How to get your business to show up in ChatGPT
“Why doesn’t ChatGPT mention my business?” It’s a question we hear on calls with owners. Some customers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity who to call instead of typing “plumber near me” into Google, and those tools answer with a few names. We can’t choose which names they pick. What we can do is make it easy for them to see what you do, where you do it, and that you’re a real business.
What helps AI tools understand you
When an AI tool searches the web, it reads pages and listings much like a careful visitor would. It has an easier time when:
- Your site says clearly what you do, where, and for whom.
- Your name, phone and services match across your site, Google and directories.
- Your pages load properly and your details are in the text.
Seven steps you can start this week
1. Check what AI says about you today
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude the questions your customers ask, and write down who they name. You can also run our free visibility check, which looks at Google, Google Maps and four AI tools in about 30 seconds.
2. Give every service its own page
A page that says “we do everything” is hard for AI to quote. A page called “Emergency AC repair in Miami” is easy. Say what the service is, who it’s for, the areas you serve, and how to reach you.
3. Answer real questions on your site
Add a short questions section to each service page, written in the words your customers use. Two or three sentences per answer is plenty.
4. Keep your details the same everywhere
Use the same business name, phone number, website and list of services on your site, your Google profile, Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps and any directory you’re listed in. When those details don’t match, it’s harder for AI to tell they belong to one business.
5. Complete your Google Business Profile
Fill in categories, services, service areas, hours and photos, and post now and then. Our Google Business Profile checklist goes through it step by step.
6. Make your site readable for machines
- Put important words in text, rather than only inside images or animations.
- Keep pages fast.
- Add structured data, also called schema. It’s a few lines of code visitors don’t see that tell search engines and AI tools your business name, services and answers in a format they read directly.
- Check your robots.txt, a small file on your site that tells bots which pages they may read. Make sure it doesn’t block AI crawlers, the bots AI companies send to read the web, unless you mean to.
7. Check again every month
AI answers change. Ask the same questions each month and note what’s different. That’s how we tell whether the work is helping.
Questions
Can I pay to show up in ChatGPT answers?
If an AI tool shows ads, they’re separate from its regular answers. This guide is about earning a mention in the answers themselves.
Is this the same as SEO?
They overlap, and a lot of the work that helps on Google helps with AI tools too. Some people call the AI part GEO, short for generative engine optimization.
How long does it take?
Expect it to take a while. AI tools update on their own schedule, so we measure progress with the monthly check in step 7.
Want help?
AI SEO is one of the four parts of Meridian Presence. Meridian Presence: a website, a Google profile, Google Ads, and AI SEO, so customers find you on Google and in AI answers like ChatGPT.
Curious where you stand today? Run the free check first, then book a call if you’d like us to do the work.