How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT.
Short answer: AI tools recommend businesses they can find, understand, and verify. They read your website, then check what the rest of the web says about you. When the facts are clear, consistent, and repeated by sources they trust, they name you. When they are vague or contradictory, they name a competitor who made it easier.
Who should I hire for a bespoke kitchen in Leeds?
- Hartwell Joinery, making kitchens in Leeds since 2009, rated 4.9 from 128 reviews.
- Oak & Iron Kitchens, known for shaker designs in solid oak.
- Kirkgate Cabinetmakers, a family workshop with a Harrogate showroom.
Your business: not named
Buyers have stopped scrolling.
For twenty years, a buyer looking for a kitchen fitter, an accountant, or an engineering partner searched Google, worked down ten blue links, compared a few sites, and made a call.
More of them now skip that step. They ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google directly, and get one answer naming two or three businesses, each with a reason.
The businesses named today are not always the best. They are the ones whose facts were easiest for a machine to find and trust.
A results page
An AI answer
There is no fifth place. On a results page, ranking fifth still got you seen. In an AI answer, you are named or you are not there.
The buyer arrives decided. Someone who clicks through from a recommendation has already been told why you are a good choice. These are the warmest enquiries a business gets.
Four tests. Fail one and you’re not named.
The tools differ in detail, but each one runs the same four checks before it recommends a business. Every check hands the next one something to work with.
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Test 01 · Find
Can it find you?
ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews answer questions about local and specialist businesses by searching the live web, then summarising what they find. If your site blocks their crawlers, hides its content behind JavaScript they cannot run, or barely ranks in ordinary search, it never reaches the shortlist.
What it needsA crawlable, indexed site, registered in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools (ChatGPT’s search draws heavily on Bing), with a
robots.txtthat lets the search crawlers in. -
Test 02 · Understand
Can it understand you?
Once it has your pages, the tool has to work out what you do, for whom, where, and why you are credible. It cannot infer that from a slogan.
What it needsPlain statements of service, location, specialism, and track record, in text on the page rather than inside images, backed by structured data that labels those facts.
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Test 03 · Trust
Can it trust you?
AI tools are designed not to take a business’s word for itself. They look for the same facts repeated elsewhere: review platforms, directories, trade bodies, local press, partner sites. When the sources disagree, the tool cannot be sure, so it recommends someone it can be sure about.
What it needsOne consistent name, address, phone number, service list, and founding story everywhere you appear, plus genuine third-party mentions that confirm them.
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Test 04 · Quote
Can it quote you?
The tool’s last job is to write an answer. It favours pages that already contain one: a direct question followed by a clear, specific reply it can lift and cite. A page of marketing copy forces it to guess.
What it needsQuestion-led pages and FAQ sections that answer what buyers actually ask, in specific terms.
Why AI names your competitor.
Most businesses that are not being named fail on one of these six. Each one maps back to a test above.
Your website describes a feeling, not a business.
Plenty of atmosphere, no plain statement of what you do and where. Fails test 02
Your facts disagree across the web.
Different addresses, old names, services you stopped offering years ago. Fails test 03
Nobody else talks about you.
Good reviews on one platform, but no directories, press, or trade bodies confirming you exist. Fails test 03
Your competitor answers the questions. You don’t.
They publish prices, timelines, and process. You publish a contact form. Fails test 04
The tools cannot read your site.
Slow, built entirely in JavaScript, or blocked in
robots.txt: to a crawler, it may as well not exist. Fails test 01You do not rank in ordinary search either.
AI answers are mostly built on search results. Weak SEO usually means weak AI visibility. Fails test 01
Seven fixes, in order of value.
Start at the top. The first two cost almost nothing and often matter more than everything below them.
- 1
Check what AI says about you today.
Before changing anything, find out where you stand. The free test below takes ten minutes.
- 2
Make your website say what you do, plainly.
Rewrite your homepage and service pages so the first two sentences of each state what you do, who it is for, where you work, and one fact that proves you are credible. Keep the brand voice everywhere else.
- 3
Fix your facts everywhere.
Choose one definitive version of your business details and make every listing match it: Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, review sites, industry directories, LinkedIn, and social profiles. Correct or remove anything that contradicts it.
- 4
Add structured data.
Mark up the site with schema (
OrganizationorLocalBusiness,Service,Person,FAQPage,Review) so machines never have to guess which number is your phone and which is your founding year. It will not get you named on its own; it removes the ambiguity that loses you the recommendation. - 5
Answer the questions your buyers ask.
Build pages around real buyer questions: cost, timelines, process, comparisons, whether it is worth it. Answer each directly in the first paragraph, then go deeper. The same pages rank in ordinary Google search, so the work pays twice.
- 6
Earn mentions from sources AI tools trust.
Get listed by your trade body, respond to every review, contribute to a local or industry publication, and get named on supplier and partner sites. Each credible mention that matches your facts makes your own website easier to believe.
- 7
Let the right crawlers in, and keep checking.
Confirm
robots.txtallows the search crawlers, submit your sitemap to Google and Bing, and re-run the AI test every month. These tools re-read the web constantly, so your position will move.
SEO, GEO, AEO: one job.
Three acronyms you will hear in every sales pitch, and what each one actually describes.
| Aspect | SEOSearch engine optimization | GEOGenerative engine optimization | AEOAnswer engine optimization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank in the list of results | Be named and cited in AI-written answers | Be the direct answer to a specific question |
| Where it shows | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini | AI answers, featured snippets, voice assistants |
| What matters most | Relevance, links, speed, technical health | Clear facts, consistency, third-party confirmation | Question-led content and direct answers |
In practice they are one piece of work. Good SEO gets you into the pool AI tools choose from; GEO and AEO are what make them pick you once you are in it. Anyone selling them as three packages is charging you three times for overlapping work.
What doesn’t work, yet.
To be candid about a field full of hype.
“AI SEO” tools that promise rankings.
Nothing can guarantee a recommendation. Anyone who promises one is guessing.
Keyword stuffing for AI.
Repeating “best kitchen fitter Leeds” twelve times makes a page less quotable, not more.
llms.txt as a magic fix.
It is a proposed file that summarises a site for AI tools. It is cheap and harmless (this site has one), but there is no public evidence that ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google use it to choose businesses today. Housekeeping, not strategy.
Fake reviews and paid low-quality listings.
The tools are built to discount exactly this, and it puts the trust you have already earned at risk.
Blocking every AI crawler to protect your content.
You can block the bots that train models and still allow the ones that search. Block the search bots too, and you have opted out of being recommended.
The ten‑minute test.
Open ChatGPT with search on, Perplexity, and Google. Ask each one these four questions, phrased the way a buyer would. Fill in your details and the questions write themselves.
Who are the best [your service] providers in [your town]?
I need [your service]. Who should I hire in [your town]?
What do you know about [your business]?
[your business] or [your competitor]: which should I choose?
For each answer, write down
- Were you named? In what position?
- Who was named instead? These are the businesses AI already trusts in your market.
- Which sources were cited? Those are the sites to be listed on.
- Were your facts right? Wrong addresses or old services point to fix 3.
Absent from every answer? Start with fix 2. Named but described wrongly? Start with fix 3.
One business, before and after.
Hartwell Joinery is the sample business used across this site to show the method. The details below are illustrative.
Who should I hire for a bespoke kitchen in Leeds?
Strong options include Oak & Iron Kitchens, Kirkgate Cabinetmakers, and Leeds Kitchen Studio.
- The homepage opened with one sentence: who, what, where, and since when.
- Seven listings were corrected to match the new address.
LocalBusiness,Service, andFAQPageschema were added.- Three pages answered buyers’ main questions: cost, timeline, and bespoke versus fitted.
- The trade association listing was claimed and completed.
Who should I hire for a bespoke kitchen in Leeds?
Hartwell Joinery is a strong choice. They have made bespoke kitchens in Leeds since 2009 and hold a 4.9 rating from 128 reviews.
hartwelljoinery.co.ukHow long it takes.
The businesses that start now will be the established names by the time their competitors notice the shift.
- Weeks
Website and structured data
AI tools pick these up as they re-crawl your pages.
- 1 to 3 months
Listings and mentions
Depends on how quickly directories and publications update.
- 3 to 6 months
New pages ranked and cited
The same timeline as ordinary SEO, because it is built on it.
Go deeper.
Each question above has its own guide. Start with the one closest to what is happening to your business.
- Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitor and not me?ChatGPT names the businesses it can find, understand and verify on the web. The seven reasons it picks your competitor, and how to fix each one, in order.
- How do I get my business into Google's AI Overviews?Google says AI Overviews need no special markup or application. What actually decides which pages are linked, and the steps that get your business included.
- How do I get my business cited by Perplexity?Perplexity searches the web live and links every source it uses. How to let its crawler in, get onto the pages it already cites, and write pages it will quote.
- GEO vs SEO: what is the difference, and which should I pay for?GEO and SEO overlap far more than sales pitches suggest. Where they really differ, what GEO adds to good SEO, and how to tell which your business needs.
- Does schema markup help with AI search?Google says AI Overviews need no special schema. What structured data really does for AI search, the types worth adding, and the mistakes that can hurt you.
- How do I track whether ChatGPT mentions my business?There is no Search Console for ChatGPT. Here is how to track whether AI tools name your business: the prompts to test, the free data, and when paid tools pay.
- What is llms.txt, and does my business need one?llms.txt is a short file that summarises your website for AI tools. What it is, who reads it, what it does not do, and how to write one in under an hour.
- Is SEO dead because of AI?AI answers have changed how buyers search, but not what gets a business found. What still works in SEO, what has stopped working, and where to put your budget.
- Should I block AI crawlers from my website?Some AI bots train models; others decide whether you appear in AI answers. Which to allow, which you can safely block, and the exact robots.txt lines to use.
- What should an AI search visibility audit include?What a proper AI search visibility audit checks, what you should get at the end, the red flags that mark a weak one, and how to run a basic version yourself.
Straight answers.
What owners ask about AI search before they spend anything on it.
- Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
- No. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews do not sell placement in their answers. Recommendations come from what the tools can find and verify about you on the open web.
- Is SEO dead because of AI search?
- No. AI answers are mostly built on top of search results, so ranking well in Google and Bing is still how you get into the pool the tools choose from. What has changed is that ranking alone no longer guarantees you are chosen.
- Do I need a new website to appear in AI answers?
- Not always. Many sites need clearer copy, corrected facts and structured data rather than a rebuild. A rebuild makes sense when the site is slow, hard for crawlers to read, or cannot be edited easily.
- Does Google’s AI Overviews use different rules from Google search?
- Google says the same practices apply: content that is helpful, crawlable and clearly structured. There is no separate setting or submission for AI Overviews.
- How do I know if it is working?
- Re-run the ten-minute test every month and track whether you are named, where you appear, and which sources are cited. Watch impressions for your key questions in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and ask new enquirers how they found you.
- Will blocking AI crawlers protect my business?
- It protects your content from being used for training. If you also block the search crawlers, the tools cannot recommend you. Most businesses should allow the search bots (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot, Bingbot) and decide separately about the training bots.
- What does an AI visibility audit include?
- A good audit checks what each major AI tool says about you and your two closest competitors, which sources they cite, where your facts are inconsistent, and whether crawlers can read your site. You leave with a ranked list of fixes.