How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews
More people now ask an assistant "who is a good furnace company in Edmonton?" instead of scrolling results. The assistant answers with a few names. Here is how to become one of them.
1. Answer the questions customers actually ask
Assistants quote clear, direct answers. Put a short answer near the top of each service page ("A furnace replacement in Edmonton typically takes one day...") and an FAQ with real questions. Google says the same practices that help regular search apply to its AI features.
2. Make your facts consistent
Your business name, services, service areas, phone and hours should match on your website, Google Business Profile, social profiles and directories. Conflicting facts make assistants less confident about recommending you.
3. Use structured data and an llms.txt file
- Structured data (schema.org) describes your business, services and FAQs in a format machines read reliably.
- An llms.txt file is a proposed standard: a short Markdown summary of your business with links to your key pages, written for AI tools.
4. Get talked about
Assistants lean on reviews, local news, association listings and community sites. A steady flow of reviews and a few genuine local mentions go a long way.
5. Do not block the crawlers
Check your robots.txt. Some website platforms block AI crawlers by default, which means assistants cannot read your pages at all.
Our AI search optimization service checks what the major assistants say about your trade and area every month.
Sources
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Google Search Central
- The /llms.txt file, llmstxt.org
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