Ask ChatGPT for "a good HVAC company in Harrisburg" and you get a short list of names, a sentence or two about each, and sometimes a link. More customers start their search that way now, alongside a regular Google search. Nobody can buy a spot in those answers, and nobody can promise you one. But the answers are built from what is published about businesses online, and that part you can shape.
How AI assistants find local businesses
When you ask an assistant about local businesses, it usually looks things up on the web first, then summarizes what it found. Google's AI Overviews and Gemini draw on Google's search index and Business Profile data. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot run their own web searches, through their own crawlers and search partners such as Bing.
What they find is your website, your Google Business Profile, your directory listings, your reviews, and anything else written about you. So the things that help you in regular search are the same things that help you in AI answers. There is no separate trick.
1. Say exactly what you do, and where, in plain words
AI tools lift sentences straight from your pages, so give them good ones. Each service you sell should have its own page that names the service and the towns you work in, in a sentence a person could repeat:
"We repair and replace residential furnaces and heat pumps in Harrisburg, Camp Hill and Mechanicsburg."
Compare that with "Comfort solutions for your home." The first tells an assistant what you do and where. The second tells it nothing.
2. Answer the questions customers actually ask
People ask assistants full questions: how much does it cost, how long does it take, do you service my town, are you licensed and insured. Put those questions on your service pages with direct answers. If the price depends on the job, say what it depends on. A clear answer is far more likely to be repeated than a vague one.
3. Keep your facts the same everywhere
Your business name, phone number, service area and hours should match on your website, your Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, Yelp and the directories in your trade. When sources disagree, an assistant has to guess, and it may guess wrong or leave you out.
Old listings are the usual culprit: a previous phone number, a former address, a business name from before a rebrand. Find them and fix them.
4. Treat your Google Business Profile as a main source
For local questions, Google's AI answers lean on Business Profile data: your categories, services, hours, photos and reviews. A complete, accurate profile with recent reviews that mention the actual work, like "replaced our water heater in Hershey," gives the assistant something concrete to say about you. Our Google Business Profile guide covers setup in detail.
5. Add structured data
Structured data is a small block of code on your pages that states your business details in a format machines read without guessing: your name, phone number, service area, the services you offer, and the questions you answer. Search engines use it, and AI tools that read your pages get the same clean facts.
Some sites also publish an llms.txt file, a plain summary of the business written for AI tools. Not every tool reads it yet, so treat it as a small extra, not a fix.
6. Make sure the tools can read your site
Two common problems keep a site out of AI answers entirely:
- Blocked crawlers. Your robots.txt file can tell crawlers to stay out. Check that it allows the search crawlers you want, including Googlebot, Bingbot and OAI-SearchBot, the crawler behind ChatGPT search.
- Text that only appears after scripts run. Some sites load their words with JavaScript after the page opens. Google can usually handle that, but many AI crawlers read only the raw page and see little or nothing. Your key content should be in the page itself.
7. Get mentioned by others
Assistants put more trust in a business that other sources talk about. Local news coverage, your chamber of commerce listing, supplier and manufacturer dealer pages, community sponsorships and trade associations all count. One genuine mention on a respected local site does more than dozens of low-quality directory links.
How to check where you stand
Ask the questions your customers would ask, in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot: "Who installs [your service] in [your town]?" or "Who is a good [your trade] near [your town]?" Note whether you come up and whether the details are right.
Answers vary by person, by day and by how the question is worded, so look for patterns over a few months rather than reading too much into a single answer.
How long it takes
Changes to your own website and Google Business Profile can be picked up by Google within days to weeks. AI assistants that search the web as they answer can reflect those changes about as quickly. Answers that lean on what other sites say about you take longer, because those sources have to change first. Plan on months, not days, and check every month rather than every morning.
A quick checklist
- Each service has its own page that names the service and the towns you serve.
- Those pages answer cost, timing and service-area questions in plain sentences.
- Your name, phone, hours and service area match everywhere you are listed.
- Your Google Business Profile is complete, with recent reviews.
- Your site has structured data, and its text is in the page itself.
- Your robots.txt lets search crawlers in.
- At least a few respected local sites mention you.
- Once a month, you ask the assistants the questions your customers ask, and note what they say.
What to avoid
- Pages stuffed with town names and keywords. They read badly to people and give assistants nothing useful.
- Fake or paid reviews. They break Google's rules and can get reviews removed or your profile restricted.
- Anyone who promises you a spot in ChatGPT or Google's AI answers. Nobody controls what those tools say.
The short version
Be clear about what you do and where. Answer real questions. Keep your facts consistent. Make your site readable. Earn mentions from others. That is the same work that helps regular search, and it is what we do every month in Search & AI Visibility.