“Which agency should I use in Dubai?” “Who installs CCTV near JLT?” “What is the best Google Workspace partner in the UAE?” People are asking these questions to ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI answers, not only typing them into a search box.
When an AI assistant answers, it usually mentions a handful of businesses. If yours is not one of them, you are not even in the conversation. The good news is that getting mentioned is not a mystery. It rewards the same things that make a business easy to trust online, done consistently.
“AI assistants recommend businesses they can understand and verify. Make it easy for them to know what you do, where you are and why people trust you.”
How AI assistants choose which businesses to mention
AI assistants do not have a secret list. When they answer a question about local businesses, they draw on what they can find and trust online, such as:
- Your website: whether it clearly explains what you do, where, and for whom.
- Search results: many assistants look at live search results, so normal SEO still matters.
- Reviews and ratings: on Google and other platforms, and what those reviews actually say.
- Directories and listings: Google Business Profile, industry directories and review sites.
- Mentions on other websites: articles, lists, partner pages and client websites that talk about you.
- Consistency: whether your name, address, phone and services match everywhere.
The more clearly and consistently these sources describe your business, the more confident an assistant can be in mentioning you.
Step 1. Make your website easy to understand
- One clear page per service: with the service and location in the main heading (for example "Web hosting in Dubai").
- Answer real questions: customers ask, in plain language, including prices or price factors, timelines and what is included.
- FAQ sections: on key pages. Short, direct answers are easy for AI assistants to quote.
- Structured data: (schema) for your organisation, services, FAQs and articles, so machines can read your details reliably.
- An About page: with real people, your history and your location.
Step 2. Get your Google Business Profile right
For local questions, your Google Business Profile is one of the strongest signals you have.
- Choose the correct primary category and add relevant secondary ones.
- Use the same business name, address and phone number as your website.
- Add your services, opening hours, photos and a clear description.
- Post updates regularly and answer questions people ask on your profile.
Step 3. Build real reviews
Reviews matter twice: the rating, and the words inside them. A review that says “they set up our Google Workspace and fixed our email deliverability” tells an assistant exactly what you are good at.
- Ask happy clients for a review soon after a project goes well.
- Make it easy with a direct review link.
- Reply to every review, good or bad, professionally.
- Never buy or fake reviews. Platforms remove them, and it damages trust.
Step 4. Be mentioned on other trusted websites
AI assistants put more weight on what others say about you than on what you say about yourself.
- Keep profiles on relevant directories and review platforms complete and up to date.
- Ask partners and clients to link to you where it makes sense, for example a "website by" credit.
- Share useful expertise: guest articles, interviews, industry lists and local business features.
Step 5. Keep your details identical everywhere
If your website says one address, your Google profile another and a directory a third, assistants are less likely to trust any of them. Check your business name, address, phone, website and core services across every listing at least twice a year.
Step 6. Measure what you can
You cannot see the questions people type into AI assistants, but you can see some of the results:
- In Google Analytics, check traffic from sources like chatgpt.com, gemini, perplexity and copilot, and which pages those visitors land on.
- Ask new clients how they found you. "ChatGPT recommended you" is now a real answer.
- Every few weeks, ask the main assistants the questions your customers would ask, and note whether you are mentioned.
“There is no trick to being recommended by AI. Clear service pages, a strong Google Business Profile, genuine reviews, mentions on other sites and consistent details do the work, and they help your normal search rankings too.”
What not to do
- Do not stuff pages with keywords or AI-generated filler. Thin content is easy to ignore.
- Do not make claims you cannot back up, such as invented awards, client numbers or "number one" titles.
- Do not create fake listings or reviews. They get removed and can hurt your visibility.
Our take
Being recommended by AI assistants is not a separate discipline from good SEO. It is good SEO with more attention on trust: clear information, real proof and a consistent presence across the web. Businesses that do these basics well are already being mentioned. We see it in our own analytics, where visitors from AI assistants now arrive alongside visitors from Google.
If you want to know how your business currently appears in AI answers and search, book a call with our team. You can also see our SEO service and how Google’s AI search is changing.
The quickest win we usually find is inconsistent business details. Fixing the name, address, phone and service list across your website and listings takes a few hours and helps both search and AI answers.
