Local visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity
More people ask an AI assistant for a recommendation instead of googling. Here is how to make AI search engines name your local business in their answer.
Why AI search engines matter for local
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google Gemini "what is a good bike shop in Utrecht", that person often gets back one or two names, not a list of ten. If you are not named, you do not exist for that customer. This is called GEO, Generative Engine Optimization: being found and cited by AI search engines. For local businesses this is a new and still underused channel.
How do AI search engines pick a local business?
They lean on signals they trust: your Google Business Profile, your reviews, consistent mentions of your name and address across sites, and clear information on your own website. The more consistent and clear those signals, the higher the chance the AI names you.
What you can do concretely
- Keep your data identical everywhere. Name, address, phone and hours must match exactly in every place. Differences make the AI uncertain.
- Write citably. Answer real questions directly and clearly on your site: what you do, where, for whom, on what terms. Short, clear passages are easy to lift.
- Allow AI crawlers. One wrong line in your robots.txt can block bots like GPTBot or Google-Extended. More on the concept in What is GEO.
- Build reputation. Reviews and mentions on trusted local sites raise the chance an AI recommends you.
Measure whether you are named
You can guess, or you can measure. The question is simple: when someone in your city asks the AI for a recommendation, do you come up, or your competitor? That is exactly what you want to know before you improve anything.
How dGENIX helps
The GEO Engine measures your AI visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, checks whether AI crawlers can read your site and scores how citable your content is. GENI can run this on a schedule and alert you if you drop. Together with the SEO Engine you cover classic and AI searches. See also the overarching guide How to get found locally in the Netherlands.
Curious whether AI search engines already name you? Run a free SEO and GEO scan. Or join the waitlist.
