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How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

Published 9 October 2026

You cannot flip a setting that makes ChatGPT recommend your business. In about 15 minutes you can ask the questions a local customer would ask, with web search on, and write down whether you are named, only mentioned, or absent. The same session is long enough to check whether your site can be crawled and whether your public name, city, and phone agree with each other. Claiming a new listing often takes longer than 15 minutes, so run the check first and fix what those answers point at. OpenAI says placement in search results is not guaranteed, and answers can be incomplete or out of date.

This page is a self check for the owner of a local business, in any trade. The sample lines use a plumber in Tampa only to show the shape of a prompt. Swap in your trade and your city. NamedScan is not affiliated with OpenAI, and ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI.

Set up the check

Plan on about two minutes. You need your business name as it appears on your website, the city you serve, one job customers pay you for, and a notes file.

  1. Open chatgpt.com. You can stay signed out. OpenAI says people who are not signed in can use web search, and that web search is available on Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu. A signed out chat also avoids saved memories. OpenAI says memories can change the search query ChatGPT writes.
  2. Start a new chat for every prompt below. An earlier answer sitting in the thread can shape the next one.
  3. Turn on Search. OpenAI's steps are: open the conversation, select View all tools, select Search, then send the question. You can also type / in the message box and select Search. ChatGPT may search on its own when a question needs current information. Turn Search on anyway so this test is using the web.
  4. If you use a VPN, turn it off for this check. OpenAI says a VPN or your network location can change the approximate place it infers from your IP address. Device location sharing is optional and off by default.
  5. The blank score sheet is under "Mark named, mentioned, or absent." Copy it into your notes before you send prompt 1. Record the first answer. Do not regenerate until your name appears and then count that later answer.

Ask these four prompts

Plan on about five minutes. Prompts 1 to 3 are what a customer asks when they do not know your name. Prompt 4 asks for you on purpose. That split is the whole point: findable when someone types your name is not the same as recommended.

Example, if you were a plumber in Tampa. Harbor Street Plumbing is not a real business. It only shows where your name goes.

Prompt 1. The open recommendation

What are the best plumbers in Tampa, Florida?

Your version: What are the best [your trade] in [your city, state]?

Prompt 2. A job a customer pays for

I need a plumber in Tampa, Florida to replace a leaking water heater. Which local companies should I call?

Your version: I need a [your trade] in [your city, state] to [one job customers pay you for]. Which local companies should I call?

Prompt 3. A ZIP or neighborhood

Who is a good plumber near 33602 in Tampa, Florida?

Your version: Who is a good [your trade] near [your ZIP or neighborhood] in [your city, state]?

OpenAI's own example of a local question is "What are some good restaurants near me?" It may rewrite that into a city query such as "top restaurants San Francisco" when it estimates the San Francisco area from the IP address. Putting the ZIP in your own prompt makes the place explicit instead of leaving it to that guess. If the first answer is about the wrong metro, OpenAI says to put the city, neighborhood, or postal code in the question and ask again.

Prompt 4. Your name, on purpose

What can you tell me about Harbor Street Plumbing in Tampa, Florida? Please include the source links.

Your version: What can you tell me about [your business name, spelled as on your website] in [your city, state]? Please include the source links.

After each answer, select Sources if it is there. OpenAI says a search answer may include citations, and that you can select a citation to open it. Write down two things: every business the answer tells the person to contact, and the domain of every source. A domain looks like a company's own site, google.com, yelp.com, or another directory. Open two of those links. OpenAI also says results and citations can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect, so the link has to actually support the sentence.

If there is no citation and no Sources control, do not score that reply as a web result. Turn Search on, start a new chat, ask once more, and score that second reply. Note on your sheet that the first try had no sources.

Mark named, mentioned, or absent

Use these three marks for prompts 1 to 3. They match the way a NamedScan report separates a recommendation from a mention or a miss. The sample report on the home page uses a fictional bakery to show the layout.

Named

Your exact business name is one of the businesses the answer tells the customer to contact. They did not have to ask for you. Write down the place in the list if the answer numbers it, and whether a source link points at your website or at a listing.

Mentioned

Your name appears, but not as a business to hire. It might be only in the source list, only inside a sentence about someone else, or only after prompt 4, when you asked for yourself. A mention means the name was findable in that chat. It is not a recommendation.

Absent

Your name is not in the answer and not in the source list. Write down who was named and which domains were cited. Those are the pages to compare with yours. On the NamedScan home page this is the same idea as "not named" or "missing."

Read the pattern across prompts 1 to 3:

  • Named on all three open prompts. Save the date. You were recommended in this session. Ask the same prompts again later, because placement is not guaranteed.
  • Named on some, absent on others. You are in the set for part of the work. Look hardest at the prompt that missed you. If that was prompt 2, check whether your site says, in normal text, that you do that job in that city.
  • Found only on prompt 4, or only mentioned. A search can find you when someone types your name. The open questions did not recommend you.
  • Absent on prompts 1 to 3, and prompt 4 cannot find you either. Do the crawler check and the homepage text check below before you add new directory listings.

Copy this sheet and fill it in. Keep it. You will compare the next test against these exact questions.

Date:
Trade:
City and state:
Signed in to ChatGPT: yes or no
VPN on: yes or no

Prompt 1 (best [trade] in [city])
Result: Named, Mentioned, or Absent
Businesses it told me to contact:
Source domains:

Prompt 2 (specific job)
Result:
Businesses it told me to contact:
Source domains:

Prompt 3 (ZIP or neighborhood)
Result:
Businesses it told me to contact:
Source domains:

Prompt 4 (my exact business name)
Found my business: yes or no
Source domains:

Citations visible: yes or no
Answer stayed in my city: yes or no
robots.txt blocks OAI-SearchBot: yes, no, or no file
Homepage text shows name, city, phone, and service: yes or no
Google listing phone matches my website: yes, no, or no listing

Five checks before you close the tab

These five fit in the rest of the 15 minutes. The listing work in the next section can take days, because verification is up to Google, Microsoft, Apple, or Yelp, not up to this page.

1. Did the answer use the web?

You want citations or a Sources control. OpenAI says search answers may include them. An answer with no sources is not this test.

2. Did it stay in your city?

If the businesses are in another metro, the location guess was off. Repeat prompt 1 with your city and ZIP typed in the sentence. OpenAI says to do that when local results show the wrong area. It also says an IP address may be used to estimate a general location such as country, state, or city. Precise location is not required. Device location sharing is optional and off by default.

3. Can OAI-SearchBot read your site?

Open yoursite.com/robots.txt in the browser, using your real domain. You are looking for a block that opts you out of ChatGPT search.

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Disallow: /

Also look for a rule that blocks every robot:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

OpenAI's crawler docs say OAI-SearchBot is what surfaces sites in ChatGPT search. Sites that opt out are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and allowing requests from the published IP addresses. It can take about 24 hours after a robots.txt change for that setting to be picked up. If the file is missing, you do not have a robots.txt block. That is different from an allow rule, and your host can still block the crawler.

An allow rule looks like this. Add it. Do not delete other rules your site needs.

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

GPTBot is a different switch. OpenAI uses it for model training, not for deciding search. You can allow OAI-SearchBot and disallow GPTBot. ChatGPT-User is the agent that may open a page when a person asks a question. OpenAI says ChatGPT-User is not what decides search inclusion, and that robots.txt may not apply to it because a person triggered the visit.

One limit, so the check stays honest. OpenAI's publisher FAQ says a page that blocks OAI-SearchBot can still show up in ChatGPT Atlas as a link and a title, if a search provider already has that URL, unless the page uses a noindex tag. The crawler has to be allowed to read a noindex tag. Blocking the bot keeps your sentences out of search answers. It does not always erase every link. Allowing the bot does not mean you will be recommended.

If you do allow the crawler, the same FAQ says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com on links that send someone to your site. That label is how analytics can show a visit. It is not a recommendation.

4. Does the homepage state the facts in text?

Open your homepage and read the words, not the pictures. In normal text, a visitor should see your business name, the city you serve, your phone number, and what you do. If those facts exist only inside a logo image or a photo of a menu, add them as sentences. This is a check you can finish now. It does not, by itself, put you into an answer.

5. Does Google show the same phone and name?

Search your business name and city on Google Maps. You are only comparing, not finishing a claim yet. Does a profile exist? Does the phone match the phone on your website? Does the name match, without a city or a slogan added to it? Write yes, no, or no listing on the sheet.

What to fix next, and why

OpenAI does not publish a directory list that guarantees a recommendation. It does say ChatGPT search sometimes rewrites your question and sends that query to other search providers, and that it may share a general location (not your IP address, and not your ChatGPT account) so local results can be more relevant. The help article points to the Microsoft privacy statement and the Shopify privacy policy for how those providers may handle queries. Shopify on that list is not an instruction to open an online store.

Use the sources from your own four prompts first. If ChatGPT cited a directory or a review page, open it and see whether your name, phone, and city match your website. Then correct the listings below where they disagree. Do not open a second listing when one already exists. Claim the one that is already public.

Google Business Profile

Google says you can add or claim a Business Profile at no charge, and that after you verify it, customers can find the business on Google Search and Maps and you can control the information. Start at the steps in that article, or go to business.google.com/add. Verification is what lets you edit the profile.

Google's guidelines say the profile should reflect the business as it is known in the real world. The name should match your storefront, website, and stationery, not a tagline, a phone number, or a city stuffed into the name. Use one profile for the business. The address has to be accurate. A P.O. box or a virtual office does not qualify. If you travel to customers and do not have a storefront, Google says to hide the address and set a service area.

Why it is on this list: your sheet's fifth check was a name and phone comparison. OpenAI does not say ChatGPT reads Google Business Profile. Google is still the public record you can correct, and a mismatch means you are publishing two different versions of the business. Make the name, phone, website, and hours match the website, and choose the category that describes the work.

Bing Places

Microsoft says to use Bing Places for Business when you want to claim or update the listing that appears in Bing Maps search results. Bing's October 2025 post says the tool is free, and that owner sign in moved from bingplaces.com to bing.com/forbusiness. Search for the existing listing before you create another one. Then make the name, phone, and website match your site.

Why this listing, and not a guess that "ChatGPT is Bing": the OpenAI help article names the Microsoft privacy statement among the privacy policies of search providers that may receive queries. A Bing listing is the local record Microsoft tells owners to claim. Claiming it does not mean you will be recommended.

Apple Maps, through Apple Business

Apple says Apple Business Connect is now Apple Business. Apple's guide says to add your location so customers can find you. You enter the address, the display name that appears in Apple Maps, a category, the phone number, hours, and an optional website. If the location is already on Maps, Apple may verify it with a phone call to the number Apple already has on file. If you do not recognize that number, Apple says to contact Apple Business support rather than guess. If another organization already manages the location, you can request a transfer. Apple says that review can take up to five business days.

Why it is here: it is the listing Apple tells a business to publish for Apple Maps. It is not a ChatGPT switch. Set the display name, phone, and website to the same facts as your site.

Yelp

Search at biz.yelp.com/claim before you add a page. Yelp says claiming is free, and a claimed page does not mean you are an advertiser. After you claim it, you can update the address, phone number, hours, and website.

For restaurants only, OpenAI says ChatGPT can show reservation times from OpenTable, Resy, or Yelp. Yelp reservations in that feature are available in the United States and Canada, and availability depends on the restaurant. For every other trade, treat Yelp as a public page you can correct if customers use it. Do not read this as "ChatGPT recommends whoever pays Yelp."

Reviews a customer can already see

Open the Google listing in a private window and read the newest reviews. If they describe a different business, the listing may be mixed up with someone else. If you want more reviews, ask people you actually did the work for, and ask for an honest one. Do not write reviews yourself, buy them, or pay for a star rating. NamedScan does not write or buy reviews.

OpenAI does not publish a review count that gets a business recommended. If your ChatGPT sources included a review page, open that page and see whether your name and phone there match everything else.

One page for the job you want to be hired for

Pick the job you used in prompt 2. Publish one page on your site, or fix the page you already have, so normal text states that job, the city, and the phone number. A title in the shape of "Water heater repair in Tampa" is the pattern. Use your job and your city. If prompt 2 was the one that missed you, this is the concrete gap to close. It is not proof of why the answer skipped you, and it is not a promise the next answer will name you.

Structured data, if you can edit the site

Google documents LocalBusiness structured data as a way to tell Google your hours and other business facts, using schema.org LocalBusiness types. Google says search results may show a knowledge panel for a business. That markup does not put you into ChatGPT. Skip it if you cannot edit the site. Do not invent reviews inside the markup, and do not publish a home address if Google's guidelines tell you to hide it.

This is a template with placeholder values, not a real business. Replace every value, and keep it as code on your site, not as a screenshot.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Your real business name",
  "url": "https://yourwebsite.com/",
  "telephone": "+1-555-010-0100",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "Your street",
    "addressLocality": "Your city",
    "addressRegion": "ST",
    "postalCode": "00000",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  }
}
</script>

Ask the same four prompts again

Keep the old score sheet. If you changed robots.txt, wait about a day before you retest, because OpenAI says a robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to be picked up. Listing verification takes whatever time that company quotes. When you retest, use new chats, the same wording, and Search turned on. Compare marks. A change from absent to named in one session is a new snapshot, not a permanent result.

What one chat cannot prove

  • A different account, hour, or sentence can produce a different list. OpenAI says results can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect.
  • Saved memories can change the rewritten query. Testing signed out avoids that. OpenAI says people who are not signed in can use web search.
  • The test used the location that session had. Approximate IP location and optional device location are not the same thing.
  • Allowing OAI-SearchBot makes your pages eligible to be quoted. OpenAI says placement still is not guaranteed.
  • Nobody outside OpenAI controls the wording of an answer. NamedScan does not see a private ranking score. Read the disclaimer: we do not promise or guarantee that ChatGPT will mention, rank, or recommend your business.

Let NamedScan run the questions

The sheet above is something you can do yourself. NamedScan asks ChatGPT, with live web search, and records whether you are named. It does not place you into an answer.

  • Free preview: three real customer questions, your estimated score, how many answers named you, and the business named most often instead. No card.
  • AI visibility report, $5 one time: 15 customer questions, every competitor named, every source cited, website readiness findings, the full fix list, and a branded PDF, emailed to you, usually within one business day. No subscription.
  • Monthly plans: Starter (Guided) at $199 a month, where you make the changes from a prioritized list. Done For You at $300 a month, which is the plan we recommend, where we make the fixes. Growth at $500 a month, with up to 3 locations, rescans every 2 weeks, and a monthly strategy call. You can cancel anytime.

We do not promise or guarantee rankings or recommendations.

Get my free preview See the $5 report and plans

Questions about this page? Email joshuaofisrael@gmail.com.

Questions owners ask

Does ChatGPT recommend my business?

Only a live answer can show you, and it can change. Open ChatGPT with web search on and ask the customer questions in this guide. Then mark your business named, mentioned, or absent. OpenAI says search results can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect, and that placement in those results is not guaranteed.

How do I show up in ChatGPT?

There is no switch that adds a business to ChatGPT. OpenAI says a public website can appear in ChatGPT search, and that your pages are left out of search answers if they block the OAI-SearchBot crawler. Publish the same name, address, and phone on your website and on the listings you control, then run the prompts again. That work does not guarantee a recommendation.

Why did ChatGPT recommend other businesses instead of mine?

OpenAI says ChatGPT search sometimes rewrites your question and sends the new query to other search providers, along with a general location such as a city. It does not send your IP address or your ChatGPT account to those providers for the search. The written answer can cite sources. Open those sources and compare them with your site and your listings. A VPN, a missing city name, or saved memories can change the query. One chat is not a full picture.

Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?

NamedScan cannot place you into an answer, and this guide does not describe a paid slot inside ChatGPT. OpenAI says placement is not guaranteed. The NamedScan free preview and the $5 report show what ChatGPT answered at the time of the scan. Monthly plans are $199, $300, and $500. We do not promise or guarantee rankings or recommendations.

Sources

Checked 9 October 2026. Claims on this page about how ChatGPT search works are limited to what these documents say.