Business Profiles "can help your products and services to be visible in both AI responses and other Google Search results." Google says plainly that "businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results." Fill in your categories, services, service area, hours, photos, and description — don't leave half of it blank. (Don't reinvent this — we've got a full, ordered walkthrough: how to fix your Google Business Profile so you actually show up.)

2. Get real reviews, keep them fresh, and ask everyone. Reviews are one of the strongest signals you control — Google states that "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking," and local-search experts add that a steady stream of recent reviews counts for more than a stale pile from two years ago. The rule that keeps you safe: ask every customer after a completed job — don't cherry-pick only the happy ones. Selectively soliciting positive reviews is called review-gating, and it's against Google's policy. (The how-to, including your one-tap Google review link: how to get more Google reviews after a job.)

3. Make your name, address, and phone identical everywhere — and don't live only on Google. Pick one exact version of your business name, address, and phone number, and make every listing match it — your website, directories, social profiles, the lot. Consistent information is a widely-recommended best practice (not a magic ranking dial, but the kind of basic trust signal that keeps you from getting filtered out). And because engines like ChatGPT read the open web, if your reviews and info only live inside Google, you've given the other engines less to find. Be present, and consistent, in more than one place.

"If the only place your business exists is inside Google, you're invisible to the person standing in their kitchen asking ChatGPT who to call. Be easy to find everywhere a customer — or a bot reading the web — might look." — Eric

See it for yourself (it takes two minutes)

The fastest way to understand any of this is to look at your own result. Open ChatGPT, or Google's AI Mode, or Perplexity, and ask it the question your customer would: "Who are the best [your trade] in [your town]?" Read the short list it gives you. Then open the Sources or citations the tool shows — that's the public web it pulled from. If you're not named, now you know, and now you can fix it. The AI assistant here is just a free mirror to check where you stand — it's not a product to buy, and you don't need a subscription to run the check.

What each engine actually says (and what it won't tell you)

Because this is the part most likely to get hyped or misreported, here's what each engine documents about itself — and, just as important, what it doesn't.

Google (AI Overviews and AI Mode). Google says its AI features run on its existing core Search ranking and quality systems plus the Knowledge Graph, and that a complete Business Profile helps you show up in AI responses. It's explicit that there's no special trick: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary," and "there's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add." What Google does not publish is how its AI chooses one local business over another for "best near me." (Google's well-known local factors — relevance, distance, and prominence — describe how the Maps and local-pack results work; Google does not say those are what the AI layer uses to pick a business. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)

ChatGPT. When you ask for something "near me," ChatGPT uses your approximate location to rewrite your question into a normal search — "best plumber near me" becomes something like "top plumbers [your city]" — then reads the web through search partners and shows its sources. On getting listed, OpenAI says only that ranking is "based on a number of factors" and that "there is no way to guarantee top placement." It does not spell out those factors, and it does not name which local-listings source it uses — so ignore anyone who claims to know exactly where ChatGPT's local picks come from.

Perplexity. Perplexity searches the web in real time and shows numbered citations for everything it says. Like the others, it does not publish how it ranks a specific local business. The honest read across all three: make yourself easy to find and easy to trust on the open web, and you've done the part that's actually in your hands.

The one thing to do Monday

Open ChatGPT (the free version works) and paste this in, filling in your details:

"I run a [trade] business called [Business Name] in [Town]. If someone asked you for the best [trade] near [Town], would you recommend me? Based on what you can find about me online, what's missing or inconsistent that would make me easier to recommend?"

Read what it says about your online presence. Then start closing the gaps it finds — beginning with completing your Google Business Profile.

That one prompt does two jobs: it shows you roughly how an AI engine sees your business today, and it hands you a personalized to-do list in plain language. It's free, it takes a few minutes, and it points you straight at the three-step fix above.

What's next (the upgrade)

There's no upgrade to buy here — and that's the honest part worth protecting. Once your fundamentals are solid, the work that keeps you visible is the same work that's always won local search: keep your reviews flowing, keep your information identical everywhere, and stay present beyond just Google. That effort compounds across Google Search, Maps, and every AI engine off a single foundation.

What you can skip is the new cottage industry of "AEO" or "AI optimization" services promising to "get you ranked #1 in ChatGPT," or selling special files and schema "so the AI can find you." The platforms themselves say it's unnecessary — Google's own documentation: "no additional requirements... nor other special optimizations necessary" and "no special schema.org structured data that you need to add." You might do real marketing work with a good agency someday, but don't pay a retainer to do what a finished, free Business Profile already does. Start with the fundamentals you own.

FAQ

Do I need to pay for "AI SEO" or an AEO service to show up in ChatGPT?

No. Google's own documentation says there are no additional requirements and no special markup needed to appear in its AI answers. The fundamentals — a complete profile, real reviews, consistent info — are free and are what the engines actually read. Start there before you pay anyone.

How is this different from regular Google SEO?

Mostly, it isn't. The AI engines read the same public web that search has always read, so the same fundamentals carry over — Google itself frames optimizing for its AI search as "still SEO." There's no separate AI checklist to chase.

Can I make ChatGPT or Google recommend my business?

You can't guarantee it, and you should distrust anyone who says they can — Google and OpenAI both state in writing that there's no way to pay for or guarantee placement. What you can do is make your business easy to recommend: complete, consistent, well-reviewed, and present across the web.

Does it matter if my reviews are only on Google?

It can work against you in AI answers. Engines like ChatGPT read the open web, so if your reputation and information live only inside Google, you've given those other tools less to find and cite. Be present in more than one place.