What do AI assistants look at when they recommend a local business?

A growing share are. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey of 1,002 U.S. adults found that use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools for local business recommendations rose from 6% to 45% in a year, making AI the third most popular source. 40% of consumers said they trust AI platforms for business recommendations.

General use is rising too. Pew Research Center's February 2026 survey found that 44% of U.S. adults say they ever use ChatGPT, up from 18% in 2023. Among adults ages 30 to 49, the age group that books many household and professional services, the figure was 55%.

When ChatGPT searches the web, OpenAI's help documentation says it typically rewrites the user's question into one or more targeted queries and may send them to partner search providers. It may use an approximate location based on the user's IP address to return local results, and on mobile, results can include a map. Answers that use search include citations the user can open.

BrightLocal tested this directly. In a study published in December 2024, it ran 800 local business searches in ChatGPT and recorded the first ten sources for each. Business websites made up 58% of all sources cited, business mentions on other sites made up 27%, and directories made up 15%.

OpenAI's publisher FAQ says any public website can appear in ChatGPT search, provided its robots.txt file does not block OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot. A site that blocks it, often by accident through a security plugin or hosting setting, can be left out of the summaries.

Google's guidance for site owners (Google Search Central) says there are no additional requirements or special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet. Google also says no special structured data is needed, and recommends keeping Business Profile information up to date.

Google describes a technique called query fan-out, where AI Mode runs several related searches across subtopics and data sources to build a response. In practice, a question like who is a good dog groomer near Lexington becomes several searches about grooming services, the area, reviews and availability. Businesses that have clear answers to those subtopics on their own pages have more chances to be included.

For local results specifically, Google says it looks mainly at relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence includes how many sites link to a business and how many reviews and positive ratings it has.

None of the major providers publish a ranking formula for recommendations. What they do publish, combined with independent studies, points to a consistent set of inputs.

• A website that can be crawled, with one clear page per service written in plain text
• Service pages that name the areas served, matching the service area on the Google profile
• A complete, accurate Google Business Profile with the right primary category
• Consistent business name, phone number and address details across directories
• A steady flow of recent reviews, with owner replies
• Mentions on other trusted sites, such as local organizations, partners and press
• Answers to the questions customers actually ask, written as questions and answers

Yes, in two ways. Reviews feed prominence, which Google uses for local results. And the text of reviews is increasingly summarized for people before they read individual reviews. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found that 82% of consumers read AI-generated review summaries to inform decisions.

This means the substance of reviews matters as much as the count. Reviews that mention the specific service, the area and what went well give an AI summary concrete material. A long run of one-word reviews gives it very little.

Not in the organic answers described here. Google states plainly in its local ranking help that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. OpenAI's publisher documentation describes how sites become eligible to appear, through crawling and search, and does not describe any paid placement in search answers.

Advertising products exist and may expand, but they are labeled separately. The recommendations people trust most come from the same work that helps in regular search: accurate information, useful pages and real customer reviews.

Ask them. Open ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and any other assistant your customers might use, and type the questions a customer would ask, including your service and your town. Note whether your business appears, what it says, and which sources it cites. Then repeat the check every month or two, since answers change as sources change.

If the assistant gets something wrong, such as hours, services or areas, the fix is usually in the source it cited: your website, your Google profile, or a directory listing. Correct the source and the answer tends to follow.

• Search for your main service plus your city in each assistant
• Open the cited sources and note which ones mention you
• Confirm your robots.txt does not block OAI-SearchBot or Googlebot
• Fix any wrong details at the source, then check again in a few weeks