"Who's a good dentist near me?" "What's the best bakery in town for a birthday cake?" More people are typing questions like these into ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI answers instead of scrolling a list of links. The assistant answers with a few names. If yours isn't one of them, that customer never sees you.
There's no form to fill in and no fee to pay to be recommended. AI assistants build their answers from what's published about businesses across the web. The good news is that the things they rely on are things you can improve.
What AI assistants look at
When an assistant searches the web to answer a question about local businesses, it tends to lean on a few kinds of sources:
- Your own website, especially pages that clearly say what you do, where you do it and who it's for.
- Business listings such as your Google Business Profile, Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps and directories for your industry.
- Reviews, both how many you have and what customers say in them.
- Articles and pages that answer the exact question being asked, like "how much does a deep clean cost in Austin?"
- Mentions of your business elsewhere: local news, community sites, partner pages.
Assistants that search the web often draw on traditional search indexes. ChatGPT's search, for example, leans heavily on Bing. So the basics of being findable on Google and Bing still matter. AI adds one more test on top: can the assistant tell, quickly and confidently, that you're a good answer to this question?
1. Say plainly what you do and where
An assistant can't recommend you for something your website doesn't say. Make sure your home page names your service and your town in plain words, for example "Family and emergency dentistry in Maple Grove" rather than "Smiles that shine." List your services on their own page, and mention the neighborhoods or towns you serve.
2. Make your details match everywhere
Your business name, address, phone number and hours should be identical on your website, your Google Business Profile and every directory you appear in. Mismatches, like an old phone number on one site or a former address on another, make it harder for search engines and assistants to be sure they're looking at the same business.
3. Answer the questions your customers actually ask
This is the step most businesses skip, and the one that moves the needle most. Write down the questions customers ask you on the phone or at the counter. Then publish a clear, honest answer to each one on your website: what it costs, how long it takes, what to expect, how to choose. When someone asks an assistant that question, a page that answers it directly, from a business in the right place, is exactly what the assistant is looking for.
4. Grow your reviews steadily
Reviews are one of the clearest signals of whether customers are happy. A steady stream of recent reviews counts for more than a burst from years ago. Ask every happy customer, make the link easy to tap, and never pay for or filter reviews (Google's rules forbid both).
5. Stay active
A business that posted last week and updated its website last month looks open and trustworthy to customers, and recent activity gives search engines a reason to check back. Regular social posts and fresh articles keep the signals current.
6. Check what the assistants actually say
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers ask, using your town's name. Note who gets named and which websites are cited. That tells you where the gaps are: maybe a competitor has an article you don't, or a directory you're missing from.
How FullFound helps
FullFound does this work every week for you. It regularly asks AI assistants the questions your customers ask, shows you whether your business is named, writes articles aimed at the questions where it isn't, keeps your website current and posts to your social channels. You approve; it handles the rest.