You know your business is the best.
But when someone asks AI (Artificial Intelligence) for the best business nearby, does your name come up? And if another business gets recommended, what made AI choose it over yours?
Let’s look at how ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity find business information and what you can do to help your business get found!
First, What Does “Best” Actually Mean?
Let’s say someone asked you to recommend the best food spot in town. You’d probably have a few questions before you made a suggestion.
What kind of food — Italian or Mexican? What’s the budget — high-end or value menu? Are we talking a quick lunch or an anniversary dinner?
Business recommendations need that same context.
If you’re an insurance agency owner, consider these questions:
- “What’s the best insurance agency near me?”
- “Which insurance agencies in Las Vegas offer business insurance?”
- “Find an insurance agency near Henderson with Spanish-speaking staff.”
Your agency could be a great fit for one search and outside the requirements of another.
OpenAI explains that ChatGPT Search can turn a question into targeted searches and use location information to improve results. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may run multiple related searches across subtopics and sources to develop an answer.
That’s why details matter. “We’re the best” tells someone what you think of your business. Your services, location and experience help explain whether you’re really the best fit for them.
How Different AI Platforms Recommend Businesses
ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity have different ways of finding and presenting information. How you ask certain questions also matters.
Here’s what their own documentation tells us.
ChatGPT: Searches shaped by the question
ChatGPT can search the web when a question would benefit from current information. It may rewrite that question into search queries, review the results and run additional searches.
Location can help narrow local recommendations, and search responses may include citations linking to supporting sources. OpenAI also acknowledges that results can be incomplete, outdated or incorrect.
For your business, a useful starting point is making your services and service area easy to understand. Give someone researching you enough information to know whether calling your team makes sense.
Gemini: Google Maps information for local searches
Google explains that Gemini Apps can use public information from Google Maps to find places and provide addresses, websites, ratings and opening hours.
Your Google Business Profile deserves attention for that reason alone. Incorrect hours or an outdated website link can create a problem before a potential customer even reaches you.
Keep in mind that Gemini Apps, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews are separate experiences. Showing up in one doesn’t establish where you’ll appear in another.
Claude: Research across multiple web sources
When Claude uses web search, it processes multiple sources to find relevant information and provides citations. With the appropriate tool enabled, it can also retrieve a web page directly when given a URL.
The practical takeaway is straightforward: Make your business information accessible and useful. A service page should explain the service. A location page should explain where you work. Give readers something more substantial than a headline and a contact form.
Perplexity: Answers connected to sources
Perplexity describes its process as understanding the question, searching the web, summarizing relevant information and linking to original sources through citations.
Those citations can help you understand how your business is being represented. If you’re mentioned, look at the supporting pages. Are they accurate? Do they reflect your current services?
It’s tempting to turn these differences into a simple rule about which platform favors websites, reviews or directories. Their public documentation doesn’t establish those as permanent preferences. The sources behind the actual answer are a better place to look.
What Can Help AI Recommend Your Business?
Based on those documented capabilities, our practical recommendation is to make your business easy to find, understand and verify.
That starts with the information you put online.
Explain what you do on your website
A potential customer shouldn’t have to piece together your services from vague promises.
Your website should answer:
- What do you offer?
- Where do you offer it?
- Who do you help?
- What relevant experience or credentials does your team have?
- What should someone do next?
For example, “Insurance solutions for every stage of life” sounds nice. A page explaining your agency’s auto, home and business insurance services in Henderson gives someone much more to work with.
Use real details about your business. Answer common customer questions. Build service and location pages that are helpful enough to deserve a visit.
Keep your business listings current
When was the last time you checked your business hours across your online profiles?
It’s an easy detail to overlook. It’s also a frustrating one for the customer who shows up after you’ve closed.
Review your business name, phone number, address or service area, hours and categories wherever customers find you.
Google’s local ranking guidance emphasizes complete business information and identifies relevance, distance and prominence as core considerations. These are Google’s local search factors, rather than a scoring system shared by every AI platform.
Accurate listings give people clearer information about whether your business meets their needs.
Build a record of real customer experiences
You can explain how much you care about your customers. Reviews give those customers a chance to explain what that care looks like.
Google says review quantity and positive ratings can help local ranking. It also encourages helpful replies to customer feedback.
Ask for honest reviews and respond thoughtfully. Pay attention to what customers say about your team, communication and services.
There’s no magic review count that guarantees an AI recommendation. The goal is to build a credible record of what people experience when they work with you.
Give people credible places to verify your business
Your website is one part of your online presence. Information elsewhere can add useful context.
Depending on your business, relevant sources might include:
- Your local chamber of commerce
- A professional association directory
- A public licensing or credential record
- Local news coverage
- An award organization’s official recipient page
- An established customer review platform
These are examples of sources where people and search tools may find supporting information. They aren’t guaranteed AI ranking factors.
Start with sources that have a real connection to your business. Keep your profiles accurate and make sure your memberships, awards and credentials are represented correctly.
What Happens When an AI Agent Gets Involved?
Some AI tools can go beyond giving someone a list of options.
An AI agent may visit websites, compare information and help complete a task. OpenAI explains that ChatGPT Work’s cloud browser can read web pages, click buttons, fill out forms and carry out tasks on supported websites.
Imagine someone asking an agent to find a nearby business that offers a specific service, compare options and help arrange an appointment.
Can your website clearly explain the service? Is your contact information easy to find? Does your appointment button lead somewhere useful?
We recommend making the process straightforward:
- Put important service details in readable page text
- Keep contact information easy to find
- Use clear labels for appointment and inquiry buttons
- Explain what happens after someone submits a request
These steps help customers use your website and give browsing agents clearer information to work with.
Does SEO Still Matter for AI Search?
So, is SEO dead? No, but strong SEO fundamentals still have a role.
Google says established SEO practices remain relevant for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Its guidance includes allowing crawling, making important content available as text, using internal links and keeping structured data consistent with what appears on the page.
Google also says special AI markup or a separate AI text file isn’t required for inclusion in those features.
Generative engine optimization, or GEO, focuses on visibility in AI-generated answers. For a local business, a practical approach brings that goal together with SEO, accurate listings, helpful content and credible information across the web.
Start by checking whether your business appears for relevant customer questions and whether the answers describe you correctly. Then look at the activity that matters to your business, including website visits, inquiries and appointments.
A mention is useful. What happens after it matters, too.
Give AI Something Useful to Work With
You don’t need to put “best business in town” on every page. You need to make it clear why someone should consider your business for the help they’re looking for.
Your services, local knowledge, customer experiences and credentials all contribute to that picture. Make those details easy to find and keep them current.
At Melon Local, we help businesses strengthen their online presence through SEO, GEO, listing management and content that answers real customer questions.
Want to see where your business has room to grow? Schedule your free demo!