Article · · 4 min read
How to get ChatGPT and other AI assistants to recommend your business
More and more clients ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity "who does X near me" instead of searching Google. The assistant answers with three to five names. If your business is not among them, that client never sees you, and your analytics will not show the loss. Here is how assistants pick those names, how to check where you stand in ten minutes, and what actually moves the result.
Related service GEO & AI search — from $1,000/moSEO services — from $500/mo
In short
AI assistants name businesses they can find clear, consistent and trusted information about: on the company's own site and in other sources on the web. You cannot buy a place in an organic AI answer, but you can earn it. This work is called GEO (generative engine optimization); it builds on SEO and usually shows results in a few months. Nobody can promise a specific mention, but businesses that do the work are named far more often than those that do not.
In this article07
01How AI assistants decide whom to name
Modern assistants combine what the model learned during training with a live web search at the moment of the question. For commercial and local questions ("dentist in Dubai", "who builds online stores") the live search matters most, because the answer has to be current.
- ChatGPT searches the web and shows the sources under its answer.
- Perplexity numbers its sources in every answer.
- Google AI Overviews and AI Mode are built from pages in Google's own index, so a site Google does not rank well rarely appears there.
- Gemini, Copilot, Claude and Yandex's Alice also mix model knowledge with search results.
The pattern is the same everywhere: the assistant names companies it finds in several independent places with the same facts, and whose pages answer the exact question asked.
02Why it matters already in 2026
A Google results page shows ten links and ads; an AI answer shows a short list. The client often contacts the first one or two names and never opens a search page at all. For many service businesses this is becoming a second storefront next to Google and Yandex, and it is still far less crowded.
The good news: the same work that gets you named by assistants also improves your normal rankings in Google and Yandex. It is one investment with two returns.
03Check in 10 minutes whether assistants see you
Ask ChatGPT (with search on), Perplexity and Gemini three to five questions your clients really ask, in a fresh chat without logging in: "who does [your service] in [your city]", "how much does [your service] cost in [your city]", "[your brand] reviews".
- Were you named at all, and in which position?
- Which competitors were named instead of you?
- Are the facts about you correct: name, prices, contacts, what you do?
If competitors appear and you do not, or the assistant gets your details wrong, it is a sign the assistants do not have enough reliable information about your business.
04What decides whether you are named
- A site that answers questions with facts. Assistants quote facts, not slogans: what you do, for whom, where, for how much, how long it takes.
- Technical access. Many sites accidentally block the bots that AI assistants use to read the web, and do not know it.
- Your reputation on the web. Assistants trust what independent sources say about you more than what you say about yourself.
- Consistency. The same name, contacts and description everywhere. Conflicting details make a model unsure that it is one business.
- Search visibility. AI answers are built on search indexes: a site that is invisible to Google and Yandex is mostly invisible to assistants too.
05Common mistakes
- Writing "we do everything" instead of separate, clear pages for each service.
- Buying reviews or posting fake "client" comments. Platforms remove them, and an assistant that finds them may describe your brand worse.
- Checking once and giving up. AI answers change from week to week; only a monthly trend means something.
- Expecting results in a few days. Assistants need time to find and trust new information.
06What GEO work includes
GEO is ongoing work, not a single setting. A typical engagement covers an audit of what assistants say about you today, fixes on your site so the facts are clear and readable for AI, building the brand's presence in the sources assistants trust, and a monthly report on how often you are named.
Our GEO service starts at $1,000 a month and is usually combined with SEO, because both rest on the same foundation. If you want to know what assistants say about your business today, send us your site and three questions your clients ask.
07Frequently asked questions
How long until ChatGPT starts naming my business?
Assistants with live search can pick up new information within weeks. Being named consistently usually takes a few months. No one can promise a specific date or position.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. AI answers are built on search indexes, so GEO builds on SEO and adds work on top of it. Done together, they strengthen each other.
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
Organic answers in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini cannot be bought. What you can invest in is being a business the assistants find reliable information about.
How much does GEO cost?
At Veilvex GEO starts at $1,000 a month. The exact scope depends on your niche, your markets and the state of your site; we name it after a 15-minute brief.
Want us to do this for you?
Tell us about the task: after a 15-minute brief we name the plan, timeline and price.