When a customer asks ChatGPT for the best in town, does it say your name?
Our free check shows whether ChatGPT recommends your local business, and it takes about a minute. When the answer skips you, we fix the sources those engines read.
recommended dentist in Brickell Miami
It answered- 1Dental World of Miami
- 2Dr. Abraham Jaskiel, DMD
- 3HQ Dontics Dental Centre
The check is free and requires no email address.
Built for owner-run local businesses
We started in wellness, and the same method now carries across the ten trades we work with, from dentists to plumbers. The niches below are where the practice runs deepest.
Day spas
Massage, facials, body work
Med spas
Injectables, lasers, cosmetic dermatology
Beauty salons & hair studios
Hair, color, nails, beauty services
Dental practices
Cleanings, implants, orthodontics
Gyms & fitness studios
Personal training, classes, memberships
Chiropractic clinics
Adjustments, pain relief, rehab
Veterinary clinics
Checkups, surgery, urgent care
Auto repair shops
Diagnostics, brakes, servicing
Plumbing services
Repairs, installs, emergency calls
Law firms
Personal injury, family, immigration
This takes three months. Here is what moves, and when.
Schema markup, name/address/phone cleanup across directories (what marketers call NAP), review-platform audit, and your first citation-worthy pages ship in weeks one and two. From there, the weekly tracking email shows you what moves in the answers.
Weekly tracking asks four engines the same ten real client questions and shows whether each engine named you, how often it cited your site and which businesses it named instead. We adjust content and directory signals based on the answers engines actually give. What nobody can do is promise you a date, because no engine publishes the rules it ranks by.
Every week we ask the same questions again and show you where you stand in the answers. If a competitor overtakes you, we tell you what changed and what to fix on your end.
- A weekly check of the same questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity
- The businesses named instead of you, so you see early who might displace you
- The sites each engine cited, so a new directory or review site in the answers does not slip past you
This isn't a subscription-forever service. Most practices run 3-6 months of retention audit, then re-engage only when they open a new location or want a fresh angle.
Your business holds its place in the answers of ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, and the weekly checks catch a slip early, while it is still easy to fix.
Five factors that decide if AI cites your business
When ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity answers a "best dentist near me" question, it builds the list from a small set of signals. We built askchat.studio around fixing all five for you.
1. Structured business schema
LLMs parse your homepage the same way Google does, via JSON-LD. If your site doesn't declare what you are (LocalBusiness, DaySpa, HairSalon), the AI has to guess. Guessing costs you spots in the answer.
2. Named author + owner presence
LLMs weight named people over anonymous businesses. If your "about" page doesn't credit the owner by name, doesn't show their experience, doesn't link to their LinkedIn, you look thinner than the studio down the street that does.
3. Directory presence with matching NAP
Google Business, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and the directories people use for your trade, such as Zocdoc for dentists or Avvo for lawyers. AI search reads these before it names anyone. Your name, address and phone must match character for character across every one, since a mismatch makes an engine less sure that the listings describe the same business. The directories also change over time, as new ones rise and old ones fade. We watch which ones ChatGPT reads today and move your presence as they change.
4. Original client stories over generic blog posts
A "5 tips for car care" post reads as thin. A page that explains how your shop tracks down a check-engine light, with the mechanic's name and a real customer's repair, gives AI something specific to cite. LLMs prefer specificity, and that's your leverage over franchise chains.
5. The voices AI listens to about you
AI draws on what other people say about you as much as on your own site. That means review language on Google, Yelp, and Tripadvisor, editorial mentions in local news sites and city magazines, and organic threads on Reddit where real clients recommend you. Reviews matter more than most owners think, and it is the words inside them that count: AI reads what a client actually says you did, while the star rating barely factors in. Editorial mentions tell AI who trusts you, and Reddit tells it how humans actually talk about you. We help you shape all three, so when someone asks for the best plumber in their city, the answer already knows your name.
JPMorganChase makes a similar point about AI agents in its 2026 Emerging Technology Trends report, where it expects winning brands to focus on “influencing the signals and rules that drive agent decision-making.”
Four ways to win ChatGPT's ranking factors
When someone asks ChatGPT for the best mechanic in their city, it weighs signals it already trusts: your name, address and phone across directories, what reviews on Google and Yelp say, mentions in local media, Reddit threads about you, and how fresh your own content is. Each service below works on those signals.
We guarantee the work gets done properly, tracked every week and reported in plain language. We won't promise a date AI starts naming you, because nobody honestly can.
Recent posts
How do I get my business listed on ChatGPT
There is no listing to submit. ChatGPT builds local answers out of pages other people wrote, so getting named means getting onto those pages. Here is how to get onto them and where to start.
Read →Your robots.txt is fine. Your firewall is the problem.
We checked 55 local business sites that ChatGPT already names in its answers. One blocks AI crawlers in robots.txt. Nine slam the door with a 403 before the file is ever read.
Read →Which AI is more likely to cite your own site?
A 356,019-citation study of four AI engines finds Gemini and Perplexity send most credit to the business's own site, while ChatGPT splits it almost evenly with directories. Here's what that means for where you spend the next hour.
Read →ChatGPT's AI browser is dead. What it did to your website isn't.
OpenAI shut down Atlas, its AI browser, in early August. The 'anti-web browser' effect a security researcher flagged in it never went away — it now runs through every version of ChatGPT.
Read →Search Console's new AI report only sees Google. Here's the blind spot.
Google Search Console now shows AI Overview and AI Mode impressions. It can't see ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude at all. Here's what the new tab actually covers, and what it misses.
Read →You're #1 on Google Maps. Google's own AI still might skip you.
A 1,120-search study found 28.5% of businesses that win Google's local pack are missing from Google's own AI Mode answer for the same query. Here's what separates the two.
Read →OpenAI's Astra: what actually changes for local business AI visibility
Read →Your AI traffic is hiding in GA4's "Direct" bucket — here's how to find it
Read →How to get your business to show up in ChatGPT
Read →How to check if ChatGPT recommends your business
You can run this check by hand in about ten minutes, and it shows you exactly what a new client sees. If you would rather skip the manual work, the free check at the bottom of this page runs the questions for you.
1. Open ChatGPT and start a new chat
Go to chatgpt.com and make sure web search is on, because local recommendations are built from live sources. A free account is enough for this.
2. Ask the question a new client would ask
Type what a real client types, for example "best med spa in Scottsdale" or "where to get a facial in Lincoln Park". Leave your business name out, because you are testing whether ChatGPT brings you up on its own.
3. Read the names and open the sources
Write down which businesses ChatGPT names, then click through the citations under the answer. Those links show where the answer came from, so keep them for step 6.
4. Repeat the question in Perplexity
Ask the same question at perplexity.ai, which shows its sources next to every answer. When both engines skip you, the pages they cited are the place to look.
5. Ask three or four variations
Change the service and the neighborhood the way different clients would, for example "lip filler in Old Town" or "best balayage near the Loop". One answer proves little, and a pattern across four or five questions shows where you actually stand.
6. Search the cited pages for your name
Open the sources both engines relied on and search each page for your business. If those pages skip you, the answer skips you too, and getting added to them is the most direct fix.
What local business owners ask us
Why is my business not showing up on ChatGPT?
ChatGPT builds its answer from the pages it finds when it searches the web, such as directories, review sites, local press and Reddit threads, and it names the businesses those pages mention. If you are missing from them, it has little reason to bring you up, even when your own website is good. To see where the gap is, ask ChatGPT the question a new client would type, leave your business name out, and open the sources listed under the answer. The fix starts with the directories and review sites among those sources, where you can get listed with the same name, address and phone on every one.
What is citation engineering?
Citation engineering is the practice of making a local business citable by large language models. Traditional SEO optimizes a website so a crawler ranks it. Citation engineering works on the sources an AI answer is actually assembled from: structured schema on the site, directory listings with consistent name, address and phone, reviews that name the specific service and the result, editorial mentions, and original data worth quoting. Your website is one input among several, and usually not the decisive one.
How is this different from SEO?
SEO works on where your website ranks in a list of links, and citation engineering works on whether AI search names your business in its answer. A Google result is a list a person then chooses from, while an AI answer is a short recommendation assembled from a handful of sources the engine trusts, and only the businesses named in it exist for that client. The two overlap in the basics, but SEO measures position and traffic, and we measure whether your name appears in the answer and which sources put it there.
How fast will I see results?
Plan for three months. Early signals usually show up in the first weeks and you see them in your tracking, but a stable presence across major AI platforms takes three to six months, depending on how competitive your niche is. Anyone promising citations in 30 days is guessing.
Do I need to change my website?
You only need small changes, and your design stays as it is. We add schema markup, which visitors never see, and we may suggest clearer wording on your about and service pages so AI search understands what you offer and where.
What if I already do content marketing?
Good, because you will not be starting from scratch. We go through what you have already published and mark the pages that are ready for ChatGPT to quote. For the rest, we show you how to rework each page so it answers one question a client really asks and names the service and the city plainly.
Can you guarantee I'll be cited?
No one can guarantee that AI will cite you, and any agency that claims otherwise is misleading you. What we guarantee is the work itself: the fixes done properly, weekly tracking, and changes to the plan when the data shows something isn't working.
Where do you work? Any city?
Anywhere your business operates. We work with local businesses in any city, whether single-location, multi-city chains, or franchise operators. Our method is location-agnostic: we analyze how AI engines cite your business in the geographies where your clients search.
Does ChatGPT recommend my business?
That's exactly what we measure. The free check on this page asks ChatGPT up to five questions that people actually type about your kind of business and shows whether your site gets cited. Our Local AI Visibility Tracking goes further: every week it asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity the same ten real client questions and emails you whether each engine named you, your best position and who it named instead.
I have 200 five-star reviews and still no new clients. Why?
Reviews that say “great service, loved it” don't give AI anything specific to repeat. ChatGPT tends to cite businesses whose reviews mention the actual service, the price, the neighborhood and the result. Part of our work is changing how you ask for reviews, so the next 50 describe what you did in words an engine can quote.
My competitor shows up in ChatGPT and I don't. What are they doing differently?
They most likely appear on the pages ChatGPT reads for that question, and you do not. Ask ChatGPT the question a client would type, then open every source it cites and search each one for both names. Every directory or best-of list that names your competitor and leaves you out is a place to get your business added.
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
You make yourself easy to cite. In practice that means schema markup on your site, the same name, address and phone across the directories AI reads, reviews that mention specific services and neighborhoods, and a place on the local best-of lists in your city. Start with the pages ChatGPT cites when you ask it the question a client would type, because those are the pages it relied on for that answer.
Where do I check if AI mentions my business?
You can do it by hand: ask ChatGPT and Perplexity the questions your clients type, leave your business name out of the question, and note which businesses come up. The step-by-step version is a little higher on this page. If you would rather have it done for you, the free check below asks ChatGPT up to five questions that people actually type about your kind of business and shows whether your site gets cited, with no email required.
Why is my business not in Google's AI Overviews?
AI Overviews lean on Google's index plus the Places data behind your Business Profile, so a thin or inconsistent profile keeps you out even when your website ranks well. Search Console folds AI Overview impressions into the regular performance report without a separate filter, which is why you cannot see them on their own. The fixes overlap with ChatGPT visibility, and the place to start is a complete Business Profile plus directory listings that agree with each other.
I pay for ads and AI still doesn't recommend me.
Your ad budget never makes it into the pipeline an answer engine reads. Google Ads can put you above an AI Overview as a sponsored link, but ChatGPT and Perplexity assemble their answers from directories, reviews and editorial pages, where spend carries no weight. Ads keep bringing visits while a campaign runs, and citation work keeps you in the answer after it ends.
Is SEO dead now that clients ask AI instead of Google?
SEO still matters, because ChatGPT and other AI engines search the web before they answer, and a site that search engines can read is easier for them to find. The difference is that each engine then writes one short answer with a few names in it, so ranking well on Google no longer guarantees that a client hears your name. Keep the SEO basics in place, then put some work into the pages that talk about you, like reviews and directory listings, because ChatGPT reads those as well as your site.
Do people really ask ChatGPT to find a spa?
Some do, and you can see what they get by asking ChatGPT yourself for a facial or a massage in your neighborhood. The answer comes back as a short list of names, so a spa that is missing from it never comes up in that conversation, however good its treatments are.
Do patients really pick a dentist by asking ChatGPT?
Some patients do, and the answer they get names only a few practices. The practical move is a separate page for each treatment, written the way a patient asks about it, like a chipped tooth that needs fixing this week. Put the details people ask about on that page too, such as which insurance you take and whether you see emergencies the same day, so ChatGPT has something from your own practice to cite.
My auto repair shop gets all its work by word of mouth. Does AI search change that?
It can work in your favor, because word of mouth also travels online. When customers recommend you in a review or a local Reddit thread, AI search can read those words and repeat your name to the next driver who asks. Ask happy customers to mention the actual repair and your neighborhood when they leave a review. On your site, give each repair its own page and say how soon you can take a car in.
How does a personal injury firm get named by ChatGPT?
Give each situation your clients face its own page, like what to do after a rear-end collision in your city, and write it in plain words. Then ask ChatGPT for the best injury lawyer in your city and open the sources it cites. If any directory among those sources leaves your firm out, get listed there with the same name, address and phone you use everywhere else.
Can a local gym show up when someone asks AI where to train?
It can, as long as AI search finds something specific about your gym to repeat. Ask ChatGPT the way a new member would, like where to get a day pass near you or which gyms run beginner classes in your neighborhood, and open the sources it cites to see which lists and directories you are missing from. Then give each class type its own page for every location you run, with the schedule and the drop-in price, so ChatGPT has your details to quote.
Free quick check
See where your business ranks in 60 seconds
We ask ChatGPT up to five questions that people actually type about your kind of business, and check whether your website shows up as a cited source. We detect your service type and city from your site. Results on this page, instantly.