Does ChatGPT recommend your business in your city?

Have you ever asked ChatGPT to recommend a business near you? A plumber, a dentist, a tax advisor, or a lawyer?

If you did, which names came up? And if you run a business, were you one of them?

I think most owners have never tried. Until recently there was no real reason to. But more and more people now ask an AI who to call before they even open Google. And the AI usually answers with just two or three names.

The good news: you can influence which names those are. Especially in your own city.

Very few businesses get named

Earlier this year a company called SOCi looked at more than 350,000 business locations and checked how often they showed up. Their report found that ChatGPT recommended only 1.2% of them. In Google's top three map results, the same locations showed up 35.9% of the time.

One thing to know: they looked at chains and franchises, mostly in the US. So the numbers won’t match a small business in other parts of the world exactly. But the point stands. Being on Google doesn't mean the AI will mention you.

Why your city is where you can win

This is the part I find most interesting.

If someone asks for "the best lawyer", the answer will be full of big national names. Getting in there is hard and expensive.

If someone asks for "an employment lawyer in Dortmund", it's a different game. Far fewer businesses compete for that answer. The AI has far fewer sources to choose from. So every listing, every review and every clear page on your website counts for a lot more.

This matters most for businesses where one new client is worth a lot. Lawyers, accountants, dentists, renovation companies. One extra enquiry a month from an AI answer can easily pay for the work. And the work keeps paying off long after it’s done.

Try it today

It takes two minutes and costs nothing.

1. Open ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. A private browser window is best.

2. Ask like a customer would, with your service and your city. For example: "Who's a good [your service] in [your city] for [a typical problem]?"

3. Write down which businesses come up, and whether you're one of them.

4. Look at the sources each answer links to. Those are the websites the AI trusts in your area.

Most people are a bit surprised the first time.

Five things to check

If you didn't show up, start here. None of this needs a big budget.

1. Be where the AI looks. Check the sources from step 4. If the same directories or review sites keep coming up, make sure you're listed there with full, correct details. For lawyers in Germany that might be anwalt.de, for doctors Jameda.

2. Use the same details everywhere. Same name, address and phone number on your website, your Google Business Profile, Bing Places (Copilot uses Bing) and every directory. If they differ, the AI can't be sure it's all the same business.

3. Get good reviews, in your customers' words. In the SOCi report, the businesses ChatGPT recommended averaged 4.3 stars. Ask happy customers for a review and let them say what you did and where.

4. Say clearly what you do and where. One page per main service. Name your city or region, give a rough price, and answer the questions customers really ask you.

5. Make sure the AI can read your site. Some websites block AI crawlers without the owner knowing. You can check yours in a minute with Scout, my free scanner. It shows what search engines and AI see when they visit.

If you want to be named in your city

If you want to raise your chances of being the business the AI recommends in your city, book half an hour with me. We'll run the test together for your service and your area, and I'll show you what I'd fix first.

→ Book a call

Or run the test today and reply with what came up. I'm curious what you find.

What I'm Thinking About This Week

How fast this will matter for local businesses. A few years ago the goal was page one on Google. Now more and more people never see page one. They get a short answer with a few names in it. The businesses that start on this now, while most competitors haven't even run the test, will have it easier than the ones who start later.

If you have ten seconds, reply with your city, your trade, and whether you were named.

P.S. The toolkit, in the order I would use it: Scout → Visibility Audit → GEO/AEO Audit Checklist → How to Get Cited by AI → SEO Strategy Playbook → Title & Meta Audit → Sovereign Idea Workflow. All free.

P.P.S. Know a local business owner who has never asked ChatGPT about their own trade? Forward this. The test takes two minutes. They can subscribe at thesovereigntechnologist.com.

That’s all for this week.

See you next Thursday.