No tool or agency can guarantee that a business will be cited by ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI answers. What their official documentation does show is where the information comes from: your Google Business Profile and Google Maps, search engine indexes, your website if their crawlers can reach it, and public information about your business. Those are the sources a local shop can look after.

This guide relies only on official pages from Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Perplexity and Apple, consulted on 5 October 2026. These services change fast: check the links at the end before making a decision.

How do Google's AI answers choose their sources?

On its “AI features and your website” page (updated 10 December 2025), Google explains that to be shown as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet. Google states there are no additional requirements or special optimisations, and that you don't need to create new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup.

Its recommendations are standard SEO: allow crawling in robots.txt, put important information in text form, make structured data match the visible text, and check that your Business Profile information is up to date. For a local business, that last point matters a lot.

Where does Gemini find information about businesses?

Gemini Apps Help says Gemini uses public information from Google Maps to find places such as businesses, stores and restaurants, and to give their address, description, website, ratings and opening hours. For this practical information, Gemini therefore relies on what Google Maps shows, in other words on your Business Profile.

A technical detail worth knowing: the Google-Extended token, which some sites block in robots.txt, controls whether your content is used to train Gemini models and to ground answers in Gemini Apps. Google states it has no effect on your inclusion or ranking in Google Search. If your site blocks it, make sure that is a deliberate choice.

How does ChatGPT find local businesses?

OpenAI uses several crawlers. OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search results: a site that blocks it won't be shown in search answers, though it can still appear as a navigational link. GPTBot is used for model training. OpenAI says the two settings are independent: you can allow OAI-SearchBot and block GPTBot. Allow about 24 hours after a robots.txt change for its systems to adjust.

On the user side, OpenAI's help explains that ChatGPT may use an approximate location based on IP address to provide local results, and that its search sometimes partners with third-party search providers; the page links to the privacy policies of Microsoft and Shopify. ChatGPT may also share location with trusted third-party providers that supply local information, such as nearby business listings. For websites, OpenAI asks you to allow OAI-SearchBot and to check that your host or content delivery network (CDN) lets its crawlers through. And OpenAI says it plainly: placement is not guaranteed.

For restaurants, ChatGPT can show reservation times from OpenTable (available globally, according to OpenAI), Resy (United States) or Yelp (United States and Canada), on eligible consumer plans.

Why does Bing matter for AI assistants too?

In its documentation on web search in Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft states that Copilot may fetch information from the Bing search service to ground its responses. Bing Places for Business, now at bing.com/forbusiness, lets you create and manage your business listing to appear in Bing search results and Bing Maps, with an import from your Google profile.

Since February 2026, Microsoft has also offered an “AI Performance” report in Bing Webmaster Tools, in public preview. It shows how often a site's pages are cited as sources in Microsoft Copilot and in AI-generated summaries in Bing. Claiming your Bing listing takes little time, and it is one more source you control.

Do reviews and consistent information matter?

For Google, yes: prominence, one of the three local ranking factors, takes the number of reviews into account, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help that ranking. Ratings are also among the details Gemini pulls from Google Maps.

On consistency, Google asks that your profile name be the one you actually use, consistently, on your shopfront, website and stationery. None of these engines publishes a “consistency score” across directories. This is common sense rather than a written rule: the same name, address and phone number everywhere stop an assistant that cross-checks several sources from running into contradictions.

What should you actually do? A 10-point checklist

  1. Verify your Google Business Profile and complete it: specific category, hours, special hours, photos, website, phone.
  2. Reply to your reviews, positive and negative.
  3. Claim your listing on Bing Places (bing.com/forbusiness), importing the information from your Google profile.
  4. Claim your place on Apple Maps through Apple Business (business.apple.com).
  5. Check that your name, address and phone number are identical everywhere: Google, Bing, Apple, social networks, website, directories.
  6. If you have a website, check that its robots.txt allows Googlebot, Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot, plus PerplexityBot if you want to appear in Perplexity results.
  7. Ask your host or web provider whether a firewall or CDN blocks these crawlers: OpenAI mentions this explicitly.
  8. Write the information people ask for most as text on your site: address, hours, services, how to get there. Not just in an image.
  9. Add your site to Google Search Console (Google includes traffic from its AI features in overall search traffic there) and to Bing Webmaster Tools, with its “AI Performance” report.
  10. Test it yourself every month: ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google your customers' question with your town (“florist open on Sunday in Arcachon”), and note who gets cited and which sources are shown.

Keeping your Google profile active is part of that foundation. Ooklo uses AI to prepare your posts, emails and SMS (and soon your Google Business updates), and you approve every piece before it goes out. Ooklo doesn't sell websites or SEO services: for your site, the points above are for you and your web provider.

Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT's answers?+
OpenAI's search documentation doesn't describe any way to buy a place in the results. It states that ChatGPT ranks results using multiple factors and that placement is not guaranteed.
Do I need a website to be cited by an AI?+
Not necessarily for practical information: Gemini relies on public information from Google Maps. But to be cited as a source in Google's AI Overviews or in ChatGPT search, you need a page that is indexed and reachable by crawlers. A website, even a simple one, gives you one more source.
If I block GPTBot, will I disappear from ChatGPT?+
No. GPTBot is used for model training. OAI-SearchBot is the one that lets you appear in ChatGPT search, and OpenAI says the two settings are independent.
Do I need an llms.txt file or special markup for Google's AI?+
Google says no: no new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup are required to appear in its AI features.
How long before my changes are taken into account?+
It depends on the service. OpenAI says about 24 hours after a robots.txt change for its search results. At Google, a profile edit is usually reviewed within 10 minutes, but it can take up to 30 days.
Do Google reviews affect AI answers?+
Google says the number of reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, and Gemini shows the ratings displayed on Google Maps. None of these companies details further how much reviews weigh in their AI answers.
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Sources

  • Google Search Central, AI features and your website (updated 10 December 2025), https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Google, List of Google's common crawlers (updated 14 July 2026), https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-common-crawlers (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Google, Find places & get directions in Gemini Apps, https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16622866?hl=en (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Google, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Google, Guidelines for representing your business on Google, https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Google, Understand what happens to your Business Profile edits, https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038311?hl=en (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI Crawlers, https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • OpenAI, Searching the web with ChatGPT, https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Microsoft, Data, privacy, and security for web search in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat (updated 18 August 2026), https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/manage-public-web-access (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Microsoft Bing, Introducing the New Bing Places for Business (3 October 2025), https://blogs.bing.com/search/2025/10/Introducing-the-New-Bing-Places-for-Business-Built-for-Business-Owners,-Powered-by-Research/ (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Microsoft Bing, Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview (10 February 2026), https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/2026/2/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview/ (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Perplexity, Perplexity Crawlers, https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots (accessed 5 October 2026)
  • Apple, Apple Business, https://business.apple.com/ (accessed 5 October 2026)