How Do I Get My Business Mentioned in ChatGPT? A Complete Guide to AI Search Visibility
The question “how do I get my business mentioned in ChatGPT” has become one of the most urgent concerns for business owners watching customer discovery shift from traditional search engines to AI assistants. With ChatGPT now processing over 2 billion queries daily and 800 million people using the platform weekly, getting your business mentioned in ChatGPT represents a significant opportunity that most competitors have not yet addressed.
This guide explains exactly how to get your business mentioned in ChatGPT, why AI visibility matters for local and national businesses alike, and the specific strategies that increase your chances of appearing in AI-generated recommendations.
Why Getting Mentioned in ChatGPT Matters Now
The numbers tell a compelling story about why businesses need to understand how to get mentioned in ChatGPT:
ChatGPT has surged to 800 million weekly active users and 190 million daily users in 2025. The platform records 5.72 billion monthly visits, with the U.S. and India leading adoption. ChatGPT dominates the AI search/chatbot market with 81% market share.
This represents a fundamental shift in how people discover businesses and make purchasing decisions. OpenAI’s platform ranks #5 on the list of the world’s most visited websites, with ChatGPT traffic reaching over 5 billion monthly users.
For businesses asking how to get mentioned in ChatGPT, understanding this scale is critical. It means that, potentially, your business can reach a broader audience if it gets spotted by ChatGPT. That’s the reason why any efficient SEO strategy nowadays should include content optimization for AI algorithms.
The Local Business Opportunity
Local businesses face particular urgency in learning how to get mentioned in ChatGPT. In 2026, roughly 31% of queries trigger an active web search, with local intent being the highest driver at 59%, highlighting the platform’s evolution into a real-time discovery engine.
This means when someone asks ChatGPT “What’s the best pizza place near me?” or “Who should I hire to fix my roof?”, the AI is actively searching for and recommending specific businesses. If you have not optimized for AI visibility, you are invisible to this growing audience.
With AI search tools increasingly connecting nearby customers with local businesses, it’s important to understand which platforms can drive the most results when it comes to AI visibility.
Shopping and Commercial Intent
Beyond local discovery, commercial queries are exploding on AI platforms. Shopping is the biggest mover. It jumped from 7.8% to 9.8% of all searches, a 25% category gain on top of 70% total ChatGPT growth. That means shopping queries doubled in the six months from January to June.
For any business that relies on customers finding them through search, understanding how to get mentioned in ChatGPT has become essential to maintaining visibility.
How ChatGPT Decides Which Businesses to Mention
Before diving into tactics for getting your business mentioned in ChatGPT, you need to understand how the AI decides which businesses to recommend.
Training Data vs. Real-Time Search
ChatGPT operates on two layers that determine which businesses get mentioned:
ChatGPT’s AI, like all Large Language Models (LLMs), is trained on existing data from the internet, which it essentially uses to simulate understanding. The AI model is regularly retrained (updated) to ensure it remains relevant and responsive. However, in some cases (approximately 31% of cases, to be more precise) ChatGPT actually performs a search, meaning it scours the internet looking for information and sources relevant to a user’s prompt.
This dual system means businesses need to optimize for both:
- Training data visibility: Ensuring your business appears prominently across authoritative sources that AI models learn from
- Real-time search visibility: Optimizing your online presence so ChatGPT finds and recommends you when it searches live
What ChatGPT Looks for When Recommending Businesses
When ChatGPT runs a live search, it’s pulling from the same types of web results that power Google and Bing, including local listings, business websites, and reviews. That means your business’s online presence and SEO can directly influence what ChatGPT surfaces in its AI-generated answers.
The AI prioritizes:
- Consistent business information across multiple platforms
- Strong review profiles on trusted sites
- Clear, structured website content
- Authority signals from mentions on reputable sources
- Recency and accuracy of information
Step-by-Step: How to Get Your Business Mentioned in ChatGPT
Step 1: Claim and Optimize All Business Listings
The foundation for getting mentioned in ChatGPT starts with your business listings. Customer reviews have always influenced decision-making. Now, they also influence what AI tools choose to surface. When ChatGPT provides local recommendations, it often mentions “highly rated” or “top-reviewed” businesses. That’s not accidental.
Critical platforms to optimize include:
- Google Business Profile: Your most important listing for AI visibility
- Bing Places: Microsoft’s version of Google Business Profile, and key to being visible in Bing search—which ChatGPT uses heavily
- Yelp: Still a major player in local reviews and a top integration for AI tools
- Apple Maps, TripAdvisor, Yellow Pages, Foursquare, and Facebook: Yes, even Facebook’s About section can help strengthen your online footprint
Check for consistency. Your business name, address, phone number, hours, and services should match across every platform. Inconsistent listings confuse AI tools and lower trust signals.
Step 2: Build a Strong Review Profile
Reviews directly influence whether your business gets mentioned in ChatGPT. Tools like Yelp and Google Reviews provide structured data—average rating, total number of reviews, and keywords from customer comments—that AI tools can easily digest.
To improve your review profile for AI visibility:
- Actively request reviews from satisfied customers
- Respond thoughtfully to all reviews, both positive and negative
- Avoid short, canned responses like “Thanks for the feedback!” They don’t add value for real users or AI models interpreting sentiment.
- Encourage customers to mention specific services or products in their reviews
Step 3: Optimize Your Website for AI Understanding
Your website serves as a primary source of truth for AI systems learning about your business. To get mentioned in ChatGPT, your site needs to be easily understood by AI.
Use Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Use structured data (also called schema markup) to clearly identify your business type, location, services, hours, and contact information.
Essential schema types for local businesses include:
- LocalBusiness schema
- Service schema for each service you offer
- Review schema to highlight customer testimonials
- FAQ schema for common questions about your business
Create Clear, Hierarchical Content
AI systems prefer content that is well-organized and easy to parse. Structure your pages with:
- Clear H1, H2, and H3 headings that describe your services
- Specific, factual claims about what you offer
- Location-specific content mentioning your service areas
- Direct answers to common customer questions
Answer Questions Your Customers Ask
At least 75% of the ChatGPT prompts that result in a search are five words or longer, making them about 60% longer than the average Google search query. This reflects the way users search using AI, prompting LLMs with long-tail, conversational keywords that more closely resemble how they speak and ask questions in real life.
Create content that directly answers the questions people ask about businesses like yours:
- “What should I look for when hiring a [your service]?”
- “How much does [your service] typically cost in [your city]?”
- “What’s the best [your product/service] for [specific use case]?”
Step 4: Build Authority Through Third-Party Mentions
Getting mentioned in ChatGPT often depends on being mentioned across authoritative third-party sources. Over 80% of business recommendations come from companies with verified footprints across multiple reputable domains. Local businesses that show up in industry blogs, news articles, and trusted directories are mentioned three times more often than those that don’t.
Strategies for building third-party authority:
- Seek coverage in local news publications and business journals
- Contribute expert commentary to industry publications
- Get listed in relevant industry directories and associations
- Pursue speaking opportunities and professional recognition
- Develop relationships with bloggers and content creators in your space
Step 5: Create Content That AI Wants to Cite
To get your business mentioned in ChatGPT, you need content worthy of citation. AI systems favor content that:
- Provides unique data, statistics, or research
- Offers expert perspective on industry topics
- Answers specific questions comprehensively
- Maintains accuracy and recency
- Demonstrates clear expertise and authority
Consider creating:
- Original research or surveys related to your industry
- Comprehensive guides to topics your customers care about
- Case studies demonstrating your expertise
- Expert commentary on industry trends
- FAQ pages addressing common customer questions
Step 6: Optimize for Conversational Queries
Because most ChatGPT searches use longer, more conversational phrasing, optimizing your content around natural language and long-tail keywords is becoming increasingly important. Instead of focusing solely on short, high-volume terms, local businesses should target a mix that includes the kinds of phrases people actually say.
Think about how people naturally ask about your business:
- “Who’s the best accountant for small businesses in Denver?”
- “What restaurant has the best outdoor seating downtown?”
- “Which contractor should I hire for a bathroom remodel?”
Create content that matches these conversational patterns while naturally incorporating your business as the answer.
Why AI Visibility Matters More Than Ever
The shift toward AI search is not slowing down. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the ten most-used AI chatbots saw 55.2 billion visits – an 80.92% year-over-year jump.
The Growth Trajectory
AI Overviews go mainstream: Google’s AI summaries appeared in 13.14% of all queries in March 2025, up from 6.49% in January. This means even traditional Google searches increasingly show AI-generated answers that may or may not mention your business.
ChatGPT usage is surging: Prompt volume jumped nearly 70% from January to June 2025. This growth rate suggests AI search will continue capturing market share from traditional search engines.
The Competitive Advantage Window
Today, millions of users ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI instead of typing in a traditional search engine. If your business doesn’t appear when an AI answers “Who offers [your service] in [your city]?”, you’re losing customers you’ll never know existed.
The businesses that optimize for AI visibility now will establish authority that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to overcome. The good news: it’s still early. Most businesses don’t even know what GEO is yet. Those who optimize now will have a competitive advantage for years.
Higher Quality Traffic
AI-referred traffic tends to be more valuable than traditional search traffic. AI citations carry implied endorsement. When ChatGPT mentions your brand as a recommended solution, users perceive it as a trusted recommendation, not just another search result to evaluate.
AI Search traffic converts at 14.2% compared to Google’s 2.8%, showing this traffic is dramatically more valuable.
The Role of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Getting your business mentioned in ChatGPT falls under a practice called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Unlike traditional SEO that focuses on ranking in search results, GEO focuses on being cited and recommended in AI-generated responses.
Search engine optimization (SEO) — using targeted keywords, backlinks, and metadata to improve the chances of appearing on the first page of Google results — has long been the key to online visibility. This shift has inspired a new term, generative engine optimization, to describe the emerging practices of optimizing your content for AI visibility.
How GEO Differs from Traditional SEO
Showing up in results now depends less on keyword ranking and more on being perceived as a credible, authoritative source. GEO-friendly content focuses on more conversational phrasing (think of the way you would ask ChatGPT a question) and delivering direct answers to search questions with a quick, concise summary backed by verifiable facts.
Key differences include:
- Citations over rankings: AI doesn’t rank you first, second, or third. It either mentions you or it doesn’t.
- Authority over optimization: AI systems prioritize trustworthy, expert sources over keyword-optimized content.
- Answers over keywords: AI wants direct answers to questions, not keyword-stuffed content.
- Consistency over volume: Accurate, consistent information across platforms matters more than publishing frequency.
The Goal of GEO
The goal of GEO is twofold: Get your brand’s information mentioned in a generated response within an AI platform and in the “AI summary” at the top of a traditional search results page.
Monitoring Your AI Visibility
Once you implement strategies to get mentioned in ChatGPT, you need to monitor results. Unlike traditional SEO where you can track rankings in Google Search Console, AI visibility requires different approaches.
Manual Testing
Start by regularly asking ChatGPT questions that potential customers might ask:
- “What’s the best [your service] in [your city]?”
- “Who should I hire for [specific service] near [your location]?”
- “What companies offer [your product/service]?”
Document whether your business appears, how it’s described, and which competitors are mentioned alongside you.
AI Visibility Tracking Tools
Local Falcon offers AI visibility tracking that helps businesses see whether and where they’re being mentioned by AI tools and features, including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Grok.
This level of insight into your local visibility is critical in 2025, as more potential customers turn to conversational AI for business recommendations and locally relevant information.
Understanding AI Visibility Metrics
AI visibility refers to how often and how reliably a business is mentioned in AI-generated responses to local and informational queries. Unlike traditional search visibility, which is primarily tied to a specific business category or keyword and a specific ranking, AI visibility is more contextual, fluid, and highly dependent on how well the AI understands your business in relation to the user’s intent.
Key metrics to track:
- Frequency of mentions across different query variations
- Accuracy of information when your business is mentioned
- Sentiment and context of how your business is described
- Competitor mentions in the same responses
- Consistency of mentions across different AI platforms
Common Mistakes That Prevent AI Mentions
Many businesses struggle to get mentioned in ChatGPT because they make avoidable errors:
Inconsistent Business Information
When your name, address, phone number, and hours differ across platforms, AI systems lose confidence in your business data. This inconsistency makes AI less likely to recommend you.
Neglecting Review Management
Businesses with few reviews or poor ratings rarely get mentioned in ChatGPT recommendations. AI systems interpret review data as a signal of quality and trustworthiness.
Website Content Not Optimized for AI
Websites built primarily for visual appeal often lack the structured, clear content that AI systems need to understand your business. Without proper schema markup and organized content, AI cannot easily extract information about your services.
Ignoring Third-Party Presence
Businesses that only optimize their own website miss the authority signals that come from third-party mentions. AI systems look for corroboration across multiple sources.
Not Answering Customer Questions
Content that focuses on selling rather than educating fails to address the questions people ask AI assistants. AI prefers content that directly answers user queries.
Industry-Specific Considerations
Different industries require different approaches to getting mentioned in ChatGPT:
Local Service Businesses (Plumbers, Electricians, Contractors)
Focus on:
- Google Business Profile optimization with complete service descriptions
- Building strong review profiles on Google and Yelp
- Creating location-specific landing pages for each service area
- Getting mentioned in local news and business directories
Restaurants and Hospitality
Focus on:
- Menu and atmosphere descriptions that match how people search
- Strong presence on TripAdvisor, Yelp, and OpenTable
- User-generated content and photos across platforms
- Responding thoughtfully to reviews with specific details
Professional Services (Lawyers, Accountants, Consultants)
Focus on:
- Thought leadership content demonstrating expertise
- Industry publication mentions and speaking engagements
- Detailed service pages answering common client questions
- Case studies and client testimonials
Retail and E-commerce
Focus on:
- Product descriptions optimized for conversational queries
- Strong presence on comparison and review sites
- FAQ content addressing common purchase questions
- User reviews highlighting specific product benefits
The Future of AI Search and Business Discovery
For business leaders, the takeaway is clear: we’re entering a hybrid era. It’s a smart move to prepare for AI-driven local search, but staying visible on Google, Yelp, and other traditional platforms remains non-negotiable.
What’s Coming Next
Local intent emerges: If you ask ChatGPT or Gemini for the “best dentist in Oklahoma City,” they’ll give you a shortlist of options, all in an easy-to-converse manner. The list is small, but these tools can now determine details like location, business hours, and customer ratings.
AI Mode launches at scale: Google’s AI Mode went live to all U.S. users in May 2025 and is slated for global rollout by year-end, making AI local search potentially the default search experience.
The Integration of AI and Traditional Search
Early takeaway: AI assistants work faster but still need data from sites like Google Business Profiles, Apple Maps, Yelp, and other popular directories. These signals suggest that AI assistants are becoming the very first touchpoint of the customer journey.
This means optimizing for AI visibility actually reinforces your traditional SEO efforts. The same factors that help you get mentioned in ChatGPT—accurate listings, strong reviews, authoritative content—also improve your Google rankings.
Frequently Asked Questions About Getting Mentioned in ChatGPT
How do I get my business mentioned in ChatGPT?
To get your business mentioned in ChatGPT, optimize your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listings, build a strong review profile across platforms like Yelp and Google, create structured website content with schema markup, answer common customer questions on your website, and build authority through third-party mentions in news, directories, and industry publications.
Does ChatGPT actually recommend local businesses?
Yes. Roughly 31% of ChatGPT queries trigger an active web search, with local intent being the highest driver at 59%. When users ask for local recommendations, ChatGPT searches the web and provides specific business recommendations based on what it finds.
How long does it take to start appearing in ChatGPT recommendations?
Timeline varies based on your starting point. Businesses with strong existing online presence may see results within weeks. Those building from scratch may need three to six months of consistent optimization before appearing reliably in AI recommendations.
Is getting mentioned in ChatGPT more valuable than Google rankings?
Both matter, but AI mentions carry unique advantages. AI Search traffic converts at 14.2% compared to Google’s 2.8%. AI mentions also function as implicit endorsements, building trust before users ever reach your website.
What platforms does ChatGPT pull business information from?
ChatGPT pulls from Google Business Profiles, Bing Places, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Apple Maps, industry directories, news publications, business websites, and various other authoritative sources across the web.
Can I pay to get my business mentioned in ChatGPT?
Currently, there is no advertising option within ChatGPT responses. Mentions are earned through optimization, not purchased. This makes organic AI visibility strategies essential for businesses wanting ChatGPT mentions.
How do I know if my business is being mentioned in ChatGPT?
Test manually by asking ChatGPT questions your customers might ask. Use AI visibility tracking tools like Local Falcon, OtterlyAI, or SE Ranking to monitor mentions systematically across ChatGPT and other AI platforms.
Does traditional SEO help with ChatGPT visibility?
Yes. Many factors that improve Google rankings also help with ChatGPT visibility: accurate business listings, quality backlinks, authoritative content, strong reviews, and structured data. Optimizing for AI reinforces traditional SEO efforts.
What type of content gets cited by ChatGPT most often?
ChatGPT favors content that directly answers questions, provides specific data and statistics, demonstrates clear expertise, maintains accuracy and recency, and comes from authoritative sources with strong reputations.
Should small businesses worry about AI search visibility?
Yes. Since most of ChatGPT’s live searches are local in nature, optimizing your business’s presence on the types of sites the LLM uses as sources is key to appearing in ChatGPT’s results. Small local businesses have significant opportunity to capture customers through AI recommendations.
How is getting mentioned in ChatGPT different from ranking on Google?
Unlike traditional search visibility, which is primarily tied to a specific business category or keyword and a specific ranking, AI visibility is more contextual, fluid, and highly dependent on how well the AI understands your business in relation to the user’s intent. There’s no first or second place in AI responses—you’re either mentioned or you’re not.
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of optimizing content and online presence to appear in AI-generated responses from platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and others. Unlike traditional SEO focused on search rankings, GEO focuses on earning citations and recommendations in AI answers.
Working with an Agency for AI Visibility
For businesses that want to get mentioned in ChatGPT but lack internal expertise, working with an agency experienced in Generative Engine Optimization provides significant advantages.
A qualified agency can:
- Audit your current AI visibility across multiple platforms
- Identify gaps in your online presence that prevent AI mentions
- Develop content strategies optimized for AI citation
- Build authority through strategic PR and third-party mentions
- Monitor AI visibility and adjust strategies based on results
- Integrate AI optimization with broader marketing efforts
When evaluating agencies for AI visibility work, ask about their specific experience with GEO, their approach to monitoring AI mentions, and case studies demonstrating results with businesses similar to yours.
Summary: Key Takeaways for Getting Mentioned in ChatGPT
- AI search has reached critical mass. ChatGPT has surged to 800 million weekly active users and processes billions of queries daily. Businesses that ignore AI visibility risk becoming invisible to a massive and growing audience.
- Local businesses face particular urgency. Local intent is the highest driver at 59% of ChatGPT web searches. When someone asks “What’s the best [service] near me?”, your business needs to appear in the answer.
- Foundation starts with listings and reviews. Consistent business information across Google, Bing, Yelp, and other platforms provides the data AI systems need to recommend you confidently.
- Authority matters more than keywords. Local businesses that show up in industry blogs, news articles, and trusted directories are mentioned three times more often than those that don’t.
- Content must answer questions directly. At least 75% of ChatGPT prompts that result in a search are five words or longer, reflecting conversational search patterns that require content matching how people naturally ask questions.
- The competitive window is now. Most businesses don’t even know what GEO is yet. Those who optimize now will have a competitive advantage for years.
- AI visibility reinforces traditional SEO. The factors that help you get mentioned in ChatGPT also improve your Google rankings, making AI optimization a smart investment regardless of how search evolves.
Ready to get your business mentioned in ChatGPT? Start by auditing your current online presence, optimizing your business listings, building your review profile, and creating content that directly answers the questions your customers ask. The businesses that act now will capture the AI visibility opportunity before competitors catch on.
