How to get your local business recommended by AI.

Why AI names the businesses it names

AI assistants don't keep a ranked list of businesses. Each answer is written fresh. The ones that search the web (Gemini with Google Search, ChatGPT search, Claude with web search, Perplexity) look things up, read a handful of pages, and recommend the businesses those pages make easy to describe with confidence.

So the businesses that get named aren't always the best ones. They're the ones with clear, consistent, well-reviewed information in the places the assistant reads: Google Business Profiles, review sites like Yelp, directories in their field, local “best of” articles, and their own websites.

Two things follow. First, you can influence the answer, because you can influence those sources. Second, no one can promise you'll be named every time, because the same question asked twice can produce two different lists.

Step 1: Find out what AI says today

Before changing anything, write down 3 to 5 questions your customers would actually ask, in their words: “best pilates studio in Somerville,” “emergency plumber Everett MA,” “kid-friendly dentist near Back Bay.”

• Ask each question at least three times, in a fresh chat each time, on at least two assistants.
• Note who gets named, and how often. One answer is a coin flip; the count is the signal.
• Note the sources each answer cites or links. That list is your to-do list.

Keep the exact wording. You'll ask the same questions again later, and changing the wording changes the answer.

Step 2: Fix your Google Business Profile

For local questions, your Google profile is the single most-read source, and it feeds Google's own AI answers directly.

• Primary category matters most. “Pilates studio,” not “Gym.” “Emergency plumber” if that's the work you want.
• Add every service you offer, with a sentence each.
• Write the description the way you'd answer “what do you do and where?” Name the neighborhood and the specifics (“classes of eight or fewer,” “24/7 within Route 128”).
• Keep hours, photos and attributes current. Stale profiles read as closed.

Step 3: Make your details match everywhere

If your site says “Suite 200,” Google says “#200” and Yelp has your old phone number, an assistant can't be sure they're the same business, and uncertainty tends to mean being left out. Pick one exact version of your business name, address and phone number and use it on your website, Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp and every directory you're on.

Step 4: Make your website easy to quote

Assistants lift sentences. Give them good ones.

• Say what you do, where, and for whom in plain sentences near the top of the homepage. No slogans in place of facts.
• Give each main service its own page, with prices or price ranges if you can.
• Add an FAQ that answers the questions customers really ask, in full sentences.
• Add LocalBusiness structured data (schema.org markup) with your name, address, phone, hours, area served and services. It's a short block of code most site builders let you paste in.
• Check that your site doesn't block AI crawlers. Some templates and security plugins block GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot by default in robots.txt.

Step 5: Get onto the sources the answers cite

This is usually where the biggest change comes from, and it's the step most businesses skip. Go back to the sources you noted in step 1. They tend to fall into a few groups:

• “Best of” lists from local publications and blogs. Many editors update these and will consider a business that's a genuine fit. Ask politely, with specifics.
• Directories for your field: the ones the answers cite, not every directory that exists.
• Review platforms beyond Google, if the answers in your market lean on them.

From our own test: when we asked Gemini and Claude who helps businesses with AI visibility, the answers leaned heavily on third-party lists and directories (Clutch, DesignRush, Built In Boston, “best agencies” round-ups), not on the agencies' own websites. A business's own site is necessary, but third parties do most of the recommending. You can follow that test in public.

Step 6: Earn real reviews, steadily

Assistants read reviews for specifics: “great with beginners,” “came out at 11pm.” A steady flow of recent reviews that mention what you actually do helps more than a burst of five-star ratings from last year.

• Ask at the right moment: right after a good outcome, with a direct link.
• Reply to reviews, including the critical ones.
• Never buy, write or incentivize fake reviews. It violates Google's and Yelp's rules and FTC rules, and it can get your profile suspended.

Step 7: Re-check the same way

About 30 days after your changes, ask the same questions from step 1, word for word, the same number of times, on the same assistants. Compare the counts, not a single screenshot. Some changes show up within a couple of weeks; listings and reviews build over months.

What doesn't work

• Stuffing keywords or “AI” buzzwords into your pages.
• Mass-produced pages written to game assistants. They tend to be ignored or to hurt trust.
• Anyone promising you'll be #1. No one controls what an AI says. What can be done is fixing the sources it reads and measuring honestly.

Want us to run step 1 for you?

We'll ask Gemini and Claude your customers' questions, three times each, and send you who gets named instead of you, which sources the answers cited, and the specific fixes, ready to paste. Free, by email, within two business days.

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