# How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT > ChatGPT recommends local businesses from web search, listing providers like Yelp, and directories. Let its crawler in, fix your listings, and publish the facts. ChatGPT recommends a local business after it searches the web, reads business listings from third party providers such as Yelp, and checks directories and your own site. To get named, let OpenAI's search crawler reach your site, make your listings complete and consistent, and publish the facts a customer asks about in plain text. Then ask ChatGPT the questions your customers ask and see who it names. - **44%** of US adults have used ChatGPT, up from 34% a year earlier. It is the most used chatbot in the US. (Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026, June 2026, n=5,119) - **31%** of US consumers have used ChatGPT to find a local business recommendation. (BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, Feb 2026) - **40.9%** of ChatGPT's local citations come from directories, the highest share of any engine. 26.9% come from business sites. (Yext, 491,972 local queries, Feb to Aug 2026) ## Where ChatGPT gets local business information When a question needs current facts, ChatGPT searches the web and writes an answer with links. OpenAI's crawler for this is called OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says sites that block it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, so a robots.txt rule or a firewall setting can remove you before anything else counts. For nearby businesses, OpenAI's help center says ChatGPT may share your approximate location with trusted third party providers that supply business listings, and that the phone apps can show a map. OpenAI has not published the full list of those providers. For business workspaces it names Bing as a search provider. One provider is confirmed. In August 2026 Yelp said its integration surfaces Yelp reviews, ratings, photos and business details inside ChatGPT, and it added Yelp reservations and waitlists. Independent tracking of ChatGPT's map pins for hotels found them coming from Google Places, Yelp, Foursquare and Tripadvisor. That study covered one category and OpenAI has not confirmed it, but it points the same way. ChatGPT builds its picture of you from several outside sources, not one. ## What ChatGPT appears to weigh OpenAI does not publish a ranking formula for local answers. What the public studies show is consistent. ChatGPT cites directories more than any other engine does, it names around four businesses in a typical local answer, and it explains each pick with a reason drawn from what it read. Those reasons are usually plain facts. You serve the customer's area. You do the exact job they asked about. You show a price or how you quote. You can come soon. Reviews on the sites it reads say good things about that job. When two sources disagree on your phone number or hours, it has a reason to name someone else. > ChatGPT can only recommend what it can read. A blocked crawler or a stale listing ends the conversation before your reviews matter. ## The checklist 1. **Let OAI-SearchBot reach your site** Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and make sure OAI-SearchBot is not disallowed. Check your host or CDN bot settings too, since some block AI crawlers by default. OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to apply. 2. **Claim and complete your Yelp page** Claim it at biz.yelp.com. Set the right categories, hours, service area, phone and website, add real photos, write the specialties section in plain words, and reply to reviews. Yelp is the one listing source confirmed inside ChatGPT. 3. **Claim Bing Places and keep Google current** Claim your listing at bing.com/forbusiness, where you can import from Google. Keep your Google Business Profile accurate as well, since Google Places data has shown up in ChatGPT's map pins. Same name, address, phone and hours on both. 4. **Fix the directories for your trade** Check the BBB, your trade's association and licensing listings, and the directories that appear when you search your business name. Tripadvisor matters if you serve travelers. Update every wrong phone, hour or old address. 5. **Publish the deciding facts on your site** One page per main service. On each, the towns and ZIP codes you cover, a starting price or how you quote, your hours, whether you do same day or emergency work, and your license numbers. Write it as text, not inside images, PDFs or pop ups. 6. **Earn mentions outside your own site** Local news, chamber of commerce pages, best of lists and supplier directories give ChatGPT something independent to cite. Ask happy customers to mention the job and the town in their reviews. 7. **Give it a next step to hand over** A booking or quote link that works on a phone without a login. When ChatGPT names you, the customer needs somewhere to go other than a phone tree. ## How to check whether ChatGPT recommends you today Open a new ChatGPT chat with search on and ask what a customer would ask. Put the town or ZIP code in the question, as OpenAI suggests for local results. Try a few shapes of question. Try "Who is the best water heater installer in Tulsa?", then "My AC stopped working in 74133, who can come today and what will it cost?", then "Compare [your business] and [a competitor] for a roof replacement." Finish with "Is [your business] a good choice for [your main job]?" For each answer, note whether you were named, the reason given for each pick, and which sources it linked. Click those links. A wrong fact in the answer usually traces back to one of them. Ask each question more than once, because answers change from run to run. Doing this properly takes many questions, repeated, and read side by side. Our free pick report runs real customer questions through AI assistants and shows who gets picked and why, including where you were passed over. ## Questions ### How do I get my business on ChatGPT? There is no form to submit. Make sure OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot can crawl your site, claim your Yelp, Bing Places and Google listings, keep the facts the same everywhere, and publish your services, area, prices and hours as text on your site. ChatGPT finds you through search and listing providers. ### Does ChatGPT use my Google Business Profile? OpenAI has not said so. It says it uses third party providers for nearby business listings without naming them all. Tracking of ChatGPT's hotel map pins found Google Places data among them, so keeping your Google profile accurate is a safe bet. It is not the only source ChatGPT reads. ### Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT? No. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in February 2026, and it says ads are labeled, kept separate from answers, and do not influence what ChatGPT recommends. The recommendation itself cannot be bought. ### Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitor and not me? Usually because it found something about them that it could not find about you. A clear service area, a price, same day availability or more reviews that mention the job. Ask ChatGPT why it picked them. The reason it gives is often the fix. ### How long does it take for ChatGPT to show changes? OpenAI says crawler permission changes take about 24 hours. A fixed page can show up in search answers within days. Changes on third party listings depend on when those providers refresh, which can take weeks. ### Does blocking GPTBot keep me out of ChatGPT recommendations? Not by itself. GPTBot collects content for model training. OAI-SearchBot is the crawler that decides whether your pages can appear in ChatGPT search. You can block one and allow the other. ## See who ChatGPT would name for your customers' questions. Get a free pick report. We run real customer questions through AI assistants and show who gets picked, why, and what to fix first. Get a free pick report: https://pickedbyagents.com/#report ## Related - [ChatGPT SEO](https://pickedbyagents.com/services/chatgpt-seo) - [Free ChatGPT check](https://pickedbyagents.com/services/does-chatgpt-recommend-my-business) - [OpenAI dots](https://pickedbyagents.com/services/openai-dots) - [Google Business Profile](https://pickedbyagents.com/services/google-business-profile-for-ai) - [Guide for owners](https://pickedbyagents.com/guides/get-recommended-by-google-ai) - [Guide for owners](https://pickedbyagents.com/guides/get-recommended-by-copilot) - [Perplexity guide](https://pickedbyagents.com/guides/get-recommended-by-perplexity) - [How AI assistants choose](https://pickedbyagents.com/how-ai-picks) Source page: https://pickedbyagents.com/guides/get-recommended-by-chatgpt