How to get recommended by ChatGPT when a customer searches nearby

Customers no longer always type “bakery Shoreditch” into Google. Increasingly they open ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity and ask, in plain language: “What's the best artisan bakery near Old Street?” The assistant doesn't return ten links — it names one, maybe two or three, with a reason. If your business isn't named, it doesn't exist in that conversation, and the customer will never know it was left out.

This is a structural shift. Classic search optimises your place in a list of links. This new habit — asking a question and getting a recommendation — plays out elsewhere, and it follows different rules.

Why this isn't (just) SEO

Answer engines don't rank pages, they synthesise an answer. To do it they draw on what they “know” about you: what's written about you across the web, in directories, reviews and local sources, and how consistent all of that is. You can rank first on Google and be entirely absent from ChatGPT's answer, simply because the assistant never linked your name to the right question.

Ranking well means appearing in a list. Being recommended means being the name the assistant says out loud.

The three levers that actually matter

• Structured presence: one consistent listing (name, address, category, hours) repeated identically across your site, Google Business Profile and your sector's directories. Inconsistencies make the assistant hesitate.
• Semantic context: copy that clearly states what you do, for whom, and where. “Bakery” isn't enough; “artisan sourdough bakery, no additives, in Shoreditch” gives the AI what it needs to recommend you on the right query.
• Citable social proof: reviews, mentions in local press, partnerships. These are the sources the assistant cites to justify its recommendation.

Measure before you act

The trap is to rebuild everything blind. Before investing, you need to know where you stand: on which questions you're already cited, on which your competitors are named instead, and in what tone. That's exactly what Waseit does — we ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers would ask, and measure whether you appear, at what position, and why.

Once you have that snapshot, the actions become obvious: fill the missing directories, clarify what you offer, strengthen the sources the AIs already cite. Then measure again. AI visibility isn't luck — it's a loop: measure, fix, re-check.

Start with the first turn of the loop: run a free audit and find out in 60 seconds whether AI assistants recommend you today.