A lot of people have started asking ChatGPT instead of Google. “Best family dentist near Peachtree City.” “Who’s a good remodeler in Fayette County?” About 45% of people now use AI to find local businesses at least some of the time, and homeowners in their 30s and early 40s use it the most. When AI answers, it names a few businesses and leaves everyone else out.
How do you check if ChatGPT recommends you?
- Open ChatGPT. The free version works.
- Ask what a customer would ask, like “who’s a good [what you do] in [your town], GA?” Don’t search your own business name, because people who already know your name will find you anyway.
- Ask it a couple of different ways, like “I just moved to [town], who should I call for [service]?”
- Write down who it names. Those are the businesses you’re competing with now.
- If you want, try the same questions in Perplexity and in Google’s AI Overview.
If you don’t show up, that’s normal. Only about 1% of local businesses ever get recommended, and it can be fixed.
Why don’t most businesses show up?
AI looks at a short list of things when it recommends a local business.
Reviews
It looks at how many you have and how good they are. Businesses with fewer than about 150 reviews rarely get named, and the ones that do average around 4.3 stars or higher.
Bing
ChatGPT pulls a lot of its local info from Bing. A verified Bing Places listing with up-to-date info does a lot better, and almost no local businesses here have one.
Matching business info
Your name, address, and phone number need to be exactly the same on your website, Google, Bing, Facebook, and every directory. When they don’t match, AI is less sure about you and leaves you out.
Other sites mentioning you
Chamber directories, local news, and “best of” lists all tell AI that you’re a real business people trust.
A website that answers questions
If your site clearly says what you do, where you do it, and what it costs, AI can quote it. If it’s vague, AI has nothing to work with.
What should you do about it?
- Fill out your Google Business Profile completely.
- Verify your business on Bing Places. Almost nobody around here has done this yet.
- Make your name, address, and phone number match everywhere.
- Set up a system that asks every happy customer for a Google review.
- Get listed with the chamber, local directories, and local news.
- Put plain answers on your website about what you do, where, and for how much.
Can you do this for me?
Yes. I run this exact check live during every audit, using your type of business and your town. If you’d rather not work through the list above yourself, my “Get Found by AI” package sets all of it up for $1,500 and keeps the reviews coming for $500 a month. I also re-run the check every month so you can see if the answer changes.
Run the check this week and see where you stand.