How to Get Your Business Recommended in ChatGPT for Local Searches

A strong Contact page should clearly state the company’s full name, telephone number, email address and location. Where customers can visit the premises, the complete physical address should be visible in ordinary page text rather than placed only inside an image or interactive map. Opening hours, appointment requirements, accessibility information and links to directions can also help potential customers understand whether the business is suitable before making contact. For service-area companies that do not receive customers at an office, the page should explain where the company is based and which towns, cities or regions it serves.

The objective is to remove ambiguity. A consultancy that says it works “across the UK” may still need to explain that it is based in Leeds and regularly supports clients in Yorkshire, Manchester and London. A solicitor with several branches should provide a dedicated contact page for each office rather than presenting one telephone number and leaving the locations unclear. This information helps customers, search engines and AI systems connect the company with a genuine place. It also creates a reliable source against which external listings and directory profiles can be compared.

Local visibility becomes harder when the same company is described differently across the web. One directory might use an old trading name, another may show a previous address and a third could list services that are no longer offered. These inconsistencies do not prove that ChatGPT will exclude the business, but they create unnecessary uncertainty when systems attempt to identify the organisation and determine whether it is relevant to a local question.

Use one standard version of the company name wherever possible and regularly review important listings for outdated details. The address, telephone number, website and description should agree with the current website. For businesses with multiple locations, each office should have a distinct page and clearly associated contact information. This is not about forcing exactly the same promotional paragraph onto every profile. It is about ensuring that the basic facts remain stable wherever a customer or AI platform encounters the company.

A business serving several areas may benefit from location-specific service pages, but those pages need to provide something useful. Replacing the name of one city with another across dozens of otherwise identical pages is unlikely to help customers and can create a weak website. A worthwhile page should explain which services are available in that location, how customers are supported, whether the business has a physical presence there and what relevant experience it has within the area.

An accountant might publish a page explaining its support for technology start-ups in Manchester, including local experience, relevant tax considerations and examples of the companies it serves. A marketing agency could explain its work with hospitality businesses across Leeds and Yorkshire. A cybersecurity consultancy serving clients nationally could create a Leeds page that establishes its local base while making clear that delivery is available remotely across the UK. The purpose is to connect the service with the location honestly, not to imply that the company has offices it does not operate.

Although OpenAI has not stated that a Google Business Profile directly determines ChatGPT recommendations, maintaining one is still an important part of local information management. Google says businesses with complete and accurate profiles are more likely to appear in relevant local Search and Maps results. It recommends keeping addresses, telephone numbers, categories and opening hours current, while its local ranking guidance identifies relevance, distance and prominence as the main factors within Google’s own local results. Reviews, ratings and links from other websites can contribute to prominence in that specific Google context.

Bing Places should also be claimed and checked. Microsoft directs businesses to Bing Places when they need to add or change information shown in Bing Maps search results, including core listing details such as the business name, address, category, telephone number and website. Maintaining both platforms is sensible because it reduces the number of places where old or conflicting business information can remain visible. However, neither profile should be described as a guaranteed ChatGPT ranking factor unless OpenAI confirms that relationship.

A company describing itself as the leading provider in its region is making a first-party claim. The same company being positively reviewed by customers, listed by a respected professional body and discussed by established local publications creates a broader evidence base. AI systems can encounter information through websites other than the company’s own domain, so independent sources can influence how confidently the organisation is understood.

Google openly states that its Business Profiles can combine information supplied by business owners with crawled website content, licensed third-party data, user contributions, photographs and reviews. That is Google’s documented process rather than a confirmed explanation of ChatGPT, but it illustrates why local information rarely comes from one source alone. Businesses should invite genuine customers to leave honest reviews, maintain relevant professional listings and seek credible local coverage where there is a real story or contribution. Artificial reviews, purchased recommendations and irrelevant directory submissions may add volume without creating trustworthy evidence.

Location alone is not enough. ChatGPT also needs evidence that the business is relevant to the service being requested. A company may be clearly based in Leeds but still fail to appear for “cybersecurity consultants in Leeds for medium-sized businesses” because its website does not explain that expertise, customer type or service in sufficient detail.

An accountant should define the industries and financial services it supports. A consultant should explain the business problems addressed and the types of organisation served. A solicitor should connect each office with the relevant practice areas and make regulatory information easy to verify. Cybersecurity companies should avoid relying entirely on technical acronyms and should also explain the outcomes customers seek, such as protecting exposed assets, meeting compliance requirements or responding to a security incident. Marketing agencies should clarify whether they specialise in local lead generation, B2B demand, paid media, SEO or AI visibility. These details make the business easier to match with a specific request than a generic statement about delivering excellent service.

OpenAI says any public website can appear within ChatGPT search. To help content be discovered, surfaced and clearly cited, website owners should make sure they are not blocking OAI-SearchBot from the relevant pages. OpenAI also adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links, allowing businesses to identify visits from ChatGPT within analytics tools.

Allowing access does not guarantee that a page will be cited or that the company will be recommended. It simply removes one possible barrier. Businesses should also check that their location and service pages are indexable, internally linked and available as ordinary HTML text. Important details should not be hidden entirely inside images, scripts or downloadable documents. A clear website benefits both human visitors and the systems attempting to interpret what the company offers.

Consider an accountancy firm that wants to appear when a business owner asks ChatGPT for accountants specialising in technology companies near Manchester. Its website should make the Manchester location clear, explain its work with technology clients and provide evidence through case studies, reviews and professional credentials. A general page saying only that the firm supports businesses with tax and accounts may not create enough distinction from hundreds of alternatives.

A solicitor might need separate office and practice-area pages so that ChatGPT can connect family law services with the correct town. A cybersecurity consultancy may serve the entire UK remotely but still benefit from clearly establishing its Leeds headquarters and local client experience. A marketing agency could explain that it supports hospitality businesses across Yorkshire rather than describing itself simply as a full-service agency. In each case, the business needs a combination of place, service, audience and evidence. Local recommendation visibility is more likely to improve when all four are easy to identify.

The only reliable way to understand current ChatGPT visibility is to test realistic local prompts. Start with the questions a customer may ask before making contact, such as “Who are the best accountants for a small technology company near Manchester?”, “Which Leeds cybersecurity consultancies work with SMEs?” or “Can you recommend a family solicitor near Harrogate?” Record whether the business appears, where it is positioned, how it is described, which competitors are included and which sources are linked.

The same question should be tested more than once and with different levels of specificity. Compare “marketing agencies near me” with “B2B marketing agencies in Leeds that understand cybersecurity companies”. Test the relevant towns, cities and service areas, then repeat the process after important website or profile changes. One favourable response does not prove consistent visibility because ChatGPT answers can vary. A useful monitoring process looks for repeated patterns across prompts and over time.

A business being named is only one possible outcome. It may be cited as a source without being recommended, included near the end of a long list or described using outdated information. Local monitoring should therefore examine the quality of the appearance as well as its existence.

Record whether the location is correct, whether the right services are mentioned and whether the reasons for recommendation match the company’s intended positioning. Compare the language used for competitors and identify which external sources support their inclusion. This can expose practical gaps. A rival may have stronger reviews, clearer location pages or more consistent listings. The objective is not to copy that competitor, but to understand why ChatGPT appears more confident presenting it as a suitable local option.

There is currently no published method that guarantees a business will be recommended by ChatGPT for a local search. OpenAI’s June update confirms that location context and local-business information now play a more visible role in how answers are presented, but it does not disclose a fixed formula for selection.

The most defensible strategy is to make the business easy to identify, easy to locate and easy to verify. That means maintaining clear Contact and location pages, consistent company information, accurate local profiles, credible reviews, useful service content and relevant third-party evidence. Businesses should then test the prompts that matter and monitor whether their representation improves.

AwarenessAI’s AI visibility plans help businesses test local and service-led prompts across major AI platforms, compare competitor recommendations, analyse the sources influencing answers and identify prioritised actions for improving how the company is understood and recommended.