A straight answer
How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?
AI assistants recommend businesses they can read clearly and verify: a complete Google Business Profile, the same name-address-phone everywhere, reviews that mention what you're good at by name, and structured data on your website. You can't pay your way in — but most of your market hasn't done the housekeeping, so doing it puts you ahead.
How AI assistants pick who to name
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google AI for "the best roofer near me," the assistant cross-references what it can read: your business profile, review patterns, mentions across the web, and whether the details agree with each other. It names businesses it can verify and describe confidently — and skips ones it can't read, no matter how good they are at the actual work.
Fix 1: Depth on your Google Business Profile
Every service listed, real photos, accurate hours, your service area spelled out. The assistant can only recommend you for "emergency water heater replacement" if something it can read says you do emergency water heater replacement.
Fix 2: Make your details agree everywhere
Your name, address, phone, and hours should match exactly across Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, and your own site. Disagreements read as unreliability — and an assistant won't confidently recommend a business whose own listings argue with each other.
Fix 3: Reviews that name the thing
A hundred reviews that say "great!" teach the AI very little about what you actually do. Reviews that say "fixed our water heater same-day" teach it exactly when to recommend you. When happy customers ask how they can help, tell them: mention the specific job in the review.
Fix 4: Structured data on your site
Schema markup (LocalBusiness, your services, FAQs) is the machine-readable version of your website. It costs nothing, most local sites skip it, and it helps AI assistants understand what your business does. If a developer built your site, this is a straightforward request for them.
How to check where you stand
Ask the assistants your own money question — "best [your trade] in [your town]" — in ChatGPT, Google AI, and Perplexity. If your name doesn't come back, note whose does and look at what their profile has that yours doesn't. Re-check monthly; AI answers update slowly.
You could check all this yourself. Every morning. Forever.
The free scan includes your AI visibility — whether the assistants name you, and the fixes if they don't.
Related questions
Can I pay to show up in ChatGPT recommendations?
No. There's no ad placement inside AI recommendations for local businesses today. The inputs are earned: profile depth, consistency, reviews, and readable data — which means housekeeping beats budget.
Does this help my Google ranking too?
Yes — the signals overlap almost entirely. Profile depth, review quality, and consistent listings are the same things classic local search rewards. Fixing for AI fixes for Maps at the same time.
How long until AI answers update?
Slower than Google — assistants refresh their picture of local businesses over weeks to months. That cuts both ways: it takes patience to get in, but once you're the verified answer, you're hard to dislodge.