When someone asks ChatGPT "who is a good plumber near Astoria?", the answer is built from information the assistant can find and trust: listings, reviews, websites and other pages that mention you. You cannot buy your way into it, and the answers change from day to day. You can make sure the information about your business is complete, consistent and easy to read.
This is worth doing. In BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local recommendations rose from 6% the year before to 45%, making it the third most popular source of business recommendations.
Step 1: Check where you stand today
Ask the question your customers would ask, in the assistants they use: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode. Try three versions, for example:
- "Best [your category] in [your neighborhood]"
- "[Your category] near [a landmark or cross street] that is open late"
- "Is [your business name] in [city] any good?"
Write down whether you are named, where you appear and which businesses come up instead. Look at what the answer mentions about them: hours, specialties, review themes. That tells you what the assistant is picking up on. Repeat it once a month, because a single answer is only a snapshot. (Do not want to do it yourself? Our free AI check does this for you.)
Step 2: Make your Google Business Profile complete
For Google's own AI features, Google says the usual Search best practices apply, and its list includes "checking that your Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up-to-date." Fill in every field you can: the right primary category, regular and special hours, services or menu, attributes, photos and a plain description of what you do. Google's local ranking tips say businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local results.
Step 3: Put plain facts on your website
Assistants can only repeat what they can read. Make sure your website states, in normal text rather than only in images or PDFs:
- What you do, in one sentence a stranger would understand.
- Your neighborhood, address or service area.
- Hours, how to book and how to contact you.
- Your main services or menu items, with prices if you are comfortable sharing them.
- What makes you different, stated as facts: "open until 2am," "same-day crowns," "Saturday appointments."
Google's AI features guide says to make sure important content is available in textual form and is easy to find through internal links.
[Business name] is a [category, for example family-owned pizzeria] in [neighborhood], [city], at [street address]. We are open [days and hours]. We are known for [two or three real specialties]. Book or order at [link] or call [phone].
Use only facts that are true today, and update this block whenever your hours or services change.
Step 4: Do not block the crawlers
If your site blocks a search engine's crawler, that engine cannot read it. OpenAI's crawler documentation says sites that opt out of its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, and recommends allowing it in robots.txt. Google says crawling should be allowed in robots.txt and by your CDN or hosting setup. Ask whoever manages your website to check, especially if a security plugin or firewall was ever switched on.
Step 5: Keep your details the same everywhere
Your name, address, phone and hours should match on Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, Facebook and any industry directories. BrightLocal's survey found the average consumer uses six different review sites when choosing a business, and it recommends monitoring listings for inaccuracies and checking the sources AI tools reference. If an assistant gets something wrong, find where that wrong fact lives online and fix it there.
Step 6: Earn fresh reviews and reply to them
Reviews are one of the clearest public signals about a local business, and replies show it is active. Ask every customer in the same way, reply to every review and never pay or reward people for reviews. Google's policy prohibits incentives for reviews, and the FTC's reviews rule bans fake reviews and buying reviews that must express a particular sentiment.
Thanks for visiting [business]! Honest reviews help us improve and help people nearby find us. If you have a minute, tell us how we did on Google: [short link or QR code]. [First name] and the team
Step 7: Get mentioned on real local pages
Local news stories, neighborhood guides, event pages, sponsorships and supplier or partner pages all create honest mentions of your business. Google says the number of websites that link to you is part of prominence in local results. Focus on real relationships, not paid link schemes.
What to skip
- Anyone who guarantees AI recommendations. Nobody controls these answers.
- Special "AI files" as a magic fix. Google says you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in its AI features. Files like llms.txt are cheap to add, but no major assistant has promised to rank you for having one.
- Fake reviews or fake listings. They break platform rules and can break the law.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
Not in its regular answers. There is no published way for a local business to buy a spot in an AI assistant's recommendations, and Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking in its results. Be wary of anyone who offers this.
Where does ChatGPT get its information about local businesses?
For current information it searches the web, and OpenAI says sites that block its OAI-SearchBot crawler will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. It can also draw on what it learned during training. The safest approach is to make sure accurate information about you is published in many trustworthy places.
Do I need an llms.txt file or special schema?
Not for Google. Google says no AI text files, special markup or schema are needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. They are harmless to add, but they are not a shortcut.
How often do AI answers change?
Often. Answers can differ by day, by wording and by person. That is why it helps to check the same few questions once a month and look for trends rather than reacting to one answer.
Do reviews affect AI recommendations?
No assistant publishes exactly how it chooses businesses, so nobody can say how much reviews count. Reviews are a major public source of information about local businesses, though, and keeping them fresh and answered is good practice for both customers and search.