Guide · Brand and website

Why ChatGPT recommendsyour competitor.

AI assistants name two or three businesses per answer. Here is what decides who gets named, and how to become one of them.

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Key points7 min
  1. Google reviews are the signal most linked to recommendations, according to a study of 10,000 businesses.
  2. A complete Google profile matters just as much.
  3. Rich, up-to-date websites are cited more often.
  4. Technical “AI tricks” show little measured effect.

The problem

A customer asks ChatGPT: “Who is the best electrician in Joliette?” They get two names. Neither is yours. Yet your prices and turnaround are better. That customer will never know.

It is not about size. Assistants recommend businesses whose reputation is visible online, and many excellent small businesses are not.

The solution

In a 2026 study of 10,000 local businesses, the ones assistants recommended had 133 Google reviews on average, compared with 11 for the rest. Businesses in Google’s local pack were recommended 3.5 times more often. The fixes, in order:

  1. Your Google profileVerified and complete: services, area, hours, recent photos.
  2. A steady flow of reviewsA request after every job, with a direct link.
  3. A reply to every reviewShort, personal, naming the service.
  4. One page per service“Electrical panel upgrades in Joliette” beats a generic “Services” page.
  5. The same name everywhereIdentical name, address and phone on every site.

Does AI recommend you? Take the test.

The questions to ask AI assistants, and the eight signals that decide who gets recommended.

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Sources for the figures

How Northworks AI helps

We make you visible where customers look.

This is the work of our Brand and website service, with automatic review requests from Customer experience.

Your name in the answers, at the moment the customer decides.

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Your project · Brand and website4 steps
  1. Free checkWhat assistants say about your trade and town.
  2. Core fixesGoogle profile, service pages, wrong information.
  3. Ongoing reviewsAn automatic review request after every job.
  4. Monthly follow-upThe test rerun every month, with what changed.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a new website?

Not necessarily. Often, adding real service pages and keeping them current is enough.

What about Bing?

ChatGPT search reportedly relies partly on Bing. Registering your site with Bing costs nothing, and we do it by default.

Keep reading

Read next.

Free tool3 min

Does AI recommend you? Take the test.

The questions to ask AI assistants, and the eight signals that decide who gets recommended.

Try the toolTutorial5 min

Reply to every Google review in two minutes.

A personal reply to every review, positive or negative, in two minutes.

ReadTutorial6 min

A post-service survey that sends itself.

Two questions after every job, and more Google reviews.

Read

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