AI search tools recommend businesses they can find clear, consistent and well-supported information about. Make your website state plainly what you do and where, keep your details identical across Google, Bing and Apple, earn reviews and mentions on other local sites, and let the AI search crawlers read your site.
Where AI answers come from
AI assistants that search the web don't invent local businesses. They look things up, then summarise. Google's AI Overviews draw on Google's own search index. ChatGPT's search uses third-party search providers, with Bing's index a major source, alongside its own crawler. Perplexity and others run their own crawlers too. So if you're invisible to Google and Bing, you're largely invisible to AI search as well.
What helps you get mentioned
1. Say it plainly, near the top
AI tools pull short, factual statements. Each important page should open with one or two sentences that answer the obvious question directly: what you do, where, and for whom. Detail can follow.
2. Be consistent everywhere
Your name, address, phone number, services and areas should match across your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook and directories. Conflicting details make an AI less confident about recommending you.
3. Be talked about
AI tools lean heavily on what other sources say about you: reviews, local news, directories, community and council websites, partners' sites. A handful of genuine local mentions is worth more than any amount of keyword tweaking on your own pages.
4. Use structured data
Structured data (schema) on your site labels the facts: business type, location, areas served, opening hours, FAQs. It gives both search engines and AI tools clean information to work with. See how I build websites for what I include by default.
5. Let the right crawlers in
Check your robots.txt doesn't block the crawlers AI search tools use, such as OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), PerplexityBot and Bingbot. Some businesses choose to block crawlers used only for AI training; that's a separate decision and doesn't stop you appearing in AI search.
6. Make pages readable without JavaScript
Many AI crawlers read the raw HTML of a page and don't run JavaScript. Sites that only show their text after scripts load can look almost empty to them. Pre-built, server-rendered pages avoid the problem.
How to check where you stand
- Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Google (in AI mode) the questions your customers would ask, such as "best café in Rhos-on-Sea" or "who builds bilingual websites in the Conwy Valley".
- Note whether you're mentioned, and which sources the answer cites.
- Look at the businesses that are mentioned: where are they listed that you aren't?
- Repeat monthly. Answers vary between runs, so look for trends rather than single results.
You may see advice to add an llms.txt file for AI tools. It's cheap to add, but there's no good evidence yet that the major AI search tools use it, so don't prioritise it over the steps above.
Is AI search replacing Google for local businesses?
Not replacing, but adding to it. Most local customers still use Google and Google Maps. The same groundwork serves both, so you don't need a separate strategy.
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
Not in the way you can buy Google Ads. Recommendations come from what the tools can find and trust about you, which is why consistent details and genuine mentions matter.
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