How does ChatGPT find local businesses?
When a question needs up-to-date information, such as "who is a good plumber in Watford?", ChatGPT can search the web and build its answer from what it finds. OpenAI says ChatGPT search may send search queries to third-party search providers such as Bing, and that answers which use search show citations and a list of sources. This is set out in OpenAI's help article on ChatGPT search.
Three things follow from that:
- If search engines cannot find and read your website, an assistant has little to go on.
- Bing matters, not only Google.
- The assistant reads what other sites say about you, not just what you say about yourself.
Other assistants work in a similar way: they search the web and build an answer from what they find.
What are the seven steps to being recommended?
- Make your website clear. Say what you do, where you work and how to reach you, in plain text on the page. Give each service its own page.
- Let search engines in. Check that nothing on the site blocks them, and that Google and Bing have both indexed it.
- Claim your listings. Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Apple Maps are free. Fill each one in fully.
- Make every detail match. The same business name, area and phone number on every site that lists you.
- Build reviews steadily. Ask every customer after every job. Recent reviews that describe the work count for most.
- Get mentioned elsewhere. Trade body directories, local business groups, suppliers and local news all count as outside confirmation.
- Answer real questions on your site. Short, direct answers to what customers ask give an assistant something to quote.
None of these is a trick. They are the same things that make a careful customer trust you.
Which listings matter most for AI assistants?
| Listing | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | The main source for Google Maps and Google's own results. |
| Bing Places | Bing is a search provider OpenAI names for ChatGPT search. |
| Apple Maps (Apple Business Connect) | Used by Apple Maps and Siri on iPhones. |
| Your trade body or scheme directory | A trusted site confirming you are registered. |
| Established directories and review sites | More places that confirm the same name, area and number. |
It is better to have five listings that match perfectly than fifty that disagree with each other.
How should you ask for reviews?
Ask every customer, soon after the job, with a direct link. Google suggests sharing a link or a QR code that takes the customer straight to your review page.
Do not offer anything in return. Google's rules say offering incentives for reviews counts as fake engagement and is prohibited. Its advice is in its own tips to get more reviews. It also recommends replying to reviews, including the bad ones.
A review that names the job and the town, written in the customer's own words, is the most useful kind. You cannot write it for them, but you can make it easy: ask while the job is fresh, and mention what you did in your message.
What does not work?
- Paying someone for a guaranteed mention. Nobody outside the AI companies controls the answers.
- Stuffing your pages with keywords. Assistants quote clear writing, not lists of phrases.
- Fake reviews. They break the platforms' rules and put your whole profile at risk.
- Relying on special files. Google says no special files or markup are needed to appear in its AI answers. Clear content and normal good practice do the work.
- Doing it once. Reviews and listings go stale. This is steady work, not a one-off job.
How do you check whether it is working?
Ask the assistants yourself, once a month, and write down what they say.
- Pick five questions a customer would ask, such as "who is a good roofer in" your town, or "who can fit a new boiler near" your postcode.
- Ask each one in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
- Note which firms are named and which sources are shown.
- Look at the firms that are named. What do they have that you do not?
Answers change from day to day, so judge it over a few months. If you would like this done for you, it is part of our AI search visibility work.