How to get your business recommended by AI search: a practical checklist
When ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Mode names businesses, how do they choose? Nine steps any business can take to improve its chances.
AI search tools don’t publish a ranking formula, but they share a common habit: they recommend businesses they can clearly understand and that others vouch for. This checklist covers the steps that help with exactly that, whichever AI tool your customers use.
1. Complete your Google Business Profile
Services, service areas, hours, photos and a clear description. It’s one of the most-used sources of local business information on the web.
2. Answer real questions on your website
Write service pages and FAQs that answer what customers actually ask: what it costs, how long it takes, what areas you cover. Plain language beats clever copy for AI tools.
3. Keep your details identical everywhere
Your business name, address and phone number should match exactly across your website, Google, directories and social profiles. Inconsistencies create doubt.
4. Earn reviews that say something
A review that mentions the service and the town (“great new kitchen in Ballymena”) gives AI far more to work with than “great job”.
5. Add structured data
Schema markup tells search engines exactly what your business is, what you offer and where. It’s invisible to visitors but very readable to machines.
6. Build genuine location pages
If you serve several towns, give each its own page with real local substance: work you’ve done there, how you serve the area, local questions. Copy-and-paste pages can count against you.
7. Get mentioned elsewhere
Local press, industry directories, suppliers and partners linking to or mentioning you all build the picture that your business is real and trusted.
8. Check what AI says about you
Once a month, ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Mode the questions your customers would ask. Note who gets recommended, and whether anything said about you is wrong.
9. Measure enquiries, not just traffic
As AI answers more questions directly, website visits matter less than whether the phone rings. Track calls, forms and bookings, and ask new customers how they found you.
None of these steps is a trick. They’re the foundations of being findable, and they work for traditional search, map results and AI answers alike.