How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

Do people really ask ChatGPT which local business to hire?

More every year. BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults found that use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local recommendations rose "from 6% last year to 45%." It also found AI tools are now "the third most popular source of business recommendations," after Google and Facebook. BrightLocal

The catch for a local business: an AI answer usually names a handful of businesses, not a page of ten. If you are not one of them, the customer may never see your name.

How does ChatGPT find local businesses?

OpenAI's help page on ChatGPT search gives the key facts. OpenAI Help Center

• It can use your "approximate location based on your IP address to provide relevant local results." On phones, results "may also include a map."
• To be eligible at all, a site must "allow OAI-Searchbot to crawl the site" and its host must allow OpenAI's search IP addresses.
• ChatGPT search "sometimes partners with other search providers." The same section links to Microsoft's and Shopify's privacy policies.
• For restaurants, OpenAI says ChatGPT "may show availability from OpenTable, Resy, or Yelp."
• It ranks results "using multiple factors intended to help users find relevant, reliable information," and "placement is not guaranteed."

So there are two jobs. Let ChatGPT in. Then make it easy for it to trust what it reads about you.

How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT, step by step?

Steps 1 and 2 come from OpenAI's own rules. Steps 3 to 7 are our practice: what we do for every local business we work with, because each one gives an AI answer clearer, matching facts to repeat.

1. Allow OAI-SearchBot. Check your robots.txt file. If it blocks all AI robots, you are blocking ChatGPT search too. You can still block GPTBot, the robot OpenAI uses for training. OpenAI crawlers
2. Check your host or firewall isn't blocking OpenAI. Many website builders and security plugins block "bots" by default. OpenAI says your website host or CDN (the service that delivers your pages) must allow the internet addresses its search robot uses.
3. Get indexed by Bing. OpenAI's help page links to Microsoft's privacy statement among its search providers. Our inference: being in Bing, Microsoft's search engine, can only help. Submit your site and sitemap in Bing Webmaster Tools. It is free. Bing Webmaster Blog
4. Give each main service a clear page. Put the answer to "who does this near me, and what does it cost?" in the first lines. Add a page for a town only when you have something real to say about it, such as jobs you did there. Google's spam policies list "pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page" as doorway abuse. Google Search Central
5. Keep your name, address and phone the same everywhere. Your site, your Google Business Profile, Yelp, Bing, and the directories for your trade. Google's own rule: your name "should reflect your business's real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers." Google Business Profile Help
6. Earn real reviews on the sites AI reads. BrightLocal found "42% trust AI platforms as much as traditional reviews for local recommendations." Ask every happy customer. Never buy or write reviews: the FTC's rule bans fake reviews and testimonials. FTC
7. Put the facts people ask about on your site in plain words. Prices or price ranges, service area, hours, licenses, how fast you can come out. An AI answer can only repeat what it can find.

How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Open ChatGPT in a temporary chat and ask what your customers ask: "best [service] near [your town]" and "who should I call for [problem] in [your town]?" Note whether you are named, and which competitors are.

Ask more than once. Answers change between asks and between days, and location changes the results. That is why a single screenshot is not proof of anything. Our free AI visibility audit checks the crawl-access steps for you, and the AI Launch Plan for home service businesses re-checks the answers every week.

What stops ChatGPT from recommending a local business?

Problems we often see on local business sites:

• A robots.txt or firewall that blocks OAI-SearchBot, often added to stop AI training.
• One page that lists every service and every town at once, so no page answers any one question clearly.
• Different phone numbers or addresses on the site, the Business Profile and old directory listings.
• Few recent reviews, or reviews only on one site.
• Prices and service areas hidden behind "call for a quote," so an AI answer has nothing specific to say about you.

Sources

1. Searching the web with ChatGPT (ChatGPT search) — OpenAI Help Center. Read Sep 25, 2026.
2. Overview of OpenAI crawlers — OpenAI. Read Sep 25, 2026.
3. Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — BrightLocal. Read Sep 25, 2026.
4. Start Using Bing Webmaster Tools to Improve Your Site Visibility — Bing Webmaster Blog. Read Sep 25, 2026.
5. Guidelines for representing your business on Google — Google Business Profile Help. Read Sep 25, 2026.
6. Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials — U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Read Sep 25, 2026.
7. Spam policies for Google web search — Google Search Central. Read Sep 25, 2026.