Can ChatGPT Recommend Your Business?
How to Improve Your Visibility in AI Search
Can ChatGPT Recommend Your Business? AI Search Guide
Learn how to improve your website, authority and online presence for better visibility across AI-powered search.
As more people use ChatGPT and other AI tools to find products, services and businesses, what can you do to make sure your business has the best possible chance of being found?
For years, businesses have asked us questions like:
“How do I get my business to the top of Google?”
Now, we’re increasingly hearing a new version of that question:
“How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?”
It’s a very good question.
People are no longer using the internet in exactly the same way they did a few years ago. Instead of always opening Google and searching through a list of websites, people can now ask conversational questions such as:
- “Who are the best web design agencies in Cork?”
- “Can you recommend an accountant for a small business in Ireland?”
- “What’s a good restaurant for a family dinner near me?”
- “Which Irish companies provide commercial solar panels?”
- “Where can I get an ADHD assessment in Cork?”
ChatGPT and other AI-powered search tools can then research the question and provide an answer, potentially including specific businesses.
So, can ChatGPT recommend your business?
Yes, potentially.
But there isn’t a form you can fill out or a button you can press to make it happen. And no reputable SEO or digital marketing agency can guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend a particular company.
What you can do is make your business easier for AI-powered search systems to find, understand and trust.
Here’s how.
1. Start With a Strong Website
AI search optimisation still starts with your website.
Your website should clearly explain:
- who you are
- what you do
- where you’re based
- where you provide your services
- who you work with
- what makes your business different
- how customers can contact you
This might sound obvious, but many websites don’t actually do it very well.
If a person can’t quickly understand your business from your website, an AI search system may struggle too.
Your homepage, About page and individual service pages should all provide clear and consistent information about your business.
Related reading: How to Optimise Your Website for AI Search
2. Make Sure ChatGPT Can Access Your Website
There’s also a technical side to this.
For your website’s content to be discoverable through ChatGPT Search, it needs to be accessible to OpenAI’s search crawler.
OpenAI uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot for search.
Website owners can control whether crawlers are allowed to access their websites through a small file called robots.txt.
You don’t need to understand the technical details yourself. Your web developer or SEO agency should be able to check this very quickly.
The important point is simple:
If you want your website to have the opportunity to appear in AI-powered search, don’t accidentally block the systems that need to discover it.
3. Don't Abandon Traditional SEO
With all the attention surrounding AI, it’s easy to assume that traditional SEO is becoming irrelevant.
It isn’t.
In fact, many of the fundamentals of good SEO are also important for AI search visibility.
These include:
- clear website structure
- descriptive page titles
- helpful content
- internal linking
- mobile-friendly design
- fast loading speeds
- accessible websites
- good technical SEO
- authoritative backlinks and mentions
- accurate local business information
The goal isn’t to choose between SEO and AI Search Optimisation.
Modern businesses increasingly need both.
Good SEO helps search engines discover and understand your website. Good AI Search Optimisation builds on those foundations by making your information easier for AI-powered platforms to interpret, summarise and potentially reference.
4. Clearly Explain Every Service You Provide
Imagine someone asks ChatGPT:
“Who provides commercial EV charging installation in Cork?”
If an electrical contractor’s website simply says:
“Providing electrical solutions for homes and businesses throughout Munster”
there isn’t much information for an AI system to work with.
A dedicated page explaining:
Commercial EV Charging Installation in Cork
would provide much stronger context.
Good service pages should explain:
- what the service is
- who it’s for
- what problems it solves
- where it’s available
- what’s included
- how the process works
- common customer questions
This doesn’t mean creating hundreds of almost identical pages purely for SEO.
It means providing genuinely useful information about the services your business actually offers.
5. Answer the Questions Your Customers Ask
This is one of the biggest opportunities for SMEs.
Think about the questions customers ask you every week.
Things like:
- How much does it cost?
- How long does it take?
- What’s included?
- Do you cover my area?
- Do I need an appointment?
- What’s the difference between these two services?
- Is this suitable for my business?
- What happens after I make an enquiry?
These questions make excellent website content.
They can be answered through:
- service pages
- FAQ sections
- blog posts
- guides
- case studies
AI search is particularly well suited to conversational questions, so creating clear answers to genuine customer questions gives your website useful information that can potentially contribute to those answers.
6. Build Authority Around What You Actually Do
One good page is useful.
A collection of genuinely helpful pages around your area of expertise is much stronger.
This is often called topical authority.
For example, a pharmacy might create useful articles about:
- hay fever
- gut health
- women’s health
- vitamins
- iron deficiency
- heartburn
A solicitor might publish guides covering:
- conveyancing
- probate
- wills
- employment law
- family law
Over time, this creates a body of useful information that helps demonstrate what the business knows and specialises in.
This is one reason blogging remains so valuable in the age of AI search.
Related reading: Do Small Businesses Still Need a Blog in 2026?
7. Give AI Reasons to Trust Your Business
If an AI system is going to recommend a business, trust matters.
Your website should contain genuine signals that demonstrate you’re a real, established organisation.
These could include:
- customer reviews & testimonials
- case studies
- examples of completed projects
- professional memberships
- qualifications
- awards & accreditations
- team profiles
- years of experience
- clear contact information
- a genuine business address where appropriate
Don’t simply tell people you’re experienced.
Show them.
For example:
“We provide excellent service and have many happy customers.”
is considerably weaker than:
“We completed 47 commercial installations across Munster during 2025.”
Specific, verifiable information provides much stronger evidence.
8. Strengthen Your Presence Beyond Your Own Website
Your website isn’t the only place where information about your business exists.
AI search systems can draw on information from across the web.
Depending on the business, that might include:
- Google Business Profile
- reputable business directories
- industry associations
- local news websites
- professional organisations
- review platforms
- social media profiles
- other websites mentioning your company
This means your wider digital footprint matters.
If your website says you’re based in Cork, your Google Business Profile says Kerry and an old directory has a previous phone number, you’re creating conflicting information.
Consistency helps establish confidence.
9. Take Your Google Business Profile Seriously
For businesses serving a particular geographic area, your Google Business Profile remains extremely important.
Keep information such as your:
- business name
- address
- phone number
- website
- opening hours
- categories
- services
- photographs
accurate and up to date.
You should also encourage genuine customers to leave reviews and respond professionally when they do.
Your Google Business Profile is an important part of your overall online presence and local search strategy.
Related reading: What Is Google Business Profile & Why Every Business Needs It.
10. Get Other Reputable Websites Talking About Your Business
Your own website will naturally say good things about your company.
Independent sources are different.
Mentions from reputable websites can help establish that your business genuinely exists and has authority within its field.
Examples might include:
- local newspapers
- industry publications
- professional associations
- suppliers
- business organisations
- event websites
- partner organisations
- relevant directories
Traditional SEO has long valued good-quality backlinks.
In the AI search era, the wider concept of online authority and third-party mentions becomes even more important.
That doesn’t mean buying hundreds of links from random websites.
Quality and relevance matter far more than quantity.
11. Use Structured Data to Help Explain Your Website
Structured data, often called schema markup, is information added behind the scenes of a website to help search engines understand what they’re looking at.
For example, structured data can help identify:
- your organisation
- articles
- products
- services
- events
- reviews
- people
- FAQs
- local business information
Visitors generally don’t see it.
Think of it as adding labels to information so machines can interpret the page more easily.
It’s not a magic AI-ranking trick, and adding schema doesn’t guarantee that your business will appear in an AI answer.
But properly implemented structured data forms part of a well-built, search-friendly website.
12. Keep Your Information Current
AI search creates another reason to keep your website up to date.
Imagine your website still lists:
- an employee who left two years ago
- services you no longer offer
- an old address
- incorrect opening hours
- outdated prices
That information could potentially be discovered and repeated elsewhere.
Review important pages regularly.
Update older articles where appropriate.
Remove information that’s no longer correct.
A website shouldn’t be something you build once and forget about.
Related reading: Why Every Business Needs a Website Care Plan.
Can You Pay ChatGPT to Recommend Your Business?
This is an important distinction.
You cannot simply pay for a higher position in ChatGPT’s organic search answers.
Businesses should therefore be very cautious about anyone promising things like:
“We’ll guarantee your company appears first on ChatGPT.”
AI search visibility is still developing, and recommendations can change depending on the question, context, location, available sources and many other factors.
The sensible approach is to improve the underlying signals that make your business a relevant and trustworthy result.
Can You Guarantee That ChatGPT Will Recommend Your Business?
No.
Neither Hashtag nor any other agency can legitimately guarantee that ChatGPT, Google AI Overview or another AI platform will recommend a particular business.
What we can do is improve the likelihood that these systems can:
- Find your business
- Understand what you do
- Identify where you operate
- Recognise your expertise
- Find evidence that supports your credibility
- Access accurate, useful information worth referencing
That’s what AI Search Optimisation is really about.
How Can You Tell if ChatGPT Is Already Finding Your Business?
You can experiment yourself.
Try asking genuinely useful questions that a potential customer might ask, rather than simply typing your company name.
For example:
- “Recommend web design agencies in Cork for a small business.”
- “Who provides [your service] in [your location]?”
- “What are some good companies for [service] in Ireland?”
- “Which businesses specialise in [your niche]?”
Try different wording and different questions.
Don’t panic if your company doesn’t appear every time. AI-generated answers aren’t fixed rankings in the same way as a traditional search results page.
For a more complete picture, businesses can also monitor website analytics for referral traffic coming from AI platforms and track visibility across a broader set of relevant prompts over time.
SEO and AI Search Should Work Together
One of the most important things for business owners to understand is that this isn’t:
SEO vs AI.
It’s increasingly:
SEO + AI Search.
The foundations overlap enormously.
A business with:
- a fast, modern website
- strong technical SEO
- useful service pages
- high-quality content
- good local visibility
- genuine reviews
- relevant authority
- accurate information
is building the right foundations for both traditional search and the emerging AI search landscape.
That’s why we’ve evolved our own approach from focusing solely on traditional SEO to SEO & AI Search Optimisation.
The goal is no longer simply to help businesses appear in a list of Google results.
It’s to help them remain visible, understandable and competitive wherever their customers choose to search.
Final Thoughts: Become a Business Worth Recommending
There’s no secret switch that makes ChatGPT recommend your company.
And that’s probably a good thing.
The businesses most likely to benefit from AI search over the long term will be those that invest in being genuinely useful, trustworthy and easy to understand online.
Build a strong website.
Explain what you do properly.
Answer customer questions.
Demonstrate real experience.
Keep your information accurate.
Build authority beyond your own website.
And continue investing in good SEO.
AI search technology will continue to change, but those principles aren’t likely to disappear.
If you’d like to understand how visible your business currently is across Google and emerging AI search platforms, Hashtag can review your existing online presence and identify practical opportunities to strengthen both your SEO and AI Search visibility.
