How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI

A few of our own clients have told us they found ND Web Design by asking ChatGPT for a web designer in Malta. That is an anecdote, not a measurement, but it matches what many businesses are noticing: some customers skip the list of search results, ask an assistant a question, get a short answer with a handful of names, and get in touch.

The habit is spreading. The NSO's 2025 survey found that almost half of internet users in Malta had used generative AI tools, and more than three in four internet users aged 16–24. The survey doesn't measure how people choose suppliers, but it is reasonable to expect some of them to ask an assistant when they need a plumber, a dentist, an accountant or a website.

So how does a business end up in that answer? There is no secret switch, and anyone selling a guaranteed "ChatGPT ranking" is overselling. But there is a clear set of things that make you easy to find, easy to understand and safe to recommend. The practice is often called generative engine optimisation, or GEO.

How AI assistants choose who to mention

When you ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot or Google's AI Overviews for a recommendation, the assistant usually searches the web, reads a selection of pages and summarises what it found. Each platform uses its own mix of crawlers, search partners and ranking signals, so results differ between assistants and can change from day to day.

In practice, the businesses that get mentioned tend to share three traits:

1. Findable. Their pages can be crawled and appear in the search results the assistant reads.
2. Understandable. Their pages state clearly what they offer, where, and for whom.
3. Corroborated. Other sources, such as directories, reviews, client websites and local press, say the same thing.

Everything below strengthens one of those three.

Step 1: Make sure AI crawlers can actually read your site

Most AI platforms publish the names of their crawlers. OpenAI's crawler documentation, for example, lists OAI-SearchBot, which finds sites to show in ChatGPT search, and GPTBot, which collects data for model training. These are controlled separately, so you can allow search visibility without allowing training. A third agent, ChatGPT-User, only visits a page when a person asks ChatGPT to; it does not decide whether you appear in search, and robots.txt rules may not apply to it. Perplexity, Anthropic and Google publish similar documentation.

Check two places:

• Your robots.txt file. Make sure it does not block the search crawlers you want to be visible to, such as Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
• Your security or CDN settings. Some bot-protection features block AI crawlers by default. If you use a service like Cloudflare, check its bot settings.

It is also worth verifying your site in Bing Webmaster Tools as well as Google Search Console. Bing's index feeds several AI experiences, and it is free.

Step 2: Give every service its own clear page

Assistants answer specific questions: "who builds online shops in Malta?", "which accountants in Birkirkara handle VAT for freelancers?". A single homepage that lists ten services in one paragraph is hard to quote.

For each main service, create a page that answers:

• What exactly is it, in one plain sentence?
• Who is it for?
• What is included, and what is not?
• Where do you work? (Malta, Gozo, specific localities, online)
• What does the process look like?
• Common questions, answered directly.

This is the same content that helps human visitors decide. Write for them first. We structured our own services pages this way.

Step 3: State the facts about your business, consistently

AI systems try to work out which "entity" a page is about. Help them by keeping your core facts identical everywhere: business name, phone number, email, address or service area, opening hours and website.

Common Maltese pitfalls:

• Different spellings of your locality across profiles (Ħamrun on one site, Hamrun on another, "Hamrun, Malta HMR" on a third). Pick one form and use it everywhere.
• An old phone number still on a directory listing.
• A trading name on Facebook and a registered company name on your website, with nothing connecting them.

Add structured data (schema.org markup) to your site so this information is machine-readable: Organization or LocalBusiness for the business, Service for each service, FAQPage for questions and answers. Google is clear that no special markup is required for its AI features, and it stopped showing FAQ rich results in 2026, so treat markup as a way to remove ambiguity, not a ranking trick.

Step 4: Earn independent confirmation

An assistant is more comfortable recommending a business that other sources vouch for. Useful sources in Malta include:

• Google reviews on your Business Profile. Our guide to why a business isn't showing on Google covers profile setup and eligibility.
• Industry directories and review platforms relevant to your field, kept complete and up to date.
• Client and partner websites that credit or link to you.
• Local press, associations and chambers that mention your work.

Never buy reviews, write them yourself, only ask the customers you expect to be happy, or publish fake "best of" lists. Beyond breaking Google's policies on fake engagement, it is exactly the kind of signal these systems are being built to ignore.

Step 5: Publish things worth citing

Assistants love content that answers a question better than anything else: local data, clear comparisons, honest pricing explanations, step-by-step guides. A page titled "How much does it cost to renovate a bathroom in Malta, and what drives the price" is far more quotable than "Welcome to our website".

Original local information is especially valuable because nobody else has it, like a roundup of NSO internet data for Malta.

The page itself has to be readable too: fast, with its text in the HTML rather than hidden in images or loaded by heavy scripts. If a crawler cannot read it, it cannot quote it. Avoid shortcuts like hidden text aimed at AI or hundreds of near-identical pages for every town; assistants increasingly cross-check, and so do customers.

What about llms.txt?

llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file that summarises your site for AI tools. It is cheap to add as documentation. But be realistic: there is little public evidence that major assistants rely on it today, and Google's guidance on AI optimisation says files like this neither help nor harm your visibility in Google Search. Do the steps above first.

Step 6: Measure what you can

AI visibility is hard to measure perfectly, but you can get a useful picture:

• Ask every new enquiry how they found you. Include "ChatGPT or another AI assistant" as an option on your contact form.
• Check your analytics for AI referrals, for example visits from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai.
• Test a fixed set of questions once a month in two or three assistants and note whether you appear, and whether the details are right.

A one-hour checklist

1. Search for your business by name in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google. Note what is right and wrong.
2. Check robots.txt and your bot-protection settings.
3. Make sure every main service has its own page.
4. Make your name, phone, address or service area and hours identical everywhere.
5. Start inviting every customer to leave an honest Google review, not just the ones you expect to be happy.
6. Add "How did you find us?" to your enquiry form.

Frequently asked questions

What is generative engine optimisation (GEO)?

GEO is the practice of making your website and online presence easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews to find, understand and cite when people ask questions related to your business.

Is GEO different from SEO?

They overlap heavily. Good SEO (crawlable, fast, clearly structured pages that answer real questions) is the foundation of GEO. GEO adds extra emphasis on clear factual statements, consistent business details and independent corroboration.

Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT's answers?

Not in the organic recommendations discussed here. Any provider promising a guaranteed placement in AI answers should be treated with caution.

Should I block AI crawlers?

That is a business decision. Blocking training crawlers, such as GPTBot, does not have to mean blocking search crawlers. If you want to appear in AI search, allow the search crawlers for the platforms that matter to you, such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot, and check that your security settings don't block them either.