ChatGPT recommends a business when enough independent sources agree about it. Its web search runs on Bing, so you have to be indexed and ranking there, listed with identical details in the places it reads, and backed by reviews from real customers. There is no submission form and no way to buy a place in an answer. Telos Creative is a marketing agency in Windsor, Colorado, working across Northern Colorado.
Below: what actually happens when someone asks for a recommendation, the four things that decide whether you are named, the things people pay for that do not work, and a ten minute check you can run on your own business today.
ChatGPT Is Searching, Not Remembering
Two different things happen inside an AI assistant, and only one of them is worth your attention.
The first is what the model learned during training. That is frozen, years out of date in places, and a small local business is almost certainly not in it in any reliable way. You cannot influence it.
The second is what happens when someone asks a question with a live answer, like the best landscaper in Fort Collins. The assistant runs a search, reads the pages that come back, and writes a summary. ChatGPT’s web search is powered by Bing, while Google’s AI features run on Google’s index.
The consequence is blunt. If you are not in the index, you cannot be retrieved. If you never rank for what you sell, you are rarely among the pages it reads. That is why getting recommended by an AI assistant is not a separate discipline with its own tricks. It is search engine optimisation with the emphasis moved.
One practical trap follows from it. Businesses check their Google ranking and assume Bing looks the same. It often does not. A site can sit respectably on Google and be barely indexed on Bing, which makes it invisible to ChatGPT while the Google position still looks healthy.
The Four Things That Get You Named
Across the local questions we scan for our own clients, the businesses that get named repeatedly have the same four things in place. None of them is a trick and none can be bought.
1. You are findable in the index it searches
Your pages have to be crawlable, indexed and ranking for the words a buyer would actually use. Check Bing specifically, not just Google. This is the gate: everything below only matters once you are through it.
2. Your details are identical everywhere
Name, address, phone and website have to match across your own site, your Google Business Profile and every directory that lists you. A suite number on one listing and not another is enough to make a model unsure it is looking at one business rather than two, and an unsure model names someone else.
3. Your pages are shaped like answers
An assistant quotes a passage, not a page. A passage only survives being quoted if it makes sense on its own, so the sentence that answers the question has to be complete without the paragraph above it. One page, one question, answered in the opening lines. It is the same discipline behind a good service page, whether that is SEO in Fort Collins or web design.
4. Real people have reviewed you, recently
Review count, rating and recency all feed the judgement of whether you are a real, active business. A reply that names the service and the town is a signal in its own right. A one word thanks is not.
What Does Not Work
This is the part most guides leave out, and it is the part that saves you money.
Paying for guaranteed AI placement
There is no advertising slot inside a ChatGPT answer and no submission form. Nobody can guarantee you a placement, in the same way no honest agency guarantees an exact Google position. Treat a guarantee as a reason to walk away.
Buying an llms.txt file
An llms.txt file is a proposed standard for telling AI tools what is on your site. No major assistant has committed to reading one, and there is no evidence it affects whether you are cited. It costs almost nothing to add and we do not object to it. It should not be sold to you as a ranking or citation lever, and it must never take budget from indexing, listings and reviews.
Writing about artificial intelligence
Publishing articles about AI does not make an AI recommend you. The assistant is looking for the answer to the buyer’s question, which is usually about a service in a town. Pages about the thing you actually sell beat pages about the technology every time.
Directory upgrades bought for the citation
Being listed matters. Paying to be featured on a directory buys placement on that directory, not a mention in an AI answer. Claim and complete the free listing first, and only pay when the directory sends real traffic on its own merits.
A Ten Minute Check You Can Run Today
Do this before you spend anything.
Ask the question your customer would ask
Put your service and your town into ChatGPT in three different phrasings. Write down every business it names and every source it cites. That list is what you are competing against, and it is usually directories rather than the businesses themselves.
Check you exist on Bing
Search Bing for your business name, then for your main service plus your town. If your site does not appear for its own name, nothing else on this page will help until that is fixed.
Compare three listings side by side
Open your Google Business Profile and two directory listings. Put the name, address and phone next to each other and look for the differences. There are almost always some.
Read your own opening lines
Take your most important service page and read the first two sentences on their own, as if quoted somewhere else. If they do not say what you do and who you do it for, they cannot be quoted usefully.
What To Fix First
Sequence matters more than effort here. Doing the later steps first is why plenty of businesses see nothing for their money.
Fix indexing first, because it decides whether you are in the running at all. Then fix your listings, claiming what exists, completing every field and making the details identical. Then rewrite your main pages so each answers one question in its opening lines. Then ask for reviews steadily rather than in a burst, and reply to them properly. Only then look at getting written about elsewhere, which is the slowest and most valuable of all.
This is a method, not a lottery. These answers are assembled from search indexes, so the levers are the ones search has always responded to. They are slow, they compound, and they are within reach of a small business that works them in the right order.
What nobody should promise is a specific placement on a specific date. The work is knowable and repeatable. The timing is not.
Questions We Get Asked About ChatGPT Recommendations
How do I get ChatGPT to recommend my business?
Be findable in the index it searches, then be consistent everywhere else. ChatGPT’s web search runs on Bing, so your site has to be indexed and ranking for what you sell. From there it weighs whether your business details match across your listings, whether your pages answer the question directly, and whether real customers have reviewed you recently.
Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend my business?
No. There is no submission form, no advertising slot and no paid placement inside a ChatGPT answer. Anyone selling guaranteed inclusion is selling something they cannot deliver. Paid upgrades on a directory buy features on that directory, which is a different thing entirely.
Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing?
ChatGPT’s web search is built on Bing. Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini use Google’s own index. That matters in practice: a business can rank respectably on Google and still be missing from Bing, which makes it invisible to ChatGPT even though its Google position looks healthy.
Do I need an llms.txt file to be recommended?
No. There is no evidence that an llms.txt file affects whether you are cited or recommended, and no major AI assistant has committed to reading one. It costs little to add, but it should not be sold as a ranking or citation lever and it should never displace indexing, listings and reviews.
How long does it take before an AI assistant names my business?
Months rather than weeks, and it depends where you start. Fixing listings and review gaps can show up within weeks. Earning mentions and links from other websites, which is the slowest and strongest signal, is measured in quarters. Nobody can promise a specific placement on a specific date.
Does it help to write pages about AI on my website?
Only if they answer questions your buyers actually ask. An assistant quotes the passage that answers the question, not the page that mentions the topic most often. A page about a service you sell, answered plainly in the opening lines, is worth more than an article about artificial intelligence.
If you would rather see where you stand before doing any of it, our free audit checks the technical half automatically. There is more on the mechanics in why AI does not mention your business. We are based in Windsor and work across Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley and Longmont. Arnold Jakobsen founded Telos Creative and is a StoryBrand Certified Guide.
