How to get your business named in ChatGPT and Google answers

Why this matters now

Since 22 July 2026, Google shows AI-written answers on google.fr: AI Overviews at the top of the results, and AI Mode, where you chat with the search engine. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Mistral's Le Chat do the same: they answer directly and name a few businesses.

For a local business, the effect is simple. When a customer asks for “a bakery open on Sunday near me”, they no longer compare ten websites. They see three or four names. Being one of those names is what people call GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), or AI search optimisation.

The good news: there is no secret recipe. Google says so itself: to appear in its AI features, a page simply needs to be indexed and eligible to show in regular search results. There are no extra technical requirements. A business owner can do everything below without outside help.

1. Start with the test

Before changing anything, see where you stand. It takes ten minutes.

1. On your phone, open Google, ChatGPT and, if you have it, Perplexity.
2. Ask what your customers ask, the way they ask it: “plumber near me”, “best hairdresser in [your town]”, “garage open Saturday [your town]”.
3. Write down the names given. Take a screenshot of each answer.
4. Do it again in a month, with the same questions.

Answers change from one day to the next and from one person to another. A single answer means nothing. What matters is the trend over several weeks.

2. Rank well on Google and Bing

Google's AI builds on its regular results. ChatGPT search relies on partner search engines, including Bing. A site that is missing from Google and Bing is unlikely to be named.

What to do

• Register your site with Google Search Console (free). It tells you which pages Google knows and which searches show your site.
• Do the same with Bing Webmaster Tools (free). It can import your Google settings in two clicks.
• Check that your site doesn't block AI crawlers. A file called robots.txt gives them instructions. If it blocks OAI-SearchBot, for example, your site can't appear in ChatGPT search results. Ask whoever manages your site to check.
• One page per important service. A plumber with separate pages for drain unblocking, water heaters and leak detection is easier to find than one with a single “general plumbing” page.
• A site that is fast and readable on a phone. Most local searches happen on mobile.

No website? For a local business that's not a blocker: go straight to the next point, it matters most for you.

3. A complete Google profile and reviews

For a local search like “bakery near me”, AI looks at your Google Business Profile first. Google explains that local ranking rests on three things: relevance (does your profile match the search?), distance, and prominence, which takes into account reviews and what is said about you across the web.

Fill in everything

• The most precise main category: “Italian restaurant” rather than “Restaurant”, “Hair salon” rather than “Beauty salon”. Add secondary categories for your other activities.
• Opening hours, and special hours: bank holidays, summer closure, closure for works. An AI that sends a customer to a closed shutter loses you a customer, and often earns you a bad review.
• Services or products, with prices where possible.
• The description: plain sentences on what you do, for whom, where. No keyword lists.
• Attributes: wheelchair access, terrace, contactless payment, walk-ins welcome… These are exactly the details customers ask AI about.
• Recent, real photos: your shop front (so people recognise it), the inside, your work.
• If you travel to customers (trades), hide your home address and set your service area: the towns or radius you cover.

Reviews

• Ask every happy customer for a review, at the moment they thank you. Google gives you a direct link to send by text or print as a QR code.
• Reply to every review, good and bad, with a real answer rather than a copy-paste. A calm reply to criticism reassures readers.
• Reviews that describe the job (“he replaced our water heater the same day”) help more than a plain “very good”. You can invite customers to mention what you did, but never write the review for them.

Beyond Google

• Bing Places imports your Google profile in a few clicks. Useful, since Bing feeds several assistants.
• Apple Business Connect is the listing shown in Apple Maps and Siri on iPhones.

4. Answer questions plainly

AI looks for short, clear answers. Put the customer's question as the heading and the answer in the first two sentences. Details come after.

1. Write down the ten questions you are asked most often, on the phone, at the counter, by email.
2. For each one, write the answer in two sentences, with figures where you have them: a price, a delay, an opening time.
3. Put them on your website, one question per heading, on an FAQ page or directly on the page for that service.

5. Information machines can read

AI reads text better than images, and structured data better than text. This part is technical, but you only set it up once.

• The same details everywhere. Your name, address and phone number must be written exactly the same on your website, Google profile, directories and social media. An AI that finds two different numbers trusts both less.
• Prices, menus and opening hours as text, not only as a photo or a PDF. A photo of a chalkboard looks nice, but machines read it poorly.
• Structured data. A few invisible lines of code, in the format recognised by Google and other search engines (schema.org), that say “this is a bakery, here are its hours, address and prices”. There is a type for almost every trade: Bakery, Plumber, HairSalon, AutoRepair, Restaurant… Whoever manages your site can add it and check it with Google's free Rich Results Test.

Here is what that code looks like for a made-up bakery:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Bakery",
  "name": "Boulangerie du Marché",
  "telephone": "+33 2 00 00 00 00",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "1 place du Marché",
    "postalCode": "49000",
    "addressLocality": "Angers"
  },
  "openingHours": "Tu-Su 07:00-19:30"
}

6. Get talked about elsewhere

AI names the businesses people talk about. A business mentioned by the local paper, a traders' association and several directories inspires more trust than one that only exists on its own website.

• Reputable directories: in France, PagesJaunes, your chamber of commerce (CCI) or chamber of trades directory, and your trade federation's directory. Check the details are correct.
• Local press: an opening, an anniversary, a rare skill or a neighbourhood initiative are all reasons to contact the local paper.
• Partners: suppliers, sports clubs you sponsor, neighbouring shops. A link from their site to yours counts.
• Your trade's platforms: TheFork or Tripadvisor for a restaurant, booking platforms for a salon, matchmaking sites for tradespeople. They often rank well, and AI reads them.
• Social media: less decisive than the points above, but an up-to-date Facebook or Instagram page with the same name and number confirms you exist and are open for business.

7. What only you can say

Why would AI name you rather than a competitor? Because you give precise information the others don't.

• Your real prices, even as a range. Many competitors don't publish any.
• Your past work: a refitted bathroom, a wedding cake, a haircut, a restored engine. With photos and two lines of explanation.
• Your specialities, in black and white: “curly hair”, “natural sourdough”, “hybrid cars”, “gluten-free cooking”. Customers ask AI increasingly precise questions, and AI looks for whoever matches the request exactly.
• Your terms: response time, area covered, how to book, payment methods.

What to avoid

How long does it take?

Allow a few weeks for an updated profile or a new page to be taken into account by Google and Bing, and longer to see a steady effect in AI answers. Reviews and mentions on other sites build up over months.

The most effective starting point is your Google profile (point 3): it changes fastest, and it's free.

What this guide can't do for you

This guide gives you the method. It can't tell you where you stand, in your town, against your competitors. That's what the Bien Cité audit does:

• The actual AI answers for your case: we ask ChatGPT, Google and the others the questions your customers ask, for your trade and your town, and you get the screenshots.
• Who is named instead of you, and why: what your competitors have done that you haven't yet.
• The order of priorities: which of the seven points in this guide will make the most difference for you, and where to start.
• The work done for you, if you want: Google profile, machine-readable information, pages that answer your customers' questions.

You can apply this whole guide without us. If you'd rather save time, the quote is free.

Sources

• Google Search Central, AI features and your website.
• Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google.
• OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers.
• Blog du Modérateur, Google rolls out AI Overviews and AI Mode in France (in French).