It's a July afternoon in Mesa and someone asks an AI assistant, "Who can fix my AC today?" The assistant doesn't "know" the answer. It goes and looks, the way a person would, just faster and across many pages at once. Learn where it looks and you'll know where your business needs to show up. We'll walk through the process using only what OpenAI, Google, Perplexity and Microsoft have actually published.
Step 1: The question becomes searches
Assistants rarely search for your customer's exact words. They rewrite the question into one or more queries first:
- ChatGPT "typically rewrites your query into one or more targeted queries" and sends them to its search providers, according to OpenAI's help center.
- Google AI Mode uses what Google calls "query fan-out": it breaks a question into subtopics and runs many searches at once. Google's documentation says AI Overviews may do the same.
- Microsoft Copilot "generates a short query based on your prompt and sends it to Bing," per Microsoft's support pages, and lets the user see the exact query in the Sources panel.
So "Who can fix my AC today?", asked in Mesa, might turn into searches like "AC repair Mesa AZ," "same-day AC repair Mesa" and "HVAC company Mesa reviews." Each one is another chance for your pages and listings to turn up.
Step 2: The searches hit an index
An index is a search engine's giant catalog of web pages it has crawled. A crawler (or bot) is the program that visits pages to build that catalog. Each assistant leans on a different index, and each index has its own crawler that must be allowed onto your site:
| Assistant | Index it searches | Crawler that must be allowed | What the docs say |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google Search | Googlebot | Pages must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet; no extra requirements. |
| ChatGPT search | Third-party search providers, plus partner content | OAI-SearchBot | Sites that block OAI-SearchBot "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." |
| Perplexity | Perplexity's own search | PerplexityBot | PerplexityBot is "designed to surface and link websites in search results on Perplexity." |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing | Bingbot | Copilot sends its query to Bing and cites the sources it used. |
| Claude (web search) | Anthropic's search | Claude-SearchBot | Blocking it stops Anthropic from indexing your content for search. |
Two things follow from that:
- Bing matters more than it used to. Copilot uses it directly. OpenAI doesn't name its providers in its help pages, but a Seer Interactive study found 87% of ChatGPT search citations matched Bing's top 20 results for the same question. That's vendor data from roughly 100 questions, so take it as a hint. Still, verifying your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and claiming your Bing Places listing takes an afternoon, which is cheap insurance.
- If a crawler is blocked, you're invisible to it. When your robots.txt file or your website firewall blocks one of these bots, that assistant can't read your site. Lesson 3 shows how to check.
Step 3: Location narrows the field
Local answers depend on where the person asking is standing:
- ChatGPT uses "an approximate location based on your IP address" for local results. Sharing precise device location is optional and off by default. OpenAI says it does not pass the IP address itself to its search providers.
- Google ranks local results on three factors, according to its Business Profile help: relevance (how well a profile matches the search), distance (how far the business is from the searcher) and prominence (how well known the business is, including links and reviews).
So two people in different parts of town can get different answers to the same question. And no business gets to "rank everywhere." A plumber in north Phoenix will rarely be recommended to someone 30 miles south, no matter how good the website is.
Step 4: Business profiles, listings and reviews fill in the facts
For local questions, assistants lean hard on structured business information as well as websites:
- Google tells site owners that keeping "Business Profile information up-to-date" is one of the best practices for its AI features. Its AI optimization guide adds that Business Profiles can help your services appear "in both AI responses and other Google Search results."
- ChatGPT says nearby business listings come from "trusted third-party providers," and reservation availability may come from OpenTable, Resy or Yelp. On iOS and Android, local answers may include a map.
- Reviews count too. Google's local ranking help says "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking," and lists replying to reviews as a tip.
OpenAI doesn't publish a list of every listing source it uses. Our inference, and it is only an inference, is that a complete, consistent presence on the big platforms (Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Yelp, Apple Business Connect, Facebook and your trade's main directory) gives every assistant the best chance of finding accurate facts about you.
What "consistent" means
Your NAP (name, address, phone number) should be identical everywhere. If your Google profile says "Desert Air HVAC," your Yelp page says "Desert Air Heating & Cooling LLC," and your website footer lists an old phone number, an assistant has to guess whether those are even the same business. Google's own Business Profile rules ask you to represent your business "as it's consistently represented and recognized in the real world."
Step 5: The assistant picks and cites
Once it has gathered pages and listings, the AI writes an answer and decides which sources to cite. None of these companies publishes its selection formula.
- Google says its AI features are "rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems," so the same signals that help in regular Search apply.
- OpenAI says "placement is not guaranteed" and that ranking uses multiple factors.
- Perplexity's help center says it draws on "authoritative sources" but doesn't describe how it ranks them.
So be skeptical of anyone who claims to know the exact recipe. What you can control is the raw material: whether you can be found, whether your facts are clear, and whether there's independent evidence (reviews, mentions, listings) that you're a real, good business.
A worked example: an HVAC company in Mesa
Desert Air HVAC wants to be named when people ask for same-day AC repair in Mesa. Here's where each step could trip it up:
| Step | What could go wrong | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Rewritten searches | The site never says "same-day" or "Mesa"; it only says "the Valley." | Add a plain sentence: "Same-day AC repair in Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler, 7 days a week." |
| Index and crawler | The web host's bot protection blocks unfamiliar crawlers. | Allow Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot (lesson 3). |
| Location | The Business Profile has no service area set. | Set the service area to the cities actually served. |
| Listings and reviews | Yelp shows old hours; few recent reviews mention AC repair. | Update hours everywhere; ask every customer for a review after each job. |
| Selection | Competitors have clearer pages and more reviews. | Keep improving the basics; check monthly (lesson 6). |
Do this now
FAQ
Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing?
OpenAI says ChatGPT search uses third-party search providers and partner content, but its help pages don't name them. A 2025 Seer Interactive study found ChatGPT citations closely matched Bing results. Being well indexed in both Google and Bing is the safe approach.
Why does the AI recommend a competitor who is farther away?
Distance is only one factor. Google weighs relevance, distance and prominence together, and other assistants don't publish their logic. A competitor with clearer pages, more reviews or more consistent listings can outrank a closer business.
Can I submit my business directly to ChatGPT?
OpenAI doesn't offer a business submission form for ChatGPT search in the help pages we checked. Any public website can appear if it allows OAI-SearchBot. Your listings on other platforms also feed in.
Sources
- ChatGPT search, OpenAI Help Center (checked Oct 2026)
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers, OpenAI (checked Oct 2026)
- Publishers and developers FAQ, OpenAI Help Center (checked Oct 2026)
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central (checked Oct 2026)
- Optimizing for generative AI features in Google Search, Google Search Central (checked Oct 2026)
- AI Mode update and query fan-out, Google (checked Oct 2026)
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help (checked Oct 2026)
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help (checked Oct 2026)
- Perplexity crawlers, Perplexity Docs (checked Oct 2026)
- How does Perplexity work?, Perplexity (checked Oct 2026)
- How web search works in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, Microsoft Support (checked Oct 2026)
- Does Anthropic crawl data from the web?, Anthropic (Claude Help Center) (checked Oct 2026)
- 87% of SearchGPT citations match Bing's top results, Seer Interactive (vendor study) (checked Oct 2026)
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