To show up on Google and ChatGPT, a business needs three things: a website that crawlers can read, a complete Google Business Profile, and pages that answer clearly what customers ask. There’s no way to pay for a better position in Google’s local results1, and no guaranteed shortcut into AI answers. What works is the same job, done well, in all three places.
On Google Maps, the Business Profile
Google’s local results, the ones shown with the map, are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence1. Distance can’t be controlled; the other two can.
Relevance comes from a complete, accurate profile: the category, services, opening hours, service area and a description that says what the business does. Prominence measures how well known the business is1, and it’s built over time, outside the profile.
In Search, a website that can be read
To appear in Search, a page has to be in Google’s index, the list of pages it knows about. Google writes that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode: the page only needs to be eligible to appear in Search with a snippet2.
In practice, that means letting crawlers in, having the important content written as text, and using structured data, a description of the page made for search engines, that says the same as the page itself2. Search Console, Google’s tool for website owners, shows which pages are in the index and which were left out, and it’s where I start any diagnosis.
On ChatGPT, the right door open
ChatGPT’s search uses its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, to find the websites it shows in answers3. If the file that tells crawlers where they may go blocks it, often by mistake, the website is left out.
GPTBot, which collects content to train models, has a separate rule3. Declining training is a legitimate choice and doesn’t close the door to search; blocking everything without reading is what can.
Microsoft says the same of Copilot, which relies on what Bing search has already read and stored in its index4. Connecting the website to Bing Webmaster Tools, Bing’s counterpart to Search Console, costs little and covers that door.
Pages that answer questions
A system that answers looks for the part of a page that answers the question, and cites it if it trusts it. Microsoft asks for explicit facts and definitions, the essential information near the top and each page focused on one subject4.
For a business, that means a page per service that says straight away what is done, for whom, where, how long it takes and how to ask. The questions customers ask on the phone are the same ones they ask ChatGPT, and they deserve a written answer on the website.
What an AI can write on its own doesn’t need to cite anyone.
Generic copy, like that of a thousand other websites, gives little reason to be cited. Google asks for original content that isn’t the same as everyone else’s5.
The same name everywhere
To talk about a business, an AI gathers what it finds about it: the website, the Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories. Microsoft asks for clear, consistent names for people, organisations and places4, and a name, address or list of services that changes from place to place leaves readers in doubt.
That’s why the brand identity and the website are handled together: the same name, the same line and the same services, on the website, on Google and on social media.
What isn’t worth paying for
Microsoft treats as abuse copy written to provoke citations, artificial keyword repetition and mass-generated content without review4. Paying for any of it can get a website dropped from the index.
Nor is it worth paying for ranking guarantees. Google writes that there’s no way to pay for a better local ranking1, and my terms of service promise neither positions nor citations.
Where to start
- Confirming in Search Console that the important pages already show up in search
- Checking that Google’s, Bing’s and ChatGPT’s crawlers can get into the website
- Completing the Google Business Profile, with the right category, services and opening hours
- Giving each service a page that answers in its first lines
- Writing the name, description and contact details the same way everywhere
- Measuring requests and enquiries, not just visits
In the websites I build, this is thought through alongside the copy and the design. For a website that already exists, I start with a written audit, at no cost, and a request is the first step.
Sources
- 1Tips to improve your local ranking on GoogleGoogle Business Profile Help
- 2AI Features and Your WebsiteGoogle Search Central
- 3
- 4Bing Webmaster GuidelinesMicrosoft Bing
- 5Top ways to ensure your content performs well in Google’s AI experiences on SearchGoogle Search Central Blog