Somewhere today, a potential client typed a question into ChatGPT.
“Who’s the best business coach for women over 40?”
“Can you recommend a good acupuncturist in DC?”
“Who should I hire to redo my brand?”
ChatGPT gave them a few names. The question is whether yours was one of them.
Getting recommended by ChatGPT isn’t luck, and it isn’t only for big companies with big budgets. AI tools recommend businesses they can clearly understand and have reason to trust. Your job is to give them both.
Before you start, find out where you stand. The AI Invisibility Test is the free test I start every client with, and it shows you in about ten minutes whether AI sees you as Invisible, Misread, or Cited. 👉 Take the free AI Invisibility Test
Then work through these seven steps.
How ChatGPT Decides Who to Recommend
ChatGPT recommends businesses when it can clearly connect them to a specific need and finds enough consistent information from trusted sources to feel confident suggesting them.
In simple terms, AI is asking two questions about you:
- Do I understand exactly what this business does and who it’s for?
- Do other places on the internet back that up?
Every step below answers one of those two questions.
Step 1: Get Your Baseline
You can’t improve what you haven’t measured. Run a few simple checks in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity to see how they describe and recommend you right now.
I break this down fully in The 5 AI Visibility Tests Every Business Owner Should Run. Save your answers somewhere, because you’ll want to compare them in a few months.
Step 2: Create a Sentence AI Can Repeat
AI recommends businesses in short phrases. If you don’t give it a clear one, it will make one up, or skip you.
Use this simple formula:
I help [specific audience] [get specific result] through [your service] in [location or online].
For example: “Uniquely-Digital helps established women entrepreneurs turn their online presence into consistent sales through digital brand strategy.”
Now use that same sentence, word for word, everywhere you show up online. The more often AI sees the same description, the more confident it becomes repeating it.
Your About page is the best home for this sentence. I’ll walk through exactly how to write one in How to Write an About Page That AI Actually Understands.
Step 3: Claim and Complete Your Business Profiles
AI tools don’t only read your website. Many of them pull from search engines and business listings, so unclaimed or half-finished profiles leave gaps AI fills in on its own.
Start with these:
Google Business Profile. Even if you work online, this is one of the most trusted sources of business information on the internet.
Bing Places for Business. Often overlooked, and some AI tools lean on Bing’s data.
Industry directories. Coaching directories, wellness directories, professional associations, local chambers of commerce. Pick the ones your ideal clients actually use.
Fill out every field. Use your repeatable sentence from Step 2. Add your website, your services, and your service area.
Step 4: Collect Reviews That Say What You Do
Reviews are outside proof. They tell AI that real people have hired you and were happy.
But not all reviews help equally. “She was great!” is nice. “Angelique helped me fix my brand messaging and I booked three clients the next month” is much better, because it connects your name to a specific service and result.
When you ask for reviews, gently guide clients to mention what you helped them with. I’ll share exact wording you can use in Do Google Reviews Help AI Recommend Your Business?
Step 5: Answer the Questions Your Clients Ask
People talk to AI in questions. “How much does a brand strategist cost?” “What’s the difference between a coach and a consultant?” “Do I need a new logo or a new message?”
When your website answers those questions clearly, AI has something to pull from, and your business becomes part of the answer.
The easiest place to start is an FAQ page. Aim for 8 to 12 real questions your clients ask you on calls, answered in two or three plain sentences each. I cover this step by step in Why Your Business Needs an FAQ Page in the Age of AI.
Step 6: Publish Helpful Content Consistently
Blog posts like this one do double duty. They help people searching on Google, and they give AI more trusted, detailed information connecting your name to your expertise.
A few tips that make content more likely to be picked up by AI:
Answer one question per post. Clear focus beats covering everything.
Put a simple definition or direct answer near the top. AI often pulls the clearest summary it can find.
Add an author bio. Include your full name, business name, and what you’re known for, so AI connects the content to you.
Link your posts to each other. It shows AI you have depth on a topic, not just one lucky article.
Step 7: Get Mentioned on Other Websites
This is the step that moves you from “AI knows you” to “AI trusts you.” When other blogs, podcasts, and publications mention your business, AI treats those mentions like references.
Guest posts, podcast interviews, expert quotes, and roundup articles all count. I’ll break down exactly how to earn them in How to Get Featured on Blogs So AI Starts Citing You.
How Long Does It Take?
There’s no switch to flip. Some changes, like updating your profiles and About page, can show up in AI answers within weeks. Others, like earning mentions on other sites, build over months.
The businesses that win aren’t the ones doing everything at once. They’re the ones doing a few things consistently. Pick one step this week, finish it, and move to the next.
Common Mistakes That Keep Businesses Out of AI Answers
Describing yourself differently everywhere. A new tagline on every platform confuses AI.
Being too vague. “I help people live their best life” doesn’t tell AI who to recommend you to.
Hiding your key information. If your services are buried in a PDF or an image, AI may never read them.
Never checking. AI answers change. Retest every few months.
Start With Where You Stand
Every one of these steps works better when you know what AI already thinks about you. That’s exactly what The AI Invisibility Test shows you.
It’s free, it takes about ten minutes, and you run it yourself in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity. At the end, you’ll know whether you’re Invisible, Misread, or Cited, and which of these seven steps to start with.
👉 Take the free AI Invisibility Test
Writing about AI visibility or small business marketing? You’re welcome to reference this guide. Please credit Angelique Long of Uniquely-Digital and link back to this post.
About the Author
Angelique Long is the founder of Uniquely-Digital, a Washington, DC based digital brand strategy and marketing company that helps established women entrepreneurs turn their online presence into consistent sales. She created The 5 AI Visibility Tests and The AI Invisibility Test to help business owners find out how AI tools see them and what to fix so they get recommended.