AI search: how ChatGPT, Gemini and Google find your business

By Shavin Shawkat·Last updated 5 October 2026·About 13 min read

Short answer: when a customer asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google for a supplier, the answer is often built from sources that are already online, such as web pages, map data and reviews. You cannot control the answer, but you can make sure the information about your business is clear, consistent everywhere and easy to find. For Google’s AI features, the same basics apply as for ordinary search.

This guide is written for you if you run a local business and want to understand what AI search means for you, what you can do yourself and what nobody can promise.

The customer asks a question, not a keyword

In an ordinary Google search, the customer often types two or three words: “electrician [town]”. In an AI tool, the same customer types or says a whole sentence: “Which electrician in [town] can replace the fuse box in a 1970s terraced house and has good reviews?”

The answer changes accordingly. Instead of ten links, the customer often gets a couple of names with a short explanation, sometimes a map and links to the sources. The follow-up question comes straight away: “Which of them can come next week?”

For a local business, this means the question contains more parts to match: the service, the location, the type of job and what other people think. And fewer businesses are named in each answer.

Where AI answers get their information

The tools can answer from what they learned during training, but for questions that need current information, such as local suppliers, they often search the web and summarise what they find. That is why it matters what is out there right now.

ChatGPT

According to OpenAI, ChatGPT can search the web automatically when a question would benefit from current information, and users can also start a search themselves. Answers that use web search can show the sources they are based on. For local questions, ChatGPT can work from an approximate position based on the IP address, or from the device’s precise location if the user chooses to share it. Search is also available to free users and to people who are not signed in.

OpenAI has its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, which reads websites for the search feature. It is a different crawler from GPTBot, which collects material for training the models. The settings are independent of each other, so you can say no to training and still let the search crawler in. OpenAI does not describe in detail how ChatGPT chooses between sources.

Google: AI Overviews and AI Mode

AI Overviews appear at the top of some search results. Google also has AI Mode, where you can ask longer questions and follow-up questions. Google describes how the system splits the question into subtopics and runs several related searches at the same time.

Google also writes that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimisations needed. The page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet in ordinary search. You do not need special AI files or new markup.

Gemini

According to Google, Gemini automatically uses public information from services including Google Search and Google Maps. If someone asks about a business or a place, the answer can therefore be based on information from Maps. Your Google Business Profile and your reviews can be a source here too.

Test what AI says about you

The simplest way to see where you stand is to ask the same questions as your customers. Fill in the fields and you get three questions to use in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Mode.

Gemini has no link that fills in the question for you, so paste it in yourself.

How it looks for us

At our check on 29 September 2026, we found 50 AI answers where Pixeltokig was given as a source, including in Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. We follow the trend over time and review which questions our pages are used to answer.

The figure covers the answers included in our tracking. It does not show our total visibility in AI or how many customers the answers have brought us. And the fact that our pages are used as a source does not mean that we are recommended as an agency in the answer.

A test we ran

On 4 October 2026, we asked this question in Google’s AI Mode (in Swedish, as our Swedish customers would): “Which web agency in Stockholm builds the website, handles hosting and SEO, and shows which enquiries the marketing brings in?”

The answer listed a few web agencies in Stockholm that take full responsibility, and Pixeltokig was one of the options. Our Swedish website was also shown as a source. AI Mode described us using what is on our site: that we build business websites, handle hosting and ongoing maintenance, and work with SEO and advertising. We were also mentioned when the answer brought up that forms can be connected directly to a business or sales system. The answer ended with follow-up questions about budget and publishing tools, and Google itself writes under the answer that AI responses may contain mistakes.

Our conclusion: AI Mode largely repeated what is on our service pages, where the service and the location are stated clearly. That is the same advice we give in the rest of this article. The question was worded around what we offer, and the same question can give a different answer next time. So a single test does not show how often we appear, but it does show what kind of page AI answers draw from.

What a local business can influence

What works is whatever makes it easy for both people and machines to understand what you do and where. For a closer look at the pages that get quoted, see our guide on how to get cited in AI search.

• One page per service. If everything sits on one page called “Services”, it is harder to connect you to a question about fuse boxes specifically. A separate page for each service, with what is included, who it is for and how it works, gives a clear answer to point to.
• The location in the text, not just in the footer. Write which towns and areas you work in, on the service pages and in the texts about completed jobs. “We take jobs in [town], [neighbouring town] and the surrounding area” says more than an address at the bottom of the page.
• The same details everywhere. Name, address, phone number and opening hours should be the same on your website, in your Google Business Profile and in the local directories and industry listings in your country. That makes it easier for both customers and services to trust the details.
• Structured data where it fits. Markup following schema.org, for example LocalBusiness with address and opening hours, is not a requirement for Google’s AI features. But correct markup makes the details unambiguous, and it is a small job on a WordPress site.
• A complete Google Business Profile. The right primary category, all services filled in, up-to-date opening hours and real photos. For Google’s local results, relevance, distance and how well known the business is are central factors, and the profile is what you control most directly. Read more about how we work with the Google Business Profile.
• Reviews from many customers, continuously. Google writes that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Detailed reviews also show new customers what jobs you do and how they turned out. You get a steady flow by asking for a review after every job. That is what Tokig Reviews is built for.
• Content about jobs you have actually done. Texts about real jobs, with your own photos, the location and what was tricky, are hard to copy and say a lot about what you can do. That is the idea behind Tokig Stories: you record a few minutes on site, we write the article and you approve it before it is published.
• Let the crawlers in. Check that robots.txt, security plugins or a firewall do not shut out Googlebot or OAI-SearchBot. A setting meant to stop junk traffic can block them by mistake.

What nobody can promise

Be sceptical of anyone who guarantees a place in ChatGPT’s or Google’s AI answers. There are several reasons why it cannot be done:

• The answers vary. The same question can give different answers depending on wording, timing, the user’s location and earlier conversation.
• You do not control sources outside your own website. What others write about you, and how the tools weigh it, you can only influence indirectly.
• You cannot buy a place in the answer itself. Ads are shown separately and give neither a better organic position nor a recommendation in the AI answer.
• It takes different amounts of time. Updated business details can show up fairly quickly, while new pages, reviews and mentions take longer. See it as ongoing work, not something that changes overnight.
• Measurement is incomplete. Some visits from AI tools show up in your visitor statistics, but many customers read the answer and call you directly. So ask new customers how they found you.

What you can do is improve your chances and follow up regularly.

Checklist: start here

1. Ask your three test questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Mode. Note which businesses are named and which sources are shown.
2. Go through your Google Business Profile: category, services, opening hours and photos.
3. Search for your business name and check that address, phone number and opening hours are correct in the directories that come up. Old details often remain after a move.
4. Check that every important service has its own page that names the areas you work in, so that it is not only the home page that says what you do.
5. Check that Googlebot and OAI-SearchBot are allowed to read your website.
6. Make it a routine to ask for reviews after every job, instead of asking all your customers at once.
7. Write about one completed job a month, with photos, location and what you solved. Concrete texts say more than general phrases about quality and service.

What most people won’t tell you

AI visibility is tied to SEO. For Google’s AI features, Google itself says that basic SEO applies. For ChatGPT, we know that search pulls sources from the web, but not exactly how they are chosen. In our work, that means clear service pages with the location, a complete business profile, a steady flow of reviews and a website the crawlers are allowed to read. On top of that, we track how often the website is used as a source in AI answers, and which questions it answers. Anyone selling AI optimisation as something completely separate should be able to explain what you get beyond the basics.

One clear sentence says more than a lot of general text. If your website does not say plainly what you do, where and for whom, there is little for an AI answer to point to. We saw that in our own test above too. A sentence like “We replace roofs on detached houses in [town] and [neighbouring town]” does more than ten pages of general text.

How we work with AI visibility

• We test first. In the review, we ask your customers’ questions in ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode and Gemini, signed out and with the same method every time. AI answers vary, so you get screenshots of what the answers said at the time of the test.
• The basics come first. Clear service pages, the business profile and reviews come before anything called AI optimisation.
• We measure what can be measured. Calls and forms are connected to their source in Tokig Insights when the source can be identified, and we track how often your website is used as a source in AI answers.
• A team that knows you. Several of us work with each client, and the work and the figures are in the same customer portal that you see yourself.

Frequently asked questions

What is included in the free review?

We ask around ten questions your customers might ask, in ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode and Gemini, and look at how you show up in ordinary search and in your Google Business Profile. You find out which competitors are named instead, which sources the answers are based on and what we would prioritise first.

Can you pay to appear in ChatGPT?

Not in the answers themselves. What matters is what the tools find about you: your website, your business profile, reviews and what others write. Ads are a separate thing and do not affect what the answer says.

Do we need an llms.txt file or special AI markup?

For Google’s AI features, no. Google writes that you do not need special AI files, new markup or other special optimisations. Spend your time on clear pages, the business profile and reviews first.

How do we know if we are named in AI answers?

Ask the same questions your customers would ask, in several tools and on several occasions, and note whether you are included. Feel free to use the tool above. Do it regularly, because the answers change.

Shavin Shawkat

Responsible for marketing and SEO at Pixeltokig. Shavin works on how our clients show up in Google and in AI search, and makes sure every channel is measured in enquiries, not clicks.

Read next

• Visibility in AI search
• Tokig Reviews: collect Google reviews continuously
• How to choose an SEO agency: 10 questions and a calculation
• DA vs DR: what the numbers mean and why Google doesn’t care

Sources

• OpenAI: ChatGPT search
• OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers
• OpenAI: Ads in ChatGPT
• Google Search Central: AI features and your website
• Google Search Help: Get AI-powered responses with AI Mode in Google Search
• Gemini Help: Connected apps in Gemini
• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google