How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity (12 Steps)

Nobody can pay to be recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity. What you can do is make your business the easiest one for them to find, understand and trust. This is the 12-step checklist we use, written so a small business owner can follow it without a developer.

Quick answer: To get recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity: test what they say about you now, make your business facts identical everywhere, open each page with a direct answer, publish prices and comparisons, add schema, name a real author, allow the right crawlers, complete your Google Business Profile, earn mentions on other sites, publish a few deep original pages, and re-test monthly. There is no guaranteed method, but these steps improve your odds.

The 12 steps

Step 1: Test what AI says about you today

Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity ten questions: five about your service in your area, three comparing you with competitors, two about your own business name. Record who is named and what is wrong or missing.

Step 2: Fix your facts first

Write down the exact name, address, phone, hours, services, areas and price ranges you want known. Make your website, Google Business Profile and directory listings match word for word.

Step 3: Open every page with a direct answer

Put a two or three sentence answer under the main heading, in plain words, with specifics: what, where, for whom, how much. Then add detail below.

Step 4: Write headings as questions

"How much does a website cost in Mumbai?" beats "Pricing". Answer in the first sentence under each heading.

Step 5: Publish prices and comparisons

AI tools love tables. Show price ranges, what is included and how you compare with alternatives. Hiding prices makes you easy to skip.

Step 6: Add structured data

Use schema for your organisation, local business, services, articles and FAQs. Validate it, and keep it matching the visible text.

Step 7: Name a real author

Show who wrote the page, their role and experience, and a last-updated date. It signals accountability.

Step 8: Let the right crawlers in

Check robots.txt does not block the crawlers of tools you want, such as Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Make sure key content loads without heavy scripts.

Step 9: Build your Google Business Profile

Complete services, areas, photos and description. Collect honest reviews that mention the service and the area.

Step 10: Earn mentions on other sites

Get listed on relevant directories, industry sites and local publications, and take part in communities where your customers ask questions. Third party mentions matter.

Step 11: Create a few deep, original pages

Publish guides with real data, real examples and your own process. Original information is what gets quoted.

Step 12: Measure every month

Re-run the same ten questions, log who is named, and track the change. Also watch referrals from AI tools in your analytics.

Copy-paste prompts for your monthly test

DiscoveryI need [service] in [area, Mumbai] with a budget of about [amount]. Which 3 businesses would you recommend, and why? List your sources.

ComparisonCompare [your business] with [competitor] for [service] in [area]. Where is each stronger?

Your own nameWhat do you know about [your business name] in [city]? Who runs it, what does it offer and what does it cost?

Question styleHow much does [service] cost in Mumbai, and what should I check before hiring someone?

Write the results in a simple table each month: tool, question, businesses named, sources cited, whether you appear. After three months you will see which fixes moved the needle.

Common mistakes

Keyword stuffing. AI tools read meaning, not repetition.
Hiding facts in images or PDFs. Put prices, menus and timings in real text.
Inconsistent details. Two phone numbers or two spellings create doubt.
Fake reviews or fake awards. They harm trust with both people and platforms.
Expecting instant results. Crawling, indexing and trust take weeks to months.
Treating it as separate from SEO. Most of this list also helps Google. See GEO vs SEO vs AEO.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my business to show up in ChatGPT?

Make your business easy to find and describe: a crawlable website with answer-first pages, consistent facts across your site and listings, structured data, honest reviews and mentions on other trusted sites. Then test regularly. There is no way to pay for or force a mention.

Can I submit my website to ChatGPT?

There is no submission form that guarantees inclusion. ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Gemini find pages through their own crawling and search partners, so the way in is to be crawlable, clear and credible.

Should I block AI crawlers?

Only if you do not want to be included. Blocking the crawlers of AI search tools makes it harder for them to read and cite your pages. Training crawlers and search crawlers can be controlled separately, so check each one.

What is llms.txt and do I need it?

llms.txt is a plain text file that summarises your site for AI tools. It is cheap to add, but no major engine has confirmed it relies on it, so treat it as optional and do not expect results from it alone.

How do I know if it is working?

Keep a fixed list of ten test questions, ask them monthly in each tool, and record whether your business is named, how it is described and which pages are cited. Also check AI referral traffic in analytics.

Prefer to have it done? See our GEO marketing agency in Mumbai page. New to the topic? Start with what GEO is.