You ask ChatGPT for the best business in your area, and it names your competitor. Not you. It's frustrating, especially when you know your work is as good or better. The reason is usually not quality. It's what the AI can find about each of you.
Why does ChatGPT recommend one business over another?
ChatGPT doesn't rank businesses on quality. When someone asks for a recommendation, it looks for businesses it can find, understand and trust: a clear page for the service and area, consistent business details, and other websites and reviews that back up what the business says about itself.
So if a competitor keeps getting named, they probably aren't better than you. They're easier for the AI to be sure about. We explain the mechanics in detail in how ChatGPT chooses which business to recommend; this guide is about comparing yourself with that competitor and closing the gap.
Why it matters now
In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US consumers, 45% said they use AI tools like ChatGPT for local recommendations, up from 6% the year before. The same survey found 47% won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews. That's US data, and we haven't seen a comparable Australian survey, but the direction is clear: the recommendation often happens before anyone visits your website.
Six things your competitor probably has that you don't
| What to compare | How to check | How to close the gap |
|---|---|---|
| A page for the exact service and area | Does their site have a "blocked drains Box Hill" style page where you have one general services page? | Build websites that explain your services clearly, one page per main service and area |
| A complete Google Business Profile | Compare categories, services, photos and recent posts on Google Maps | Fill every field and keep it current; see Google Maps and local search |
| More, and more recent, reviews | Count reviews from the last three months for both of you | Ask every customer, every week, not in bursts |
| Mentions on other websites | Search their name: directories, local news, supplier and industry sites | Earn listings and mentions where your customers already look |
| The same business details everywhere | Compare name, address and phone across their profiles and yours | Make every profile match your website exactly |
| A site AI search can read | Check your robots.txt allows OAI-SearchBot | Allow it; blocking GPTBot doesn't affect search |
Your competitor isn't necessarily better. They're easier for the AI to be sure about.
Why mentions matter more than you'd think
Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands in Google's AI Overviews and found that being mentioned on other websites lined up with AI visibility far more than backlinks did: a correlation of 0.664 for brand mentions against 0.218 for backlinks. That study covers Google's AI, not ChatGPT, but the lesson carries over: AI tools trust what others say about you more than what you say about yourself.
Check it yourself in 15 minutes
- Ask ChatGPT the question your customers ask, such as "best plumber in Box Hill", three different ways. Use the suburb: in our own Search Console data, two in five non-brand searches named a place.
- Note which businesses it names and which websites it cites.
- Open those sources. They show where your competitor is mentioned and you aren't.
- Compare the six points in the table above, side by side.
- Check your robots.txt. OpenAI says sites that want to appear in ChatGPT search should allow OAI-SearchBot; its crawler documentation explains the settings.
Repeat the same questions each month and record the results. Here's a simple monthly method for tracking it.
What won't help
- Paying for an "AI listing". There's no paid placement in ChatGPT's answers.
- Stuffing your pages with "best plumber" phrases. Clear, specific service pages do more than repeated claims.
- Judging from one answer. AI answers change from one ask to the next, so look for a pattern.
How SoudCoh helps
Our AI search optimisation work closes these gaps in order: service pages, business details, reviews and mentions. Our guide to getting your business mentioned in ChatGPT lists the next steps. If you're looking for the best marketing agency for your business, book a free marketing audit and tell us which competitor keeps getting named.
Common questions about ChatGPT recommendations
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
No. ChatGPT's answers are not paid listings. Be wary of anyone selling a guaranteed AI placement; what you can do is make your business easy to find, understand and trust.
Why does ChatGPT give a different answer each time?
AI answers vary with the wording of the question, the user's location and the sources found at that moment. That's why a single check proves little; compare the same questions over several months.
How long does it take to start appearing?
There's no set timeline. Fixing your service pages and business details can help within weeks; building reviews and mentions on other sites takes months.
Questions and answers
Does ChatGPT use Google reviews?
OpenAI doesn't publish exactly which review sources it uses. Reviews and mentions on well-known sites help across Google, ChatGPT and other AI tools, so build them wherever your customers look.
Will blocking GPTBot stop ChatGPT recommending me?
No. OpenAI says GPTBot is for training and is independent of search; OAI-SearchBot is the crawler that matters for appearing in ChatGPT search.