How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?

When someone asks an AI assistant ‘who’s the best [your service] for a small business like mine?’, it names a few. If you’re not one of them, that lead never reaches you, and you never even know it happened. Getting named is a real, learnable practice, and it builds on the same work that gets you found on Google.

What do ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity look at before recommending a business?

• Clear pages they can quote: one page per service and area, with the answer in the first lines: what you do, for whom and where.
• Facts they can compare: the services and systems you cover, the areas you serve, credentials, response times, and prices if you publish them.
• Proof from real customers: recent reviews on your Google Business Profile and elsewhere, ideally mentioning the job and the place.
• Mentions on other websites: directories, trade bodies, client websites and articles. The more trusted places that say the same thing about you, the more confident the AI is.
• Machine-readable signals: structured data (schema), an llms.txt file that says what you do, and AI crawlers allowed in, not blocked.

Why do ChatGPT and Gemini give different answers?

Each tool reads the web its own way. Gemini leans heavily on Google Search and Google’s own signals, such as your Business Profile, reviews and rankings. ChatGPT’s search draws partly on Bing’s index, and Perplexity runs its own. So a business can be recommended by one and missed by another. In our own checks in October 2026, a London HVAC client was recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity, while Gemini favoured long-established firms with many reviews and mentions. That gap is useful: it tells you exactly what to work on next.

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

1. Let the AI crawlers in. Check your robots.txt allows Googlebot, Bingbot, GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended.
2. Write one page per service and area that answers the question in its first two or three sentences.
3. Add structured data for your business, services and FAQs, so the facts are unambiguous.
4. Publish an llms.txt file that summarises what you do and links to your key pages.
5. Complete your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing, and ask every happy customer for a review.
6. Get mentioned on other trusted websites: directories, trade bodies, suppliers and clients.
7. Tell the search engines when you change something: verify your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and use IndexNow so Bing picks up updates within days.
8. Check every month, because AI answers change.

How can I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Ask the question your customers would ask, word for word, in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Use a private or temporary chat with memory switched off, so your own past conversations don’t colour the answer. Note whether you appear, in what position and how you are described, and repeat it each month.

Does it actually work?

Yes. ChatGPT names our client Mainteniq its first choice for managing agents in London, ChatGPT and Perplexity name Fouracre Accountancy first for a family-run accountant for small businesses and landlords in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire (November 2026), and ChatGPT recommends Ericka Barbosa to Brazilians in Europe (October 2026). Eight small businesses, in seven industries, recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity when checked in November 2026, alongside far bigger names.

On Found and Growth, from £350 a month, we check ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity every month and fix what is missing. If the acronyms are new to you, start with what AEO and GEO mean, and for the Google side, how to get found on Google and how long SEO takes.