You know the feeling. Someone searches for a plumber, a hairdresser, an accountant or a photographer nearby. In the past that person typed something into a search bar and got a list of links. Now that person opens a chat window and just asks. And then something strange happens: your business does not come up. Not because you do bad work, but because the assistant does not know you. That is not bad luck. That is a test you can do yourself, and something you can change.
The question “does ChatGPT know my business” is really a very practical question. You do not have to be a tech person to find the answer. You open an assistant of your choice, you ask a few questions, and you read carefully what comes back. What is right, what is outdated, what is missing entirely. That is your starting point. No dashboard, no report, just a conversation you have yourself.
Ask three kinds of questions
Start simple. First ask who you are. Type the name of your business and the place where you work, and see what comes up. Sometimes you get a neat summary, sometimes the wrong industry, sometimes nothing at all. That is information right away: apparently there is something about you to be found somewhere, or there is not.
Then the second kind of question, and for local businesses that is the most interesting one. Do not ask about yourself, but about your customer’s problem. “I am looking for someone who can renovate my bathroom in my city, who can I call?” Or: “Where can I go for a good hairdresser nearby?” See whether your business is in the list. Often the assistant names a handful of names, and if you are not among them, you know enough.
The third question is about your trade and your region together. “Who is good at accounting for small business owners in this area?” This kind of question shows whether you not only exist, but are also named as someone who does something well. That is another level. The first is name recognition, the second is a recommendation.
Write things down while you test. Not in a complicated system, just in a note. Which questions gave an answer about you, which did not, and what was incorrect. You will notice that the results differ per question and per assistant. That is normal and it is exactly why you have to try it yourself instead of reading about it.
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An assistant only names you when it can read clearly somewhere what you do and where.
Why one gets named and the other does not
A language model does not work like a phone book. It has no list of all the businesses in your town. It works with text it has seen, and it fills in with what it retrieves during the conversation. If your business is not described anywhere in clear language, there is nothing to fall back on. Then your business simply does not exist for the assistant, even if you have been on the same street for years.
That also explains why some competitors do show up. They have somewhere on their site what they do, for whom, and in which place or region. Not hidden in a pdf, not only in a logo, but in ordinary sentences that a machine can read. An assistant has no feeling for atmosphere. It needs clear text about your trade, your service area and your target group.
There is something else that matters: consistency. If your business details are slightly different in one place than in another, an assistant gets confused. The same name, the same address, the same description of your services. That sounds boring, but it is the difference between being named and not being named. Google itself writes that content should mainly be intended for people, and that is exactly the point: clear for people is also clear for machines. You can read more about that in Google’s documentation on helpful content.
What you can do about your texts yourself
The first concrete recommendation is simple and boring: put at the top of your site in one or two sentences what you do, for whom, and where. No slogan, no catchphrase, but a description you would also give to a neighbour. “I repair central heating boilers and heat pumps for households in this region.” Something like that. If that sentence is not there, no assistant can invent it.
Then comes structure. One page per service, with a clear title and a few paragraphs of explanation, works better than one long page where everything is mixed together. A separate page about your service area helps too, because then it is clear which places and areas you cover. You do not have to be a tech person to arrange this, but you do have to think for a moment about what exactly you offer.
And then the details. Make sure your name, address, phone number and description are the same everywhere. On your site, in your profiles, in the listings you have created yourself. Small differences seem harmless, but they make it harder to recognise you with certainty. Consistency is not a marketing trick, it is just putting your affairs in order.
If you want to dig deeper into this, the knowledge base about AI SEO is a good start. There you will find in plain language what is going on and what you can do without overhauling your whole site.
What you can and cannot control
Now the honest part. No one can guarantee that an assistant names you. Not us, not an agency, not a tool. A language model is not a list you can add to. It is a system that forms answers based on what it has read, and that changes constantly. Anyone who promises you that you will come out on top is selling you something he does not control.
What you can do is make sure you are findable and understandable. That is no guarantee, but it is the basis. If your site clearly tells what you do and where, and if your details are correct, then an assistant has something to fall back on. That increases the chance that you are named, without anyone being able to make a promise about it.
There is another layer you can consider: files and structure that machines read more easily. You do not have to dive into that yourself, but it is good to know that it exists. On the page about being visible in ChatGPT we explain how that works and what it delivers. Read that especially if you notice that your competitors do get named and you do not.
Do the test and see what comes out
The test costs you fifteen minutes and delivers more than most reports. Ask the three kinds of questions, note what is right and what is not, and see where the gaps are. Often you see right away that the problem is not in your trade, but in how you write about it. That is good news, because that is something you can do something about.
Do you want to know where your site stands right now? Then request the free diagnosis. Then you will see in plain language where your site stands now, and you will know what you can improve first.
Written with AI by FWRD. Sources and figures are linked in the text.