How to get your restaurant recommended by ChatGPT

More and more people skip the list of links and just ask: "Where is a good place for brunch in Westlake Village?" An AI assistant answers with a few names. How does a restaurant become one of them?

There is no trick, and the companies that make these assistants say so themselves. Google's guidance is that a page shown in its AI answers has to be a page its ordinary search can find and show, with "no additional technical requirements". The work is the same work that has always helped people find you.

1. Let the assistants in

Every assistant sends a program to read websites, and a website can turn each one away by name. OpenAI says a site that turns away its search crawler will not be shown in ChatGPT's search answers. Anthropic says turning away its search crawler can reduce how well a site shows up for people using Claude.

So ask whoever runs your website one question: are we turning any of them away?

2. Say the facts in plain words

An assistant can only repeat what it can read. Your name, your town, your street, your hours, what you serve and what it costs should be on the page as ordinary text. Not in a picture, and not in a PDF.

3. Keep your Google Business Profile current

It is free, and Google says the details in a Business Profile help a local business appear in its AI answers as well as in ordinary results. Check your hours, address, phone number, photos and the link to your menu.

4. Answer real questions

People ask assistants questions. Do you take reservations? Is there parking? Is there a patio? Is it good for kids? If your website answers those in plain sentences, an assistant has something true to quote.

5. Be the same everywhere

Your name, address and phone number should read exactly the same on your website, your Google listing and anywhere else you are listed. When they disagree, a machine has to guess.

What you can skip

• A special file for AI. There is a proposal for one, called llms.txt. Google says its search does not use it.

• Writing for robots. Google's own list of things you do not need includes rewriting your pages for AI systems and cutting them into tiny pieces. Write for your guests.

How my websites handle this

Every site I build publishes its name, address, phone number and hours in the form search engines read, keeps the menu as real text, and gives you a place to write questions and answers. Tell me about your business and see yours.