What ChatGPT Says When Someone Asks for a Business Like Yours

Go ahead. Try it right now.

Open ChatGPT and ask: “What’s the best [your industry] in Ottawa?” or “Can you recommend a [your service] near me?”
See what comes up.

If your business isn’t mentioned, you’ve just watched a potential customer choose your competitor. Not because they searched Google. Not because they saw an ad. Because they asked an AI for a recommendation and your name wasn’t in the answer.

This is happening right now. More than you think.

Search is changing

For 20 years, the game was simple. Someone searches Google. You show up in the results. They click. They become a customer.

That’s still happening. Google isn’t going anywhere.

But something else is happening too. Millions of people are now asking AI tools for recommendations instead of searching. They’re not browsing ten blue links. They’re asking ChatGPT, Claude, or Google’s AI a direct question and trusting the answer.

“What’s the best Italian restaurant in Gatineau?”
“Who should I hire for home renovations in Ottawa?”
“Can you recommend a good accountant for small businesses?”

When Google shows you results, you still have to click around, compare options, read reviews, make a decision. It’s work.

When AI gives you a recommendation, it does the work for you. It picks one or two options. It explains why. The person asking often just goes with the suggestion.

That’s a fundamentally different dynamic. And most businesses aren’t prepared for it.

How AI decides who to recommend

Here’s what I’ve learned after months of testing and research.

AI tools don’t have a secret list of businesses they like. They’re pulling from the information available about you online—and making judgments about authority, relevance, and trustworthiness.

Think of it like this: if you asked a smart friend who just moved to town to recommend a plumber, what would they do? They’d Google around, read some reviews, look at websites, maybe check social media. Then they’d synthesize all that into a recommendation.

AI does the same thing, just faster and at scale.

Which means the businesses that show up in AI recommendations tend to have:

Lots of substantive content. Not thin service pages. Real content that demonstrates expertise. Blog posts, guides, case studies, detailed explanations of what you do and why.

Strong reputations across multiple platforms. Reviews on Google, sure. But also mentions on other sites. Press coverage. Industry recognition. Backlinks from credible sources.

Clear, specific information. AI needs to understand what you do, who you serve, and where you operate. If your website is vague, you’re invisible.

Recent activity. AI tends to favor businesses that seem active and current. Old, stale websites with no recent updates get overlooked.

Check what’s being said about you

Here’s a quick exercise that might be uncomfortable.

Open ChatGPT (or Claude, or Perplexity) and ask these questions:

“What’s the best [your service] in [your city]?”
“Can you recommend a [your industry] for [your ideal customer]?”
“What do people say about [your business name]?”

Look at what comes back.

Are you mentioned? If not, why do you think that is?

Is the information accurate? AI sometimes gets things wrong. It might say you offer services you don’t, or miss services you do.

How are you positioned? When your business does come up, how is it described? Is that how you want to be known?

This gives you a baseline. It shows you what potential customers see when they ask AI about your industry.

What you can do about it

The good news: you can influence this. Not with tricks or hacks, but by being the kind of business AI wants to recommend.

Create more depth on your website. The businesses that show up in AI recommendations usually have substantial websites with detailed content. Not keyword-stuffed SEO pages. Real, useful information that demonstrates expertise.

What questions do your customers ask before they hire you? Turn those into content. What do people misunderstand about your industry? Explain it. What should someone know before buying your product or service? Write it down.

Build your presence beyond your website. AI pulls from the entire internet, not just your site. Get mentioned in local publications. Contribute to industry sites. Encourage customers to review you on multiple platforms. Build backlinks from legitimate sources.

The more places your business shows up, the more credible you look to AI systems.

Keep your information current. Update your website regularly. Post on your Google Business Profile. Stay active on relevant platforms. Businesses that look abandoned don’t get recommended.

Be specific about who you serve. Generic businesses get generic (or no) recommendations. “We help everyone with everything” tells AI nothing. “We specialize in kitchen renovations for older homes in the Ottawa area” gives AI something to work with.

This isn’t replacing Google

Let me be clear: traditional SEO still matters. Google isn’t dying. Most searches still happen the old-fashioned way.

But the landscape is shifting. Some of your potential customers are now getting recommendations from AI. That number is growing. The businesses that recognize this early and adapt have an advantage.

This is like the early days of Google. Back in 2005, plenty of businesses said “our customers don’t use the internet to find us.” They were wrong. They got left behind.

I’m not saying everyone needs to panic. I’m saying this is worth paying attention to.

What we’re doing about it

At POP INC, we’ve added AI search optimization to how we think about visibility.

For our clients, we’re looking at how they show up in AI recommendations. We’re building content strategies that work for both traditional search and AI discovery. We’re making sure their online presence is comprehensive enough that AI systems have plenty to work with.

It’s early. The playbook is still being written. But the businesses that start now will be ahead of the ones who wait until AI search is too big to ignore.

One more thing

I want to leave you with a thought.

AI recommendation is really just another form of word-of-mouth. Instead of asking a friend, people are asking a machine. But the machine is trying to mimic what a well-informed friend would say.

Which means the fundamentals still apply. Be good at what you do. Build a reputation. Make it easy for people to understand what you offer. Show up consistently.

The businesses that earn recommendations from humans will earn recommendations from AI too.

The technology changes. The principle doesn’t.

Curious how your business shows up in AI search? POP INC Digital can run an AI visibility audit and show you exactly where you stand. No charge. No pitch. Just information you can use.