Will ChatGPT recommend your business?

It might, but only if it can find clear, consistent and trusted information about you. ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Google's AI Mode do not keep a list of favourite businesses. When someone asks for a recommendation, they search the web, read what they find and summarise it. The businesses that get named are the ones with accurate listings, good recent reviews and a website that says plainly what they do and where.

So the question is not really about AI. It is whether your business is described clearly enough, in enough places, for a machine to be confident about it.

People are already asking

In March 2026, BrightLocal published a survey of 1,002 US consumers. 45% had used an AI tool for local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6% the year before. ChatGPT was the most used, by 31%, followed by Google's AI Mode at 23%.

It is a US survey, so treat the exact figures with care. But the same survey found something useful for any business owner: 88% of people who use AI for recommendations check what they are told, most often against reviews. The assistant puts you on the shortlist. Your reviews and your website still win the booking.

Where the answers come from

There is no single "AI listing" to fill in. Each assistant draws on sources you can already influence:

• Microsoft Copilot answers from Bing, so your Bing Places listing and how Bing sees your website matter directly.
• ChatGPT has used Bing for its web search since Microsoft announced it as the default search engine in 2023. OpenAI does not publish exactly which sources it uses today, but local search specialists consistently point to Bing Places, review sites, directories and business websites.
• Gemini and Google's AI Mode draw on Google's own index and Google Business Profiles. Google's AI Overviews have been seen quoting individual reviews from Business Profiles.
• Perplexity searches the web for each question and shows the pages it used.

Why rural and heritage businesses get missed

Most of the reasons are ordinary, and most are fixable:

• No Bing listing. Plenty of businesses have set up Google and never touched Bing Places, which leaves Copilot, and possibly ChatGPT, with less to go on.
• Few or old reviews. A shoot or a holiday let with six reviews from 2022 gives an assistant little reason to be confident.
• A website that does not say it in words. A homepage with a beautiful photo and "Welcome to the estate", with the details in a PDF, tells a machine very little. It needs plain text: what you offer, where, for whom, roughly what it costs and how to book.
• Details that do not match. An old phone number on one directory and a different address on another makes every source less trustworthy.
• Nobody else mentions you. Local press, tourism sites, association listings and suppliers' pages all count as evidence that you exist and are good at what you do.

Five things to check this week

1. Ask the assistants yourself. Ask ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini the question a customer would, such as "guided fly fishing near Winchester" or "farm shop with a café near Romsey". Note whether you appear and what they say about you.
2. Claim Bing Places. It is free, and you can import your details straight from your Google Business Profile in about 15 minutes.
3. Bring your Google Business Profile up to date. Check your categories, seasonal opening hours, services and prices, and add recent photos.
4. Ask your last ten customers for a review, and reply to every review you get, good or bad.
5. Read your homepage as a stranger would. Does it say, in words, what you do, where, for whom and how to book? If not, that is the first thing to fix.

While you are at it, check that your business name, address and phone number are written the same way everywhere they appear.

What no one can promise

AI answers change with the wording of the question, the person asking and the day. No one can guarantee that an assistant will name your business, and anyone who promises a "guaranteed ChatGPT ranking" is selling something they cannot deliver.

Do not be tempted by shortcuts either. Fake reviews are banned under UK consumer law and against Google's rules, and they can get a profile suspended. The slow, honest work is the only kind that lasts.

Sources

• BrightLocal: Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, AI and trust (March 2026; 1,002 US adults)
• GeekWire: Microsoft Bing will become ChatGPT's default search engine (May 2023)
• Local Falcon: ChatGPT local search data sources (November 2025)
• DAC: Google AI Overviews begin citing individual Business Profile reviews (October 2025)

Checked on 26 October 2026. AI assistants change quickly, so some details may have moved on.