Yes. People can find businesses through ChatGPT and other AI software, particularly when ChatGPT searches the web to answer questions about local businesses, services, products and recommendations.
Someone might ask:
Instead of typing several searches into Google and visiting multiple websites, a potential customer can ask Gemini a detailed question and receive an answer that may include businesses, websites, citations, links, and other relevant information.
ChatGPT Search can use current information from the web and may also use general location information to provide locally relevant results. (OpenAI Help Center)
That creates an important new question for businesses:
If customers are using AI to find companies like mine, how do I make sure my business can be found?
The answer has a lot in common with good SEO, but there are some additional considerations worth understanding.
There isn't one master “AI business directory” that you can simply submit your company to and guarantee placement.
When a question calls for current information, AI’s like Perplexity can search the web and use relevant sources to develop its response. OpenAI states that any public website can potentially appear in ChatGPT search results, provided the content can be discovered and accessed. (OpenAI Help Center)
For example, someone could ask:
“Who are some Alaska companies that design logos for small businesses?”
ChatGPT may search for information relevant to that request and use web sources to formulate its response.
That means your overall online presence matters.
Your website needs to clearly explain what your business does, where you operate, who you serve, and why your company is relevant to the types of questions potential customers are asking.
Not in the same way businesses traditionally think about Google rankings.
There isn't a guaranteed “#1 ChatGPT position.”
OpenAI says ChatGPT Search uses multiple factors intended to identify relevant and reliable information, and that placement is not guaranteed. The answer can also change depending on the question.
Consider these searches:
“Find a roofer in Anchorage.”
“Who provides emergency roof repair services in Anchorage?”
“What Anchorage roofing companies work on large commercial buildings?”
All three are about roofer, but they communicate very different needs.
A company could be highly relevant to one question and less relevant to another.
That's one reason businesses should think beyond ranking for a handful of short keywords.
Your website should clearly answer the more detailed questions customers ask when they're actually deciding whom to hire.
Potentially, yes, but your website has to be accessible.
OpenAI uses a web crawler called OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT Search. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot if you want your website's content to be discoverable and surfaced in ChatGPT search results.
Your website's robots.txt file, hosting provider, firewall, or content delivery network can potentially interfere with crawler access.
This creates a relatively straightforward technical check for businesses interested in AI search visibility:
Is your website allowing the search systems you want to appear in to access your content?
That's becoming part of modern technical SEO.
Start with the basics.
Imagine you own an electrical company whose website says:
Quality Service You Can Trust
That may sound nice to customers, but it provides very little information about the company.
Compare that with a website that clearly explains that the company provides:
Residential electrical services, commercial electrical services, generator installation, electrical panel upgrades, and emergency electrical repairs in Anchorage and Eagle River.
Now there is considerably more context.
Clear information helps both people and search systems understand your business.
Your website should make important information easy to find, including:
Don't write these pages for an AI bot.
Write them so that a potential customer can quickly understand what you do and whether you're the right company for their needs.
That same clarity makes your content easier for search and AI systems to interpret.
Your Google Business Profile should still be treated as an important part of your overall local search strategy, particularly because customers aren't abandoning traditional search simply because AI search exists.
Google itself is integrating generative AI directly into Search through features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google specifically recommends keeping Business Profile information current as part of its guidance for appearing successfully across its AI search experiences. (Google for Developers)
Make sure your business information is accurate and consistent across your online presence, including your:
Think of AI visibility as part of your overall search presence, rather than something completely separate from Google or traditional SEO.
Reviews are important for customers and local search, but businesses should be cautious about claims that a certain number of reviews will make AI recommend them.
There isn't a formula like:
100 Google reviews = ChatGPT recommendation.
Instead, think about your company's broader online reputation.
If someone asks an AI system to help them compare businesses, information available across the web may provide useful context about those companies.
For a local business, building a legitimate reputation still makes sense regardless of whether the eventual customer discovers you through Google, Perplexity, another AI service, social media, or word of mouth.
That means continuing to request genuine customer reviews and maintaining accurate information on reputable websites where customers expect to find your business.
Yes.
Even though AI has changed the types of searches people can perform and how answers may be presented. It has not made SEO obsolete.
Google's current guidance is particularly instructive here. Google says the same foundational SEO practices remain relevant for its generative AI search experiences and that businesses do not need special AI schema or machine-readable “AI files” to become eligible for AI Overviews or AI Mode. (Google for Developers)
The fundamentals remain valuable:
Crawlability > useful content > clear site structure > relevant service information > strong technical SEO > authority > good user experience
Look at this as an opportunity to expand SEO beyond traditional keyword targeting.
Instead of only optimizing around a phrase such as:
“Anchorage commercial electrician”
consider the actual questions customers might ask:
“Who can upgrade an electrical panel in Anchorage?”
“What electrician works on commercial buildings in Alaska?”
“Who installs backup generators for businesses in Anchorage?”
Those questions reveal intent.
Your content should answer them.
No.
This is an area where businesses can easily go too far.
Publishing hundreds of thin, AI-generated pages because you hope ChatGPT or Google will cite them isn't a strong strategy.
Google specifically warns that using generative AI to create many pages without adding value for users can violate its policies on scaled content abuse.
Instead, create content around real customer questions.
If customers regularly call your company asking:
“Do you serve the Wasilla area?”
“Do you offer emergency appointments?”
“Do you work with commercial properties?”
“What's included in this service?”
Those are potentially useful questions to answer on your website.
The goal isn't to create the largest FAQ section in Alaska.
It's to create the most useful information for your customers.
You may hear terms such as:
The terminology is still evolving.
At its core, the objective is straightforward:
Make your business easy for both people and search systems to find, understand, and trust.
That doesn't mean traditional SEO should be thrown away and replaced with an entirely new strategy.
In fact, Google explicitly says SEO remains relevant to generative AI search and published additional guidance in 2026 specifically to address misconceptions surrounding AI optimization. (Google for Developers)
For most local businesses, improving AI visibility should be an extension of a strong SEO and digital presence, not a completely separate marketing program.
If you want your business to have a better foundation for both traditional and AI-driven discovery, start with these areas:
1. Make your services extremely clear.
Don't make customers, or AI search systems, guess what you do.
2. Clearly identify your actual service areas.
If you serve Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla, or other Alaska communities, explain where and how you operate without creating misleading location pages.
3. Answer real customer questions.
Build useful FAQs and articles around questions customers ask before hiring you.
4. Strengthen your traditional SEO.
Technical SEO, internal linking, service pages, local optimization and crawlability still matter.
5. Maintain accurate business information.
Keep important company information consistent and current across your website and online directories.
6. Build your reputation beyond your own website.
Legitimate reviews, links, mentions and relevant business listings strengthen your overall digital presence.
7. Make sure AI search crawlers can access your website.
If visibility in ChatGPT Search matters to you, verify that OAI-SearchBot isn't being unintentionally blocked. (OpenAI Help Center)
The bigger shift isn’t Google versus AI, it’s the growing number of ways customers can discover a business online.
The smarter approach is to prepare for customers to discover companies through multiple search experiences.
Some customers will search Google.
Others will use Google Maps.
Some will ask ChatGPT.
Others may encounter your business through Google's AI Mode or an AI-generated overview.
And many will move between several of them before making a decision.
Google is already incorporating generative AI directly into Search, and its current guidance emphasizes that the SEO fundamentals businesses have been working on remain applicable to these new experiences. (Google for Developers)
So the goal shouldn't be:
“How do I rank in ChatGPT instead of Google?”
A better question is:
“Can customers easily find, understand, and trust my business wherever they search?”
No, and be very cautious of a marketing company that says it can.
OpenAI does not guarantee placement in ChatGPT Search.
An agency can improve the factors it can control: your website, technical accessibility, content, SEO, business information, local presence, and broader digital visibility.
But nobody can legitimately guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend a particular company for a particular prompt.
AI search optimization should be approached the same way good SEO is approached: improve your eligibility, relevance, authority, clarity, and usefulness rather than looking for a shortcut.
Be aware that the way people search is changing, but the underlying marketing goal hasn't.
Your customers have questions.
Your business needs to be present where they're looking for answers.
For Alaska businesses, that means maintaining a strong presence across your website, Google Search, Google Maps, reputable third-party sources, and increasingly, AI-powered search experiences.
Elevate Digital Marketing Solutions helps Alaska businesses strengthen that foundation through SEO, Local SEO, website optimization, content strategy, and digital advertising.
If you're unsure whether AI search systems can understand and discover your business, start by reviewing your existing digital presence.
Contact Elevate Digital Marketing Solutions to learn where your business is visible today, and where there may be opportunities to improve.