Ask ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini a question like "who's a good emergency plumber in Coventry?" and you'll get names. Specific ones. If yours isn't among them, you've just lost an enquiry you never knew existed — no missed call, no bounced visitor, nothing to measure. Just silence.
This is the quiet shift of the last two years: a growing share of buying decisions now start inside an AI assistant rather than a search results page. And AI assistants don't rank ten blue links — they recommend two or three businesses, with confidence.
How AI decides who to recommend
AI assistants lean on a blend of signals: what's written about you across the web, how consistent and unambiguous your business information is, whether trusted sources (directories, reviews, local press, industry sites) mention you, and whether your own website answers questions in a clear, structured, quotable way. In other words — AI recommends businesses it can understand and verify.
Five fixes you can start this month
- Make your business unambiguous. Same name, address, phone and description everywhere — website, Google Business Profile, directories, socials. AI distrusts contradictions.
- Answer real questions on your website. A page that plainly answers "how much does a rewire cost in 2026?" is exactly the kind of content AI cites. Vague brochure copy is invisible.
- Add structured data (schema). Schema markup is a label maker for your website — it tells machines "this is our service, this is our area, these are our reviews". Most small business sites have none.
- Build your review base. Volume, recency and replies all feed the trust signals AI leans on. A simple automated "how did we do?" message after every job compounds fast.
- Get mentioned in places AI trusts. Local news, industry directories, supplier pages, chamber of commerce listings. Each credible mention makes you a safer recommendation.
The honest timeline
GEO isn't overnight. AI systems re-crawl and re-weigh sources over weeks and months. Businesses that start now are building a moat while most competitors haven't heard the term. In 12 months, "why doesn't ChatGPT mention us?" will be a common question. The answers being written today decide who it names.
Want to know where you stand? Our free visibility report shows exactly what Google and AI assistants currently say about your business — and the three fixes that matter most. → Local SEO & AI Search