How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT (A Guide for Australian Small Businesses)

More and more people skip Google's ten blue links and just ask an AI: "Who's a good plumber in Joondalup?" or "Best website designer for a small business in Perth?" The AI gives two or three names. If you're not one of them, you never even get considered.

The good news: this is still new, especially in Australia, and small businesses can genuinely compete. Here's what actually helps.

How AI tools decide who to recommend

AI assistants build answers from what they can find and trust: your website, your Google Business Profile, directories, reviews, news and articles that mention you. They favour businesses that are clearly described, consistently described and independently vouched for.

So the job is simple to describe, if not to do: make it easy for AI to understand exactly what you do, where, for whom, and why you're credible.

1. Say exactly what you do, in plain words

Every service you offer should have its own page that says, near the top, what it is, where you offer it and who it's for. "Web design in Perth WA for small businesses" beats "Crafting digital experiences."

2. Answer real questions on your site

AI tools love content that directly answers questions. Add FAQs to your service pages using the actual questions customers ask, and answer them honestly in two or three sentences. (Yes, like the ones at the bottom of this article.)

3. Add structured data

Structured data (schema markup) is code that labels your business details for machines: your name, services, area served, prices, FAQs. It removes guesswork. Every site I build includes it.

4. Be consistent everywhere

Your business name, location, phone and description should match across your website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories and socials. Inconsistency makes AI less confident about recommending you.

5. Get mentioned by others

Reviews, local news, industry associations, podcasts, partner websites and award listings all act as independent proof. One genuine mention on a respected local site can matter more than ten pages on your own.

6. Make your site easy to read

Fast pages, clean HTML and text that isn't hidden in images. Some sites also add an llms.txt file, a plain-text summary for AI tools. It's cheap to do and can't hurt.

7. Test what AI says about you

Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude the questions your customers would ask. Note whether you appear, how you're described and who's recommended instead. Repeat monthly. That's your new ranking report.

Does this replace SEO?

No. Good SEO is the foundation, and most of the work overlaps. GEO just puts extra weight on clarity, structure and reputation. I wrote more about the difference in AI SEO in Perth: what GEO is and whether you need it.

If you'd like a hand, I offer GEO for Australian businesses, starting with an audit of how AI tools describe you today.