Plenty of people now ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode to recommend a business, instead of scrolling through a page of links. If you want your business to show up in ChatGPT when a customer asks for what you do, there’s no form to fill in, and you can’t pay for a place in its answers.
To get your business on ChatGPT and into Google’s AI answers, make sure ChatGPT and Google can read your website, understand exactly what you do and where, and find the same facts about your business everywhere else they look.
How ChatGPT and Google’s AI choose businesses to mention
ChatGPT search reads the web with its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says it can also learn about pages from third-party search providers. An AI system can only recommend a business it can find and understand. Microsoft Copilot searches with Bing. Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google’s own search index.
So when someone asks for a web designer in Dunfermline or an electrician near me, these tools look for businesses whose websites, listings and reviews clearly match the question, and they build their answers from what they find.
Google says there are no extra requirements for its AI features: a page has to be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in the search results, exactly as for ordinary search. It also says you don’t need new markup, machine-readable files or special AI text files to appear. In practice, AI search optimisation is good SEO plus a few additions.
Why it matters for a local business
- Google launched AI Mode in the UK on 29 July 2025. At its I/O conference in 2026, Google said AI Mode had passed 1 billion monthly users.
- In SparkToro’s study of US Google searches from January to April 2026, 68% ended without a click. Separately, Ahrefs found AI Overviews on about one in five of the Google results pages it checked in September 2025.
- Ahrefs found that when an AI Overview appears, the top-ranking page gets a 58% lower click-through rate on average.
When fewer people scroll down to the links, being the business the answer names is worth more.
Seven steps to get your business on ChatGPT and in Google’s AI answers
1. Make sure ChatGPT and Google can read your website
Check that your robots.txt file lets Googlebot, Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot in. OpenAI says websites that want to appear in ChatGPT search shouldn’t block OAI-SearchBot. Its training crawler, GPTBot, is separate, so you can opt out of training and still appear in ChatGPT’s answers.
Check your hosting too. Some firewalls, CDNs and bot-protection settings block AI crawlers before they ever see your robots.txt. Since August 2026, Google Search Console has also had a setting that takes a site out of AI Overviews and AI Mode, so check your site hasn’t been opted out. And put your key facts in the text of the page, so they aren’t only in images or PDFs.
2. Say plainly what you do, where and for whom
Answers are built from facts. Give each service its own page, with the service and the area in the heading, and answer the questions customers ask: what it costs, how long it takes, which towns you cover and when you’re open.
“Bathroom fitting in Dunfermline and west Fife, from £4,500, usually finished in two weeks” gives ChatGPT something to recommend. “Quality solutions for your home” gives it nothing.
3. Add FAQs that answer real questions
Use the questions customers really ask you on the phone, and answer each one in the first sentence. Short, direct answers are easy for people to read and easy for ChatGPT to quote. Our own service pages each have a set of FAQs for this reason.
4. Keep your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing complete
For local questions, the answers often show business listings and a map alongside the text. Make sure your Google Business Profile and your Bing Places for Business listing have the same name, address, phone number, opening hours and categories as your website, then add your services, photos and regular posts. Add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools as well as Google Search Console.
5. Collect reviews, and reply to them
Reviews are one of the few things AI tools can read about your business that you didn’t write yourself. Ask every happy customer, send them a direct link to make it easy, and reply to every review, good or bad.
6. Get mentioned on other websites
Local directories, your trade body, a supplier’s case study, the local paper or an event you sponsor all describe your business in someone else’s words. Keep your business name, address and phone number identical everywhere, so every mention points to the same business.
7. Check what ChatGPT says about you, and track the visits
Ask ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode and Copilot the questions your customers ask, such as “who can fix my boiler in Kirkcaldy?”, and note which businesses come up and what they say about them. In Google Analytics, look for visits from chatgpt.com: ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to the links it sends. In Search Console, clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted inside your ordinary web search figures. Since August 2026, a separate report also shows how often your pages appear in Google’s AI features.
What doesn’t work
Paying for a place in ChatGPT’s answers. ChatGPT started showing ads in the UK in June 2026, to adults on its Free and Go plans. OpenAI says the ads are always labelled as sponsored, sit apart from the answer and don’t influence what ChatGPT says.
Special AI files. Google says you don’t need new machine-readable files or markup for its AI features. An llms.txt file is optional, and no shortcut.
Thin pages written for keywords. A page that repeats “best plumber Fife” without a single fact gives ChatGPT nothing to quote.
How long does it take to show up in ChatGPT?
There’s no fixed timescale. Google says crawling a page can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and reviews and mentions build up over time. Start with your website, your Google Business Profile and your Bing Places listing this month, then ask ChatGPT the same questions again after a couple of months.
Your questions about ChatGPT and AI search
Can I pay to get my business on ChatGPT?
Not in its answers. ChatGPT has shown labelled ads to some UK users since June 2026, but OpenAI says ads don’t influence what ChatGPT recommends. Appearing in the answers comes from your website, your listings, your reviews and what other websites say about you.
Is a Google Business Profile free?
Yes. A Google Business Profile is free to set up and keep, and so is a Bing Places for Business listing. For a local business, both are worth keeping complete and up to date.
Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing?
ChatGPT search uses its own crawler, and OpenAI says it can also learn about pages from third-party search providers, without naming them. Copilot uses Bing, and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google’s own index. So make sure Google and Bing have indexed your website, keep your listings complete on both, and let OAI-SearchBot read your pages.
Will AI search replace my website?
No. AI answers are built from websites, and when someone is ready to buy, they click through to check you out, see your prices and get in touch. Google says clicks from pages with AI Overviews tend to be higher quality.
Can you help get my business on ChatGPT?
Yes. AI search is part of our SEO and digital marketing work for businesses across Fife and the rest of Scotland, including Google Business Profile management, and every website we build is SEO-ready from launch. Book a free marketing review and we’ll look at how your business shows up in Google and in AI answers, and what we’d change.
Get your business found in AI search
Call 01383 840808 or send us a message to book your free marketing review. If your website needs work first, we’ll tell you that too.
Sources
- OpenAI, Publishers and developers FAQ
- OpenAI, Testing ads in ChatGPT (9 February 2026, updated 7 May 2026)
- PPC Land, ChatGPT ads go live in the UK (6 June 2026)
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website (updated 10 December 2025)
- STV News (PA Media), Google launches AI Mode in the UK, 29 July 2025
- Google, A new era for AI Search (Elizabeth Reid, 19 May 2026)
- Google, New opportunities, control and insights for website owners (3 June 2026, updated 31 August 2026)
- Google Search Central, Ask Google to recrawl your URLs
- SparkToro, In 2026, less than one third of Google searches still send a click (Rand Fishkin, 8 June 2026)
- Ahrefs, What triggers AI Overviews? 146 million SERPs analysed (10 November 2025)
- Ahrefs, Update: AI Overviews reduce clicks by 58% (February 2026)
