To get your business recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants, make it easy to read and easy to confirm: a complete Google Business Profile, a website that says plainly what you do and where, the same name, address, phone and hours everywhere, and recent reviews with replies. The question is no longer rare. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, published February 11, 2026, found that use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools for local recommendations rose from 6% the year before to 45%. There is no trick or special file that gets you in. The assistants repeat what they can find and check.
This is the fourth piece in our Google Business Profile series, after what Gemini can now do with your profile. Here is how many customers ask AI, where the answer comes from, what to fix so it names you, why reviews still decide the call, and a ten-minute way to see what AI says about you today.
How many customers ask AI for a local recommendation?
Close to half, according to BrightLocal's survey of 1,002 U.S. adults. In a follow-up, Nearly Half of Consumers are Asking AI for Business Recommendations, published March 10, 2026, BrightLocal reports that ChatGPT is the clear frontrunner, "being used by 31% for business recommendations in the last 12 months," followed by Google's AI Mode at 23%, and then Gemini.
The question changes too. A customer who once typed two words into a search box now writes a full sentence: who can fix a furnace in Kent this week, which bakery near Akron makes custom cakes, which accountant in Cleveland speaks Spanish. The assistant answers with a short list of names. If your business is not on that list, the customer never sees your page at all.
Where does ChatGPT get its answer about your business?
From what it can read on the web at the moment it searches. OpenAI's page on its crawlers says OAI-SearchBot "is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features," and that "Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." OpenAI recommends allowing it in your site's robots.txt file.
Google is plain about its own AI answers. Its guide to AI features and your website, last updated December 10, 2025, says: "There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary." It adds that you do not need new machine-readable files, AI text files or markup, and it lists checking that your Business Profile information is up to date among the basics.
So the work is the same work that has always made a business easy to find. What changes is the cost of getting it wrong. A search page shows ten results and lets the customer sort them out. An assistant picks a few names and explains why, and a business it cannot read clearly is easy to leave out.
How do you get your business recommended by ChatGPT?
Give the assistants one clear, true description of your business, and repeat it everywhere they look:
- Your Google Business Profile, complete and current: the right primary category, true hours, every service you offer, the area you serve, real photos and a short description in plain words. Our Google Business Profile checklist walks through each field.
- A website that answers the questions a customer asks: what you do, for whom, where, and how to start. One page per main service, with the town names you actually serve. Our small business website checklist covers the rest.
- A website the assistants are allowed to read. Ask whoever manages it to confirm that robots.txt does not block OAI-SearchBot or Googlebot.
- The same name, address, phone and hours on your profile, your website, Facebook, Yelp, Apple Maps and any industry directory.
- Recent reviews, with a reply to each one.
Why do the details have to match everywhere?
An assistant that finds two phone numbers or two sets of hours has a reason to doubt both, and a customer who calls the wrong one has a reason to doubt you. In our work with owners, the gap we find most often is not a missing website. It is the same business described three ways: an old number on a directory, holiday hours that changed only on the front door, a service list that stops at what the business did five years ago.
That is what business design means in practice. Every place a customer, or an assistant, meets the business should say the same true thing.
Do reviews still matter if AI names you?
More than before, because people check. BrightLocal's March report says "97% of AI users sometimes double-check AI recommendations against real reviews," and that 42% always check reviews on the review platforms themselves. Its February survey shows what they look for:
- 74% seek reviews written in the last three months.
- 47% will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews.
- 80% say they are likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews.
- Generic or templated replies put off 50% of consumers.
Ask every customer, at the end of every job, with a direct link. Reply to each review in your own words, within a few days. Never offer anything in return for a review.
How do you check what AI says about your business today?
This is the ten-minute check we run with owners before we change anything:
- Open ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Mode, each in a fresh chat.
- Ask each the question a new customer would ask, in their words, with your town: who should I call for a roof leak in Akron.
- Write down whether your business appears, what each assistant says about it, and which pages it links as sources.
- Ask about your business by name and check every detail: hours, services, area, phone.
- Fix the source, not the answer. If an assistant has your hours wrong, find the page or listing it read and correct it there.
Run it again in a month. Changes to a website or profile take time to reach the assistants, and the second run shows what moved.
How Banana Blueprint helps you get found by AI
Banana Blueprint is a business design and engineering firm in Northeast Ohio. We work in person with owner-led businesses in Kent, Akron and Cleveland, and by video with owners across the U.S. Through marketing and branding, we bring your Google Business Profile, website and listings into line, keep them current and give your team a simple way to ask for reviews and reply to them.
If your profile is the first place to start, read why competitors beat you on Google Maps. For a quick read on how your business shows up, take the 60-second check.
When you are ready, start the conversation by phone or video, in English or Español.
Filed under Identity & Brand
Written by Adolfo Polanco for owners who want their business to run with less chasing and more clarity. We design brands and websites that say clearly who you serve and why you are the right call.