So, you ask ChatGPT or Google's AI Mode to suggest some businesses, and you get a short list of names. Business owners are always wondering how to get their company on that list, and the companies behind these tools have actually shared some guidance on how to do just that. Here's what they have to say.
What Google says
Google's Search Central documentation on AI features says the usual best practices for SEO still apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. It also says you don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in them.
The page lists a few basics. Make your content easy to find through internal links on your own site, make sure any structured data matches the text people can see, and check that your Merchant Center and Business Profile details are up to date.
Search Engine Journal reported on a newer Google guide that goes further. According to the publication, Google says llms.txt files, content chunking, AI specific rewriting and special schema aren't needed for its generative AI features, and that a page has to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet.
Google has also said it is beginning to test a new Search Console control that lets site owners decide whether their site appears in its generative AI features. Sites that opt out receive no traffic or impressions from those features, the company says. It is rolling out new Search Console insights on how pages appear in them as well.
What OpenAI says
OpenAI's publisher FAQ says any public website can appear in ChatGPT search. To be included in summaries and snippets, a site shouldn't block OpenAI's search crawler, which is called OAI-SearchBot. That can mean updating the site's robots.txt file, a small text file that tells crawlers which pages they may visit.
OpenAI's crawler documentation adds that sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, although they can still appear as navigational links.
Training is handled separately. The FAQ tells publishers to disallow a different crawler, GPTBot, if they want content kept out of potential training. A business can make a different choice on each.
On measurement, OpenAI says ChatGPT adds a utm_source=chatgpt.com tag to referral links from its search results. Visits from those links can then show up in tools such as Google Analytics.
What the research shows
Guidance from the platforms covers access. It says less about why some businesses get named and others don't, and the independent data is thin.
A Sydney digital marketing agency, EarnedMedia studied 360 responses from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity to 90 everyday Australian questions. It reported that businesses in the top 25% for mentions and links across other websites were recommended 1.9 times as often as those in the bottom 25%. Ranking on page one of Google made almost no measurable difference, the agency found. It says company size and marketing budget didn't change the result.
The agency ran and published the study itself, so read it as one data point. Other Australian numbers are less encouraging. An index published in Dynamic Business scored 1,459 AI answers about Australian businesses. Small service businesses were named in about 5% of the answers to cost questions, and roughly four in ten mentions came with no link to the business's own website.
Answers also shift from one run to the next. In a June 2026 study by Dossis Digital, ChatGPT kept the same recommended businesses across three identical runs just 8% of the time. Gemini managed 24%, Perplexity 38% and Claude 89%.
Check your own business
Ben Tippett, founder of Perth Digital Edge, suggests a simple test in Dynamic Business: ask ChatGPT or Claude to recommend a business like yours in your suburb. Given how much answers can vary, asking more than once, on different days, and noting who comes up looks sensible.
Tippett also writes that for most Australian small businesses, the Google Business Profile is now more important than the website itself for local discovery. That lines up with Google's own advice to keep Business Profile details current.
If you go after more reviews and mentions, keep them genuine. The ACCC says it is against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews, or to arrange for others to create them.
For most owners the first jobs look ordinary. Check that search crawlers can reach your site, keep your Business Profile details accurate, and see what the tools say about you today.