GEO · Guide How to show up in ChatGPT and get your business recommended

How ChatGPT chooses businesses: your local ranking in AI answers

ChatGPT answers questions in two ways. Without web search, the model relies on its training knowledge. Well-known brands are covered well there, while smaller businesses are often missing or out of date. With web search, which is often used for questions about providers, prices or places, ChatGPT searches the web live, reads a few pages and turns them into a recommendation. The sources are linked.

For web search, OpenAI uses its own crawler called OAI-SearchBot. According to OpenAI, websites that block this crawler are not shown in ChatGPT’s search answers. Which pages end up cited is decided by relevance and credibility: does the page match the question precisely, is the business mentioned elsewhere too, do the details agree?

Where it usually goes wrong

Anyone who audits company websites for AI visibility keeps finding the same causes:

• Crawler blocked: a blanket rule in robots.txt or a firewall blocks OAI-SearchBot, often without anyone knowing.
• Content only via JavaScript: some website builders deliver text only in the browser. Crawlers then see an almost empty page.
• No clear service page: if you write “solutions for your success” instead of “accounting for restaurants in Leeds”, you will not be found for specific questions.
• Inconsistent data: old addresses, different opening hours or business names in directories make the AI cautious.
• Too few mentions: reviews, industry directories, trade articles and local media are missing. The AI finds nobody who confirms your details.

Seven steps to get found by ChatGPT

1. Allow the crawlers: in robots.txt, allow at least OAI-SearchBot, Googlebot, Bingbot, PerplexityBot and Claude-SearchBot. GPTBot is used for training and can be handled separately.
2. One page per service: each service page says in its first paragraph what you offer, for whom and where. Location and service area belong in the text, not just in the footer.
3. Answer customer questions: collect the questions that come in by phone and email and answer them on your website in full sentences. That is exactly how customers phrase their questions to ChatGPT.
4. Align company data: name, address, phone number, opening hours and services must match across Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and industry directories.
5. Add structured data: with Schema.org you describe your organisation, location, services and frequent questions in a machine-readable way. The details must match the visible text.
6. Collect genuine reviews: actively ask satisfied customers for a review after a job and reply to all of them, including critical ones.
7. Appear in the sources: check which pages ChatGPT cites for questions in your industry: directories, comparison sites, trade media, associations. Your business should be listed there with correct details.

How to check for yourself whether ChatGPT names you

A quick self-test takes half an hour:

1. Write down five questions the way a customer would ask them, for example “Which electrician in Bristol installs solar panels and wall boxes?”.
2. Ask each question in a new chat, ideally without being logged in or with memory switched off, so that earlier conversations do not interfere.
3. Repeat each question at least three times and note who is named and which sources are linked.
4. Do the same in Gemini and Perplexity. The systems draw on different sources.

You will see that the answers vary. That is normal. What counts is the share: in how many of, say, 15 answers your business appears.

What to avoid

• Bought or invented reviews: they are prohibited in the EU and similar rules apply in the UK, and they destroy trust once discovered.
• Keyword stuffing: text packed with keywords works neither with Google nor with AI systems.
• Hidden instructions to AI systems: invisible text meant to “command” an AI counts as manipulation and can devalue your entire website.
• Believing guarantees: anyone who guarantees you first place in ChatGPT is promising something nobody controls.

When help pays off

You can tackle the seven steps yourself. Help pays off when you want to know where you really stand, which sources matter in your industry and which measures come first. Our Location Analysis asks five AI systems, including Google (AI Mode and AI Overviews), 20 customer questions three times each and delivers the ten most important measures, for €229 plus VAT. We handle implementation from €390 plus VAT, and if you wish, monitoring from €29 a month plus VAT measures progress regularly. More on our GEO agency page.