Google · October 26, 2026 · 4 min read
How to show up in ChatGPT as a local business
AI assistants recommend the businesses they understand well and see mentioned elsewhere. Here is what actually helps, with no magic promises.
More and more people ask ChatGPT or Perplexity for "a good electrician in Lachine" instead of searching on Google. Nobody can guarantee you a spot in their answers. What we can do is give them everything they need to understand you, and that already goes a long way.
Where AI assistants find their answers
They read the web, like a search engine. ChatGPT, for example, relies in part on Bing's index, on top of its own crawlers. So your website has to be easy for a machine to read, and you have to exist somewhere other than your own website.
1. Say clearly who you are, in the text
What you do, where, for whom, at what price and how to reach you: this information has to be written out on your website, not only in an image or a video. An AI does not guess. If your service area is written nowhere, it does not know it.
2. Help machines read you
Structured data is information hidden in the website's code that tells Google and AI assistants: here is the business name, its phone number, its services, its area. An llms.txt file also sums up your website for AI assistants. The Repix Studio website has both, and so does every website we deliver.
3. Be consistent everywhere
Same name, same phone number, same website on your Google profile, Facebook, LinkedIn and directories. When the information matches, AI assistants trust you more. When it contradicts itself, they hesitate, and they pick someone else.
4. Get mentioned by others
An AI assistant is more willing to recommend a business that others talk about: Google reviews, a listing in a local directory, a link from a partner's website. Your Google reviews count twice: they reassure your customers, and they feed the AI.
5. Do not forget Bing
Many businesses sign up for Google Search Console and stop there. Adding your website to Bing Webmaster Tools takes ten minutes, and it is a way into ChatGPT and Copilot.
How to know if it works
Once a month, ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini who does your job in your city. Write down whether you show up, and what they say about you. If something is wrong, it is often because the information is missing or contradictory somewhere: that is where to fix it.
Not sure what needs changing?
With or without a website, ask for a free audit: answer within 48 hours, on a video call, no strings attached.