The short version
It’s usually one of three things: ChatGPT can’t read enough about you, what it reads doesn’t agree, or it only names a few businesses and you’re not one of them yet. The checklist below goes through the common causes. Each one has a fix you can start today.
1. Your website blocks the assistants
Some websites tell crawlers to stay out, often by accident. If your robots.txt file blocks OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s crawlers, they can’t read your pages.
Fix: ask whoever built your site to check robots.txt and allow OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User. Our free checker tells you when a block is the problem.
2. Your site says too little, or says it in pictures
A home page with a photo and a phone number gives an assistant almost nothing to quote. A menu or price list saved as an image or a PDF is worse.
Fix: add plain text: what you do, which suburb you’re in, your hours, your prices or price ranges, and how to book. One short page per main service is plenty.
3. Your details don’t match across the web
Different phone numbers, old addresses, or a name written three ways make you look like several businesses, or none.
Fix: pick one version of your name, address and phone, then correct it on Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Facebook and any directory that lists you.
4. You’re missing from Bing
ChatGPT search uses Bing’s index. Plenty of businesses have a Google profile and nothing on Bing.
Fix: set up Bing Places for Business. You can import your Google profile.
5. Few mentions on other sites
If the only place that talks about you is your own website, an assistant has one source and no second opinion.
Fix: get described by others: a local guide, a supplier page, a community group, a chamber of commerce listing, a local news story. Ask politely and send them accurate details. Never pay for a fake mention.
6. Thin or old reviews
A listing with three reviews from 2019 doesn’t say much. Assistants tend to pick up what customers say.
Fix: ask recent customers for an honest review, make it easy with a link, and reply to what you get. Never offer rewards for reviews or write your own.
7. The wrong category on your profile
If your Google profile says “Beauty salon” and you are a barber, you’ll miss the question that matches you.
Fix: choose the most specific main category, then add secondary ones for what else you really do.
8. It names only a handful, and you’re not in it yet
Even a well-set-up business can miss out, because an assistant names so few. And the answer can change from one day to the next.
Fix: there’s no quick one. Keep improving the points above and check again in a few weeks. Our monthly check-in does this for you and shows what changed.
Find out which one is you
Guessing is slow. Our free check shows whether ChatGPT and Claude recommended your business in the answers we have stored, and who they named instead. The full report then shows the websites they relied on and gives you the fixes, written and ready to send.
Nobody can make ChatGPT pick a business. We show you what it looks at.