ChatGPT Now Sends Customers: How to Get Your Business Recommended

I recently asked in a Facebook group for beauty salon owners where their new clients come from. I expected “referrals” and “Instagram”. I got those, but two owners wrote something I didn't expect: “Google and ChatGPT”. One added that ChatGPT recommends salons based on their Google rating.

This isn't a passing trend. People no longer just type “nail salon Ghent” into Google. They ask ChatGPT “Who's a good nail salon in Ghent that's open on Saturdays?” and get two or three names back. The question is whether yours is one of them.

How many people already ask AI about businesses

According to BrightLocal's annual survey for 2026, the share of people who use ChatGPT and other AI tools to find a local business jumped from 6% to 45% in a single year. AI is now the third most-used source of business recommendations — after Google and Facebook. The survey is from the US, but the direction is clear in Europe too: AI Mode in Google Search is now available across Europe, and ChatGPT is used everywhere.

People don't trust AI blindly, though. According to the same survey, 59% treat the AI-generated review summaries they see (on Google, for example) only as a starting point — then they check the ratings and read the reviews themselves. Just 23% would decide on the summary alone. In other words, AI draws up the shortlist, and your reviews and website decide who gets the call.

How ChatGPT decides who to recommend

ChatGPT doesn't keep a ready-made ranking of businesses. When you ask it about a salon or a dentist, it searches the web there and then — through pages crawled by OpenAI's own bot and through results from other search engines, including Bing and Google. Then it picks the most relevant ones and summarises them. Gemini and Google's AI Mode do the same, but with Google's data and Google Maps.

Where does the information come from? A BrightLocal study of 800 local searches in ChatGPT (US, late 2024) found that:

• 58% of the sources were the businesses' own websites
• 27% were mentions in articles, media and rankings
• 15% were business directories

So your own website is the most important source. Without one, AI has to rely only on what others have written about you.

One more figure: according to SOCi's 2026 index, based on nearly 350,000 locations of chains and franchises, ChatGPT recommended only 1.2% of them, and Gemini 11%. By comparison, the same locations appeared in Google's map pack of three businesses 35.9% of the time. AI is far pickier than Google and shows only a handful of names. The good news is that most of what helps you get on that list costs nothing — just a little time.

7 things you can do this week

1. A website with clear text, not just photos

AI search relies on text. If your services, prices and opening hours exist only in an image or an Instagram post, it most likely won't see them at all. Your website should say clearly, in words:

• what you do (the specific services, not “we offer high-quality solutions”)
• where you are: city, neighbourhood, address
• who the service is for
• approximate prices
• opening hours and how to book

The clearer it is, the easier it is for AI to match you with someone's question.

2. A complete Google profile and reviews

Fill in everything in your Google Business Profile: category, services, opening hours, photos, phone, a link to your website. Ask happy clients for a review, ideally right after their visit. Reply to reviews, including the bad ones, calmly and to the point. The owner from the group was right that your Google rating affects AI too: Gemini and Google's AI Mode take their data straight from Google Maps.

3. Reviews beyond Google

AI doesn't only look at Google. Reviews on Facebook, Fresha, Treatwell, Doctolib, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and similar platforms are signals too. If your clients are used to leaving reviews on one of them, encourage them there.

4. Don't forget Bing

ChatGPT also uses Bing's results, and Microsoft's Copilot — built into Windows and Edge — searches there directly. Search for your business name on Bing. If nothing comes up, add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools. It's free, and if you already use Google Search Console it takes minutes, because you can import your site from there. If your website doesn't show up on Google either, see the 7 most common reasons and how to fix them.

5. The same details everywhere

Your name, address and phone number should be identical on Google, Facebook, your website and every directory. If you're “Anna's Salon” in one place and “Anna Beauty” in another, and the phone number is out of date, AI can't be sure it's the same business — and it's more likely to pick someone else.

6. Don't block AI search

Some websites block AI bots, sometimes without the owner knowing — for example through a setting in the site's security service. OpenAI states clearly that websites blocking its search bot (OAI-SearchBot) are not shown in ChatGPT's answers. If you want ChatGPT to recommend you, that bot has to be allowed. Ask your developer to check the robots.txt file and the security settings.

7. Questions and answers on your website

People ask AI in full sentences: “Do you take walk-ins?”, “Is there parking?”, “How much is a gel manicure?”. If your website has a section with questions like these and short answers, AI can find the exact answer and point to you. It's worth marking that section up with structured data (FAQ) too, which helps search engines understand the content. Your developer will know how.

How to check whether you're being recommended

Run a test yourself — it takes 5 minutes. Open ChatGPT (with web search on), Gemini or Google's AI Mode and ask the question the way a customer would:

• “Who's a good nail salon in Ghent?”
• “Recommend a dentist in Valencia who also works on Saturdays.”
• “A guest house in the Dolomites with a garden and a barbecue.”

See which businesses come up and which sources the AI cites. If you're not there but a competitor is, open their website and profiles. More often than not, the difference is one of the 7 things above.

What doesn't work

• Promises of “first place in ChatGPT”. Nobody can guarantee it, because the answers change with the question and with the person asking.
• Bought or fake reviews. They're easy to spot, they're explicitly banned in the EU, and AI and the platforms keep getting better at catching them.
• Text written for robots. If a website is hard for people to understand, AI won't like it either. Write for your customers, clearly and specifically.

In short

AI doesn't replace good service or word of mouth. But when someone hears about you or looks for you, more and more often they ask an AI assistant too. A clear website, a complete Google profile, reviews in several places and consistent details everywhere make your business easy to recommend.

Run a beauty salon or a guest house? See what's included in a beauty salon website and a guest house website with bookings.

If you'd like to know how your business looks on Google and in AI search, get a free audit. I'll tell you what to fix first, with no obligation. I build fast websites that are ready for AI search, from €300, and you pay once the website is finished.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT? No. ChatGPT now shows ads, but they're kept separate from the answers and always labelled as ads — according to OpenAI, advertising doesn't influence the answers. The recommendations themselves depend on what AI finds online: your website, your reviews and mentions of you.

Do I need a website if I have a Facebook page? It's strongly recommended. Businesses' own websites are the most common source ChatGPT uses for local searches. A Facebook page helps, but it doesn't replace a website.

How long does it take before AI starts recommending me? It depends. Changes to your website and profiles usually show up within weeks, because search engines first have to crawl them. Reviews build up over time, so it's worth starting now.

Does website speed matter? Yes. A slow website is bad for visitors, and for search engines too. Test your website speed here.

Sources

• BrightLocal: Local Consumer Review Survey 2026
• BrightLocal: Uncovering ChatGPT Search Sources
• Search Engine Land: SOCi Local Visibility Index 2026
• Peec: where ChatGPT gets its search results
• OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot)
• OpenAI: ChatGPT ads expand across Europe
• Google: AI Mode in Google Search, countries and languages