Guide · Local businesses
How to get your local business recommended by ChatGPT
More people now ask AI assistants for “the best dentist near me” or “a good injury lawyer in Phoenix” instead of scrolling Google. The answer usually names two to five businesses — and that is the whole shortlist. Here is how those businesses get picked, and what you can do about it this month.
How AI picks local businesses (short version)
When an assistant searches the web before answering, it reads a handful of sources — Google's local data, review platforms, industry directories, “best of” lists, news and businesses' own sites — and recommends the names that show up consistently, with clear evidence they do the thing being asked about, in the place being asked about. Being good isn't enough; you have to be documented as good, in places AI reads.
1. Find out what AI says today
Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the exact questions your customers ask — with your city in them: “best implant dentist in Denver”, “who does the best Botox in Austin”. Ask each one more than once: answers change run to run. Write down who gets named and which websites are cited. That list is your real competition in AI search.
2. Make your Google Business Profile complete
AI assistants lean heavily on Google's local data. Fill in every service you offer (not just your category), your service area, hours, photos and a description that says plainly what you do and where. If a service isn't listed, AI has little reason to connect you to it.
3. Get reviews that name the service and the place
“Great experience!” helps a little. “Dr. Lee did my veneers and I love my smile — best cosmetic dentist in Charlotte” helps a lot, because it ties your name to the service and the city in words AI can quote. Ask your happiest recent customers, and mention the treatment or job you did for them.
4. Be on the sites AI cites for your industry
Each industry has its own trusted sources: Healthgrades and Zocdoc for dentists, RealSelf for aesthetics, Avvo, Justia and Super Lawyers for attorneys, Angi and BBB for contractors, plus local “best of” lists and news. If AI cites a page where your competitors appear and you don't, getting onto that page is often the fastest win.
5. Give every high-value service its own page
One page that answers “All-on-4 implants in Phoenix — cost, process, recovery” beats a bullet point on a services list. Use plain headings, real prices or ranges where you can, and the questions people actually ask. AI engines quote pages that answer the question directly.
6. Add structured data and let AI crawlers in
Add LocalBusiness schema (name, address, geo, hours, services, aggregate rating) to your site, and check your robots.txt doesn't block OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot or Google-Extended. Engines can't recommend what they can't read.
7. Earn mentions, then measure every week
Local press, community sites and genuine forum answers create the “other people say so” signal AI looks for. Then re-check the same questions every week — one screenshot proves nothing, a trend does. That's what TrackCited automates: the questions, the engines, the competitors and the sources, with a short fix list each week.
Start with step 1 — free, in under a minute
We'll ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini real customer questions about your business and show you who they recommend.