How to Show Up in ChatGPT’s Local Business Recommendations

Blue River Digital’s Guide to AEO (Ask Engine Optimization) for Conversational Search

At Blue River Digital, we’ve built our reputation by helping businesses stay ahead of the curve—and today, that means optimizing not just for Google, but for AI-powered tools like ChatGPT.

If you’ve ever wondered how ChatGPT chooses which local businesses to recommend when someone says:

“Find me the best auction company near Warsaw,”
or
“Who’s a reliable roofer in Columbia City?”

—you’re not alone. While ChatGPT doesn’t use a traditional “ranking algorithm” like Google, it absolutely makes recommendations. And yes, your business can show up in those answers—if your online presence is optimized correctly.

We call this strategy part of our broader framework: Ask Engine Optimization (AEO).

Let’s break down what influences these AI-powered recommendations—and what we’re doing to help our clients win that visibility.

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Why ChatGPT Local Visibility Matters

AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and even voice assistants like Alexa and Siri are becoming trusted sources of answers. When a user asks for a local recommendation, they’re likely getting suggestions pulled from a mix of:

• Online business profiles
  
• Review platforms
  
• Website mentions
  
• Search engine visibility (especially Bing)
  
• Structured data
  
• And general online consensus
  

That means your business needs to be everywhere AI might look—not just on Google. And yes, we’re already optimizing for this.

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6 Key Local Ranking Factors in ChatGPT (and What We’re Doing for You)

🧠 1. Consensus and Popularity

The more your business is talked about online, the more likely it is to be mentioned by ChatGPT. This includes:

• Mentions in news articles
  
• Appearances in blog posts and directories
  
• High ratings and strong presence on Google, Yelp, Facebook, Bing, and others
  

What we do:
We help increase your digital footprint across high-authority websites and local citations. From local directory submissions to backlink outreach and review generation—we build digital momentum that earns trust from AI models.

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📍 2. Verified Bing Places Listing

Bing powers ChatGPT. If your business isn’t claimed and optimized in Bing Places for Business, you’re missing a critical opportunity.

What we do:
We ensure your Bing Places profile is:

• Verified
  
• Filled out with business hours, photos, and descriptions
  
• Regularly updated
  

This step alone gives you a competitive edge, especially in markets where others may ignore Bing entirely.

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🔎 3. Bing Rankings and Mentions

ChatGPT often uses Bing search behind the scenes when answering local questions. That means your Bing SEO matters.

What we do:
While many SEO agencies focus only on Google, we optimize your site to perform on both platforms. This includes:

• On-page optimization for Bing’s crawler
  
• Building mentions on Bing-indexed websites
  
• Monitoring Bing search performance in your reporting dashboard
  

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✅ 4. Complete Online Profiles Across the Web

ChatGPT gives preference to businesses that look legit. That means your online profiles across platforms like Yelp, Facebook, Google, Bing, Yellow Pages, and others should include:

• A full description
  
• Logo and branding
  
• Up-to-date hours
  
• Services and products
  
• Multiple recent reviews
  

What we do:
We help you clean up and standardize all your listings across the web using Listing Sync tools and manual optimization when needed. This builds trust—and helps AI choose your business over one with an empty or outdated profile.

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💬 5. Customer Reviews on Your Website

ChatGPT doesn’t just rely on third-party platforms—it also looks at your own website. If you have strong reviews or testimonials published on your site, ChatGPT may quote or cite them when offering suggestions.

What we do:
We add a dedicated testimonials section to your site, using both SEO-friendly formatting and structured data (schema markup) to make sure those reviews are indexed and usable by AI models.

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⭐ 6. Recent Google Reviews

Even though Google and ChatGPT are competitors, Google Reviews still carry serious weight in local AI responses. Why? Because most businesses already have a Google profile, and it’s a rich source of signals.

What we do:
We help you create a repeatable system to ask for reviews:

• Via email templates
  
• In-person signage or cards
  
• Follow-up SMS campaigns
  

We also monitor your reviews and include them in monthly reporting so you can track your progress.

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Bonus Strategy: Keeping Your Website Live, Fast & Secure

AI tools scan websites in real time. If your site is down, slow, or insecure, it’s automatically disqualified from being recommended in ChatGPT results.

What we do:

• Host your site on reliable, fast servers
  
• Monitor uptime and performance
  
• Implement SSL security and mobile optimization
  

This technical foundation ensures that when AI models scan your site, it loads fast and looks credible.

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How We’re Taking This a Step Further: llms.txt Integration

In addition to the strategies above, we’ve introduced something most agencies haven’t even heard of: a customized llms.txt file.

This emerging protocol allows us to:

• Guide AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity to the right content on your site
  
• Signal that your business is open to being crawled and quoted by LLMs
  
• Highlight high-value pages (FAQs, services, testimonials) that answer real customer questions
  

It’s part of our AEO strategy—and another reason our clients are ahead of the curve.

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Final Thoughts: ChatGPT Is Recommending Businesses—Will Yours Be One of Them?

At Blue River Digital, we believe Ask Engine Optimization is the future. Whether it’s Google’s AI Overviews or ChatGPT’s conversational results, the game has changed—and we’re helping our clients win.

If your business is ready to be the answer that AI tools recommend when customers are searching, asking, or even talking out loud to their devices—we can help you get there.Let’s make sure your business isn’t just found.
Let’s make sure it’s trusted, cited, and chosen.