Does ChatGPT recommend your business? How to check, and how to fix what it gets wrong

A homeowner in Newtown with a leaking water heater used to type "plumber near me" into Google. Now a growing number of them ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Mode, "Who's a reliable plumber near Newtown, PA who can come today?" The assistant answers with two or three names and a sentence about each.

If your business isn't one of those names, or the sentence about you is wrong, you'd want to know. Here's how to check, where the answers come from and what you can fix.

One honest note before we start: nobody controls AI answers. Not us, not any agency. What you can control is the information those assistants read, and that turns out to be a lot.

Where the answers come from

Each assistant gathers local information a little differently. This is what the companies have said publicly, as of October 2026.

Assistant	Where local answers mostly come from	What that means for you
ChatGPT	Web search through OpenAI's own crawler (OAI-SearchBot) and third-party search providers, plus map and business data partners. Uses your rough location from your IP address, or precise location if you share it.	Your website must allow OAI-SearchBot, and your listings beyond Google need to be right.
Gemini	Google Search and Google Maps data	Your Google Business Profile and website carry most of the weight.
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode	Google's search index and Business Profile data. Google says there are no extra requirements to appear beyond normal Search eligibility. AI Mode rolled out across the US in May 2025.	Normal local SEO is the work. No special file or markup is required.
Perplexity	Its own web search, with numbered sources shown under each answer	You can see exactly which pages it read.
Microsoft Copilot	Bing search and Bing's local listings	Your Bing Places listing matters more than most owners think.

The pattern is clear enough: assistants lean on the same sources a careful customer would check. Your profiles, your reviews, what directories and local sites say, and your own website.

A repeatable prompt list

Run these in each assistant. Swap in your service and towns. Keep the wording identical every month so the results are comparable.

1. "Who is the best [service] in [town], PA?"
2. "I need [specific job] near [nearby town]. Who should I call?"
3. "Which [service] companies in [county] have the best reviews?"
4. "Is [your business name] any good?"
5. "What does [your business name] charge for [common job]?"
6. "What are the hours and service area for [your business name]?"
7. "Compare [your business name] and [main competitor]."
8. "Who does [service] in Northeast Philadelphia and also covers [Bucks County town]?"

Prompts 1 to 3 tell you whether you're recommended. Prompts 4 to 7 tell you whether the facts are right. Prompt 8 tests the edge of your service area.

How to run the test fairly

• Use a private or logged-out window where you can, so past chats don't sway the answer.
• Note where you are when you run it. A search from Doylestown and one from Feasterville can differ.
• Save each answer with the date, and click every source link the assistant shows.
• Run the same list monthly, not daily. Single answers wobble; trends don't.

What sources they cite

When we run these prompts for local businesses in Bucks County and Philadelphia, the sources behind the answers usually fall into five groups.

• Business profiles. Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Apple's business listings. These supply hours, phone numbers, categories and ratings.
• Review sites. Google reviews, Yelp, Facebook and the BBB. Assistants often summarize what reviewers say ("known for fast response times").
• Directories. Industry directories for your trade and general ones. These confirm the basics match.
• "Best of" lists and local coverage. Roundups on local news and community sites, and threads on forums and neighborhood apps. A mention in an honest local roundup carries real weight.
• Your website. Service pages, town pages, an about page and FAQs. When an assistant quotes a specific fact, it often comes from here.

If your website says one thing and three directories say another, the assistant may repeat the directories. That's why consistent local citations matter even more now.

How to fix wrong facts

Wrong hours, an old phone number, a service you dropped years ago. These come from somewhere, and the fix is at the source.

1. Find the source. Click the citations in Perplexity, ChatGPT and AI Mode. If none are shown, ask the assistant where the information came from.
2. Fix it there. Update the directory, the profile or the page. Claim listings you don't control yet.
3. Fix your own site. Put your hours, service area, phone and services in plain text on your website, and mark them up with structured data.
4. Send feedback. ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers all have a thumbs-down or feedback option. It doesn't fix things alone, but it helps.
5. Check again next month. Assistants refresh on their own schedule. Some fixes show within days, others take a few weeks.

An llms.txt file can also give AI tools a short, accurate summary of your business. Google says it ignores the file, so treat it as a small extra, not a fix.

How to become the business they name

There's no trick that makes an assistant pick you. What works is being the clearest, best documented and best reviewed option for the question asked.

• A complete Google Business Profile with the right categories and every service listed.
• Accurate listings on Bing Places, Apple, Yelp, Facebook and the main directories for your trade.
• A steady flow of detailed reviews, with a reply to each one. Our guide on getting more Google reviews covers how to ask.
• A page for each main service and each town you serve, with specific answers: prices or price ranges, timelines, what's included.
• Your website open to AI search crawlers in robots.txt.
• Real reasons for local sites to mention you: sponsorships, community work, expert quotes.

If the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO is confusing, our post on GEO vs SEO sorts it out. Short version: for a local business, most of the work is shared.

What we won't promise

We won't promise that ChatGPT will name you, or name you first. Nobody can. Our AI search optimization work fixes the sources assistants read, then tracks the same prompts every month so you can see what changed.

What to do next

Run the eight prompts above this week and save the answers. If you'd like a second pair of eyes, our free visibility audit includes an AI answer check alongside your Google map results.