How to Show Up in AI Search (ChatGPT, Google AI, and More)

A growing number of people in Carmel and Indianapolis skip Google entirely and ask an assistant instead. They type "best plumber in Carmel" into ChatGPT or Gemini, and they act on what comes back. Showing up in AI search isn't luck, and it isn't a separate discipline from the local SEO you may already be doing. If you want help building those signals, that's what AI search optimization covers.

Try this before you read any further

The test makes one thing obvious. These tools are already recommending local businesses to your customers. The only question is whether you're one of the businesses being named.

What AI tools actually look at

All of them work from public information: review platforms, business directories, website content, and the general shape of your presence online. They're trying to decide which businesses are real, well established and genuinely relevant to what was asked.

I wanted to know what they weight most, so I asked all four of them directly what the single biggest thing a local business can do is. The wording differed. The answer didn't.

Every single AI platform pointed back to the Google Business Profile as the primary foundation for local AI visibility. That was eye-opening, and it confirms that the work local businesses are already doing for Google Search is also the work that gets them found on AI platforms.

Why your Google Business Profile carries so much of it

Your profile is the most structured, most referenced, most regularly updated public record of your business anywhere. Name, address, phone, hours, services, description, photos and reviews, all in one place, all publicly readable. That's exactly what a tool needs before it will put your name in an answer.

A thin or out of date profile is one nothing can draw from with any confidence. A complete one, with every service described and a description that names what you do and where, hands over everything needed to recommend you. The full profile checklist is the single most useful thing on this list.

Reviews: how many, how recent, how specific

Reviews are the strongest trust signal you have, and three different things about them matter.

• How many. My own working benchmarks, from doing this for local businesses: under about 20 reviews there isn't enough there to recommend you with confidence, around 50 you start carrying real weight, and past 100 you're a credible first answer.
• How recent. A hundred and fifty reviews that all stopped three years ago reads as a business that may not be there anymore. Two or three new ones a month is worth more than a big pile of old ones.
• How specific. "Great service!" gives nothing to work with. "They installed a new water heater at our home in Carmel and finished in under three hours" gives the service, the place and the outcome.

You can ask customers to be specific about what you did. What you can't do is tell them what to say, or steer them toward a positive review, both of which break Google's rules and put the reviews at risk. The rules on asking are worth knowing before you build a habit around them.

Your details have to match everywhere

These tools cross-reference. When your name, address and phone number are identical across Google, Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps and the directories, everything confirms everything else. When they disagree, nothing is confirmed, and an uncertain business is an unrecommended one.

This is the same reason consistent details matter for ordinary local rankings. It was never only a Google concern.

Your website still counts

The profile carries the most weight, but these tools read websites too. A site with clear service pages and natural location language gives something to quote. A thin site that never quite says what you do or where you do it gives nothing.

This is the strongest argument for a page per service. One page about one service in one area is a clear statement. One page covering nine services is a shrug.

Can you pay to be recommended?

Not for the recommendation itself, and that's the part worth understanding. When an assistant names businesses inside its answer, that comes from the public record about those businesses.

Which is good news if you're small. The named recommendation is earned, so a well run local business with a complete profile and a steady flow of reviews can beat a much larger competitor with a much larger budget.

The checklist for a Carmel business

• Complete every section of your Google Business Profile
• Write a description that names your services and your towns
• Describe every service in the services section, not just the headline ones
• Build two to three genuine new reviews a month, every month
• Ask customers to mention what you actually did, without scripting them
• Make your name, address and phone identical everywhere you appear
• Give every service its own page, with natural location language
• Post to your profile most weeks

The bottom line

AI search isn't a separate project competing with your local SEO. It's the same work, read by a different reader. The businesses getting recommended are the ones that already did it. If you want the platform specifics, I go through ChatGPT and Google AI in their own posts. For a business in Carmel or Indianapolis, the groundwork is the same either way.

Frequently asked questions

How do I appear in Google AI search results?

Complete your Google Business Profile, keep your details consistent everywhere, build recent and specific reviews, and give every service its own page on your site. Google's AI surfaces draw on the same local signals as the Map Pack, so there's no separate switch to find.

How do I get into AI search?

Start with the two minute test in this post, then work the checklist. In practice it means a complete profile, consistent details, a steady review flow and a website that says plainly what you do and where. There's no submission process and nothing to sign up for.

How do I show up in ChatGPT searches?

The same groundwork, with one addition: ChatGPT leans on what the wider web says about you, so review sites and directories carry real weight alongside your profile. I go through it in detail in the ChatGPT post.