By Tanya Ganian · · 7 min readChatGPT recommends businesses it can find, understand and verify across several trusted sources. To get named, make your information clear and consistent everywhere, be strong on Bing (which ChatGPT search relies on), earn reviews, and get mentioned on the pages ChatGPT already cites for your industry.
How ChatGPT decides who to recommend
When someone asks ChatGPT for “the best accountant in Montreal”, it searches the web, reads what it finds and writes an answer. It tends to name businesses that show up in several trusted places, with clear, consistent information and good reviews. You can't pay to be included, but you can make yourself easy to pick.
Step 1: Make sure Bing knows you
ChatGPT's web search relies heavily on Bing's index. Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit your sitemap, and claim your business on Bing Places. Many businesses focus only on Google and are invisible here.
Step 2: Make your information identical everywhere
Your business name, website, phone or email, service area and categories should match on Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, LinkedIn and directories. Inconsistent details make AI tools less confident about who you are.
Step 3: Say clearly what you do, and where
Your website should state in plain words: what you do, for whom, and in which areas. For example: “Ganian Media is an SEO, AEO and Meta Ads agency serving Montreal, Laval and the South Shore.” AI tools quote clear sentences like this.
Step 4: Write answer-first content
Create pages and FAQs that answer the questions your clients ask, and give the answer in the first two sentences. “How much does a kitchen renovation cost in Montreal?” followed by a direct range is far more quotable than three paragraphs of introduction.
Step 5: Add structured data
Structured data (schema markup) labels your business name, services, areas, reviews and FAQs in a format machines read reliably. It doesn't guarantee anything on its own, but it removes guesswork.
Step 6: Get onto the pages ChatGPT already cites
Ask ChatGPT the questions your clients ask and look at the sources it lists. They're often “top 10” articles, directories like Clutch or Yelp, and local media. Getting listed or mentioned there is one of the fastest ways to appear in answers.
Step 7: Earn recent, specific reviews
Reviews that mention your service and your city (“they fixed our Google listing and the calls doubled”) give AI tools concrete reasons to recommend you.
How to track your progress
Pick five questions a client might ask, for example “who's the best SEO agency in Montreal?”. Ask them in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot once a month, and note whether you're mentioned and who is named instead.
Want it done for you?
This is exactly what our AEO service does. Start with a free audit, which includes an AI visibility test across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.