Short answer: AI assistants recommend local businesses based mainly on three things: your Google Business Profile and other listings, your reviews, and your own website. Businesses that have complete, consistent listings, plenty of recent and detailed reviews, and a clear website that says exactly what they do and where, are the ones ChatGPT and Google’s AI name when customers ask who to call.
“Who’s the best HVAC company in Des Moines?” used to be a Google search followed by a scroll through the map pack and a few websites. More and more often, it’s a question typed into ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Mode, and the answer is two or three names with a sentence about each.
That shift is happening fast. In early 2026, BrightLocal’s consumer survey found that 45% of consumers had used ChatGPT or another AI tool for local business recommendations. For a plumber, dentist, roofer or restaurant, being one of the names in that answer is the new top spot.
Here is how AI assistants choose local businesses, and what you can do about it.
How AI chooses local businesses
When someone asks an AI assistant for a local recommendation, it doesn’t look up a single ranking. It runs several related searches (“best HVAC Des Moines”, “HVAC repair reviews Des Moines”, “furnace installation West Des Moines”), reads what comes back, and writes a short answer.
BrightLocal analyzed over 200,000 local searches across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, nearly 2 million citations in all. Where those answers came from:
| Source | Share of citations |
|---|---|
| Businesses’ own websites (all combined) | 42% |
| Google Business Profile | 28.5% |
| Yelp | 9.5% |
| 2.2% | |
| Tripadvisor | 1.8% |
Other sources included Mapquest, the BBB, Angi and industry-specific directories.
Two findings matter most for local businesses:
- Your website and your Google Business Profile do most of the work. Together they account for over 70% of citations.
- Ranking in the map pack doesn’t guarantee an AI recommendation. In the same study, Google Maps mentioned a tracked business in 66% of searches, but the AI platforms did so in only 32 to 38%. AI weighs reviews, websites and other listings differently.
Each assistant also has its own data partners. Google’s AI features draw on Google Business Profile and Maps. ChatGPT combines web search with business data from providers it licenses; Yelp reportedly signed a licensing deal with OpenAI in 2026 to bring its reviews and listings into ChatGPT. OpenAI doesn’t publish the full list, which is why being accurate across many listings matters.
8 steps to get recommended by AI
1. Complete your Google Business Profile
It is the single most-cited source, so treat it as your AI profile, not just your map listing:
- The right primary category and every relevant secondary one.
- Every service you offer, with short descriptions, and your full service area.
- Accurate hours, including holiday hours, phone number and website.
- Recent photos of your work, team and vehicles.
- Regular posts with updates, offers and recent work.
- Google has replaced profile Q&A with an AI “Ask” feature that answers from your profile, reviews and website, so keep the profile complete and put your FAQs on your website.
2. Make your website say exactly what you do, and where
Business websites are the largest category of AI citations combined. AI needs to find plain answers on your site:
- A page for each main service (furnace repair, AC installation, duct cleaning), not one “Services” page with a list.
- Location or service-area pages for the cities and neighborhoods you serve, with real local detail, not copied text with the city name swapped.
- Your name, address and phone number on every page, matching your listings exactly.
- Clear facts customers ask about: pricing ranges, response times, emergency availability, warranties, licenses, years in business.
- Local business schema markup so your details are machine-readable.
And make sure the content is actually readable by AI. Many AI crawlers don’t run JavaScript, so text that only appears after scripts load can be invisible to them. We cover the technical checks in how to get cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity. If your site is slow, hard to use on a phone or years out of date, a website redesign is often the fastest fix.
3. Get more reviews, and better ones
Reviews are where AI finds the words it uses to describe you. When an assistant says a company is “known for fast emergency service and fair pricing”, it got that from reviews.
- Ask every customer, every time, with a direct link. Google’s review policy doesn’t allow asking only happy customers, or offering anything in return for a review.
- Aim for a steady flow; recent reviews count more than old ones.
- Ask soon after the job, while it’s fresh. Reviews written right away tend to be more detailed, and detail gives AI something to say. Don’t script reviews or suggest what to write.
- Respond to every review, positive and negative. It shows you’re active and gives context.
4. Claim and complete your other listings
Beyond Google, make sure you are listed accurately on the sources AI draws from:
- Yelp: the second most-cited third-party source, and now reportedly feeding ChatGPT.
- Bing Places: Microsoft Copilot is built on Bing.
- Apple Business Connect: powers Apple Maps and Siri.
- Facebook, the BBB and your industry’s directories (Angi, HomeAdvisor and Houzz for home services; Healthgrades or Zocdoc for medical; Tripadvisor and OpenTable for hospitality).
- Data aggregators and map platforms such as Foursquare, which feed many other apps and assistants.
5. Keep your details identical everywhere
AI tools cross-check sources. If your website says one phone number, Yelp another, and an old directory lists a previous address, the assistant has reason to doubt you, or to recommend someone whose details agree. Audit your name, address, phone, hours and website across every listing at least once a year.
6. Earn local mentions
AI engines also read local news sites, community pages, “best of” lists and neighborhood forums. Local prominence still counts:
- Sponsor local teams and events, and get listed on their sites.
- Join your chamber of commerce and trade associations.
- Pitch local news on genuine stories: a milestone, a community project, expert advice during a heat wave.
- Get included in local “best of” roundups.
7. Understand the proximity factor
Distance still matters. In BrightLocal’s data, over half of AI recommendations were businesses within 5km of the searcher. But ChatGPT ranged much wider than Google’s AI: 90% of its picks fell within 287km, compared with 39 to 64km for Google’s platforms. A business with a strong reputation can be recommended well outside the immediate neighborhood, especially in ChatGPT.
8. Check what AI actually says about you
Ask the questions your customers ask, in the assistants they use:
- “Best [service] in [city]”
- “Emergency [service] near [neighborhood]”
- “Who should I call for [specific job] in [city]?”
- “[Your business] reviews”
Run each one a few times in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode. Note who is named, in what order, and what is said about them. If competitors appear and you don’t, compare their profiles, reviews and websites with yours. That gap is your to-do list. Answers vary between runs and locations, so one check isn’t enough; our guide on how to measure GEO explains how to track it properly.
A quick example
Imagine two HVAC companies in the same city. Both rank in the map pack. The first has 400 reviews, many mentioning “same-day furnace repair”, a website with a page for each service and each suburb it covers, and the same details on Google, Yelp and Bing. The second has 60 reviews, a one-page website, and an old phone number still listed on Yelp.
Ask ChatGPT for the best furnace repair company in that city, and the first company is far more likely to be named, and described in its customers’ own words. None of it requires a big budget. It requires being complete, consistent and well reviewed.
Where to start
This week:
- Ask ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for the best [your service] in your city, three times each.
- Fill every empty field in your Google Business Profile.
- Check that your name, address and phone match on Google, Yelp, Bing and Facebook.
- Send a review request to all of your last 20 customers.
For a full picture, including how AI recommends you city by city, which competitors it names instead, and what to fix first, see our Local GEO service. It is built on InfluenceLayer Local, our local AI visibility platform, and works best alongside local SEO.