How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

Ask ChatGPT who the best accountant for a small business in your city is, and it will usually name two or three firms and explain why. You won’t get a page of links to compare. If your business isn’t one of the names, that customer may never hear of you.

Getting recommended by AI comes down to a handful of things you can control. This guide covers them in order.

Why AI recommendations matter now

More people now start their research with an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity or Microsoft Copilot, or by reading the AI Overview at the top of Google’s results. These answers are short and confident, and they usually name only a few businesses.

On a results page, the fifth listing still gets some clicks. In an AI answer, a business is either mentioned or it isn’t seen at all.

How AI assistants decide who to recommend

Each assistant works a little differently, but most recommendations draw on the same kinds of information:

• What the model already knows from its training on the public web.
• Live web results. Many assistants, including ChatGPT, can search the web and summarise what they find.
• Third-party sources such as review sites, directories, news articles, “best of” lists and industry publications.
• Your business facts (name, services, location and contact details) and whether they match everywhere they appear.

Put simply, AI recommends businesses it can understand, check and trust. Each step below works on at least one of those.

Step 1: Check what AI says about you today

Start with a baseline. Write down 10 to 20 questions a real customer might ask, put each one to the main assistants, and note which businesses get named.

For each question, record whether you’re mentioned, who is mentioned instead, and whether anything said about you is wrong. That record becomes your to-do list.

Step 2: Fix your facts everywhere

AI assistants build their picture of your business from many sources. Suppose your website says you close at 7pm, your Google Business Profile says 6pm and an old directory listing says you’re closed on Saturdays. The assistant has to guess, and it may get it wrong or leave you out.

1. Make your website the main source of truth, with your name, address, phone number, hours, services and service areas stated clearly.
2. Complete your Google Business Profile, including categories, services, hours, photos and description.
3. Claim and correct your listings on Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and the main directories in your industry.
4. Search for your old phone numbers and addresses, and update any listing that still uses them.

Step 3: Write pages that answer questions directly

AI assistants favour content that answers a question early and clearly. Read the opening of each key service page and check whether someone who stopped after two sentences would know what you do, where and for whom.

• Put the answer first. “We repair and service home air conditioners across [city], usually within 24 hours” tells a reader more than three paragraphs about a passion for excellence.
• Phrase headings the way people ask, for example “How much does AC servicing cost?”
• Add a short FAQ to each service page, with direct and factual answers.
• Include specifics. Prices or price ranges, timelines, areas served and credentials give an assistant concrete facts to repeat.

Write so that a busy customer, or a language model, can find the answer in one read.

Step 4: Add structured data

Structured data, also called schema markup, is code that states your business details in a format machines read easily. It tells search engines and AI assistants exactly who you are and what you offer.

These types are the most useful for most businesses:

• LocalBusiness, or a more specific type such as Dentist or Plumber, for your name, address, phone, hours and areas served.
• Service for each service you offer, with a description.
• FAQPage for the questions and answers on your pages.
• Review and AggregateRating where you display genuine customer reviews.

After adding the markup, test your pages with Google’s Rich Results Test to check that it’s valid.

Step 5: Earn mentions on sites AI trusts

Claims on your own website carry limited weight, and mentions on other sites carry more. AI assistants rely on independent sources when deciding who to recommend.

• Ask satisfied customers to review you on Google and on the platforms that matter in your industry, and reply to the reviews you get.
• Offer local news sites and trade publications something useful, such as a story, some data or expert comment.
• Find the “best [service] in [city]” articles that already rank, and ask whether you can be considered for them.
• Make sure professional bodies, suppliers and partners list you and link to your site.

Step 6: Track and repeat every month

AI answers change often, so run your question list again every month and track three things:

• How many of your questions mention you, which is your share of voice.
• Which competitors appear most often, and which sources seem to support them.
• Whether the facts about you are now correct.

Over a few months, wrong facts should start to disappear and mentions should grow. Where they don’t, the sources behind your competitors show you what to work on next.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Neglecting Google. AI assistants often draw on top-ranking pages, so strong SEO makes AI visibility easier.
• Publishing large numbers of AI-written pages. Thin, generic content rarely gets cited and can hurt your site.
• Fixing your website but not your listings. AI reads both, and inconsistent details undermine trust.
• Expecting results overnight. Some fixes show up within weeks, while regular recommendations take months.

Key takeaways

STARC can help with this. Our AI search service covers all six steps, and our ChatGPT business profile service focuses on getting your facts right. You can also start with a free audit.

Frequently asked questions

Rakesh Siliveru

SEO and digital marketing expert at STARC, with 8+ years in SEO, Google Ads and Facebook & Instagram ads. Rakesh works on SEO, AI search and paid ads for STARC clients, alongside the rest of the STARC team.