NamedTest

How to get your local business recommended by AI

AI tools name the local businesses they can find, read and trust on the web. To get named, be listed on the sites AI reads, keep your Google Business Profile complete, let AI crawlers into your website, mark up your business details, earn steady reviews and give every service its own page.

That is the short answer. The rest of this page goes step by step, in the order we would fix things for a plumber, dentist or roofer, and links each outside rule to the company that wrote it.

Outside facts checked on October 15, 2026. AI tools change their rules and their answers often.

How AI tools pick which businesses to name

When a customer asks "who is the best roofer near me", each tool answers in its own way. Perplexity and ChatGPT search the web while they answer and show the pages they used. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on Google's search index. Gemini without search answers from what the model learned in training. Claude can do either.

Either way, the tool can only name a business it has read about. It reads directories, review sites, local news, the business's own website and, for Google, its Business Profile. A business that shows up in many of those places, with the same name, address and phone each time, is easy to name. One that shows up in two places is not.

That is why NamedTest counts two things: how often AI names you, and which sites it cited when it named someone else. The second list is your to-do list.

Eight steps to get named

  1. 1. Get listed on the sites AI cites

    In the answers we collect for the AI Visibility Index, the same handful of directories and review sites come up again and again. Across every trade and city we have measured so far, the sites cited most often, apart from businesses' own websites, are these, most often first:

    1. thumbtack.com
    2. homeadvisor.com
    3. bbb.org
    4. bestinhood.com
    5. consumeraffairs.com
    6. serviceagent.ai
    7. trustanalytica.org
    8. bestprosintown.com
    9. houzz.com
    10. angi.com

    Claim your free listing on each one that serves your trade. Use the exact business name from your storefront, the same address and the same phone number everywhere. Each trade also has its own sites, such as health directories for dentists, so check the trade guides below for yours.

  2. 2. Complete your Google Business Profile

    Google says local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence, and that prominence draws on things like how many sites link to you and how many reviews you have (Google Business Profile Help). Fill in every field: your main category, your services, hours, service area and photos.

    Keep the name exactly as customers see it on your sign or van. Google's guidelines do not allow extra keywords, city names or taglines in the business name (guidelines for representing your business).

  3. 3. Let AI crawlers into your website

    Your robots.txt file tells crawlers what they may read. Many sites block AI crawlers without knowing it, often through a security plugin or a line copied from a template. These are the user agents to look for:

    User agentWhat it doesSource
    OAI-SearchBotFinds pages to show in ChatGPT search answers.OpenAI
    ChatGPT-UserVisits a page when a ChatGPT user asks about it. OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply to these visits.OpenAI
    GPTBotCollects pages for training OpenAI's models.OpenAI
    PerplexityBotFinds and links pages in Perplexity's answers. Perplexity says it is not used to train models.Perplexity
    ClaudeBotCollects pages for Anthropic's models. Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User handle search and user requests.Anthropic
    Google-ExtendedControls whether Google may use your pages for Gemini. Google says it does not affect Google Search.Google

    Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode use the normal Googlebot crawl, so a page that can appear in Google Search with a snippet can appear there too (Google Search Central). If you want AI to name you, allow at least OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Googlebot. A robots.txt that does that looks like this:

    User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Allow: /

    The rules follow the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309). Our free AI crawler checker reads your robots.txt and shows what each of the six crawlers above is allowed to do.

  4. 4. Add LocalBusiness markup to your home page

    LocalBusiness JSON-LD is a short block of code that states your name, address, phone, website and trade in a form machines read without guessing. Google lists name and address as required and phone, URL, hours and geo coordinates as recommended (Google's LocalBusiness documentation).

    Google also says no special markup is needed for its AI features, so treat this as a way to remove doubt, not a switch. Our LocalBusiness schema generator builds the block for your trade, with the right type such as Plumber or Dentist.

  5. 5. Add an llms.txt file

    llms.txt is a proposed plain text file at the root of your site that lists your most useful pages with a line about each (llmstxt.org). No AI company we know of has said it reads the file, and Google says you do not need AI text files for its features. It takes ten minutes, so we include it, last on the list. The llms.txt generator writes one for you.

  6. 6. Earn reviews, steadily

    AI answers to "who is the most trusted" questions lean on review sites. Ask every happy customer, with a direct link or a QR code. Google allows asking for reviews, but not paying for them, offering discounts in exchange or asking only the customers you expect to be happy (Google's tips for reviews,Maps content policy). The same rules apply on Yelp and most other sites.

    Reply to reviews too. A reply that names the service and the neighborhood is one more line of plain, readable text about you.

  7. 7. Give every service its own page

    AI tools answer specific questions: "who does water heater repair in Kirkwood", "which dentist takes my insurance". A home page that lists ten services in one line rarely answers them. A page per service, with the towns you serve, your prices or price ranges, and the questions customers ask, gives the tool something to quote.

    Put your city and trade in the page title and the main heading. The NamedTest site audit checks both.

  8. 8. Match your Facebook and Instagram details

    Meta has its own AI agent, Muse (Meta's Muse page, checked October 15, 2026). Meta has not said where Muse gets its business information, so we cannot tell you it changes who gets named. Because Meta's own assistant may draw on your Facebook Page and Instagram business profile, keep the business name, address, phone, hours, website and services there the same as on your Google Business Profile and your website.

    This is a low-priority step. Do it after the seven above, in the same sitting as your next profile update.

Measure before and after

AI answers change from day to day, so one question on one day tells you little. Ask the same set of customer questions on each tool, count how often your name comes up, and ask again after your fixes. That is what the NamedTest free check and full report do, with the date on every result.

Guides by trade

Each trade guide uses the questions we ask for that trade and the sites AI cited in St. Louis.

Questions about getting named by AI

Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT or Google AI?

No. None of these tools sells a place in its answers. They name businesses they can find and read on the web, and the steps on this page make your business easier to find and read.

How long do these changes take to show up in AI answers?

It varies by tool. Tools that search the web while they answer, such as Perplexity and ChatGPT search, can pick up a fixed robots.txt or a new listing within days or weeks. Answers from model knowledge alone change only when the model is retrained, which can take months.

Do I need an llms.txt file to be named by AI?

No. Google says no special files or markup are needed for its AI features, and no AI company we know of has said it reads llms.txt. It is a short text file that costs little to add, so we treat it as optional.

Should I block GPTBot to keep my content out of AI training?

That is your choice, and it does not have to cost you visibility. OpenAI uses GPTBot for training and OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search, so you can block GPTBot and still allow OAI-SearchBot. Google-Extended works the same way for Gemini and does not affect Google Search.

Why does AI name my competitor and not me?

Usually because the competitor shows up on more of the sites the AI reads: directories, review sites, local articles and its own clear service pages. The free check shows who AI names in your city, and the full report shows which sites it cited for them.

Does AI name your business?

The free check asks Perplexity and Google AI five questions a customer in your city would ask about your trade, and shows who they name. It takes about a minute.

The full report asks 40 questions, twice each, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI, then gives you a fix kit for your business. It costs $49 one time.

Run the free checkGet the full report, $49