There's no dashboard for this — but there are real levers
More people now ask ChatGPT or Perplexity "who's a good plumber near me" or "best accountant in Poole" instead of typing it into Google. If your business isn't part of the answer, you're invisible to those buyers. The awkward truth is that nobody — including us — can guarantee a recommendation. These tools are probabilistic, their answers vary between users and sessions, and they change constantly.
What you can do is stack the odds in your favour. Both tools build answers from web sources they consider trustworthy, so the goal is straightforward: be present, consistent, and clearly described on the sites they draw from. This guide explains how each tool actually sources answers, then covers the concrete things worth doing — and where the limits are.
How ChatGPT and Perplexity actually find answers
They work differently, and understanding the difference tells you where to focus.
ChatGPT's live search leans heavily on Microsoft Bing's index. When it needs current information, it retrieves results through Bing's search pipeline, so if your business isn't indexed in Bing, it effectively can't be cited — no matter how well you rank on Google. Analysis by Seer Interactive in early 2025 found that the large majority of ChatGPT search citations matched Bing's top results. That research is a while old now and these systems change, but the underlying dependency on Bing has held. There's also a lag: it can take a few weeks after a Bing ranking improvement before that page starts appearing in answers.
Perplexity retrieves live web pages for each query, ranks them for relevance, recency and authority, and then writes an answer citing only a handful of sources — typically three or four survive from the pages it pulls. It shows its citations openly, which makes it easier to see which sites it trusts for your kind of query. Run a few searches yourself and note which pages get cited; those are the ones worth being present on.
- ChatGPT search: primarily Bing's index — so get indexed and ranking in Bing.
- Perplexity: live retrieval with visible citations — study who it cites for your queries.
- Both also draw on general training knowledge, which favours businesses with an established, consistent web presence.
ChatGPT and Perplexity side by side
They are often named in the same breath, but they source answers so differently that the work each rewards is different too.
| ChatGPT | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|
| Where live results come from | Bing’s index | Its own live retrieval across the web |
| How visible are its sources | Shown when it searches, not always otherwise | Shown prominently on nearly every answer |
| First thing to fix | Get indexed and ranking in Bing | Get onto the sources it already cites for your queries |
| How to check on yourself | Ask it your customers’ questions and see who it names | Ask, then read the citation list — it tells you who to approach |
| Speed of change | A lag of weeks after Bing improves | Faster, since it retrieves live |
| Also draws on | General training knowledge, favouring established presence | General training knowledge, but weighted to what it retrieves |
Perplexity’s openness about sources is the useful bit here, and not only for Perplexity. Because it shows you which sites get cited for your kind of question, it doubles as free research into where you need to be present — and that list overlaps heavily with what the other assistants draw on.
Get your Google Business Profile complete and accurate
For any local business, your Google Business Profile is the anchor. It's one of the clearest signals that your business genuinely exists, where it operates, and what it does — and AI tools frequently pull from it (and from the wider local-data ecosystem) when recommending nearby services.
Fill it out completely: correct name, address, phone, opening hours, primary and secondary categories, services, service area and photos. Keep it current. An abandoned or half-finished profile is a weak signal; a thorough, actively maintained one is a strong one. This is foundational — most other work is less effective without it.
Be present and consistent across the sites they cite
AI tools cross-reference. When the same business name, address and phone number (your NAP) appear identically across many reputable places, it raises the model's confidence that you're a real, established entity worth naming. Conflicting details — an old address here, a different phone there — do the opposite and dilute the signal.
Beyond Google, that means the well-known directories and review platforms relevant to UK businesses and your sector. Whitespark and others have noted that a large share of citations in AI answers come from non-Google sources, so breadth matters. You don't need hundreds of listings; you need accurate ones on the sites that carry weight for your industry and location.
- Core listings most UK businesses should have: Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, Yell, and Trustpilot.
- Add the directories and review sites specific to your trade (for example Checkatrade, Houzz, or a professional body's register).
- Audit for consistency: identical business name, address, phone and website everywhere. Fix or remove stale duplicates.
Write clear, factual content that answers the question
Both tools favour pages that state facts plainly and answer a question directly, near the top, rather than burying it under marketing waffle. If someone asks "how much does a boiler service cost in Dorset", a page that answers that clearly and specifically is far more useful to the model than one that gushes about your "unrivalled passion for excellence".
Practically: put a direct answer in the first paragraph, use plain headings that match how people ask questions, include specifics (prices, areas covered, timescales, what's included), and add a genuine FAQ section covering the real questions customers ask. Original detail — your own data, examples and specifics — is harder for competitors to replicate and more likely to be quoted.
Structured data, reviews and honest digital PR
Structured data (schema markup) labels your content so machines can read it reliably — your organisation details, location, services, reviews and FAQs. It won't invent authority you haven't earned, but it makes your facts unambiguous and easier to reconcile against other sources, which supports citation. LocalBusiness, Organization and FAQ schema are sensible starting points.
Reviews matter twice over: they're a trust signal in their own right, and AI tools frequently reference review platforms when recommending services. Earn them steadily and genuinely across Google and the platforms your customers use — never buy or fake them. Finally, real mentions on reputable third-party sites (local press, industry publications, genuine partnerships) build the kind of independent authority these models weigh. For the most established brands, presence in authoritative reference sources like Wikipedia and Wikidata carries real weight — Wikipedia is one of the most-cited sources across AI answers — though it's only appropriate where a business is genuinely notable enough to meet its standards.
Be realistic about the limits
None of this is a switch you flip. Answers vary by user, phrasing, location and moment; the same question can name you today and omit you next week. Specific percentages floating around the industry ('do X for a 40% uplift') are mostly marketing — treat them sceptically. What's well established is the direction: consistent presence on trusted, well-indexed sources plus clear, factual content improves your chances. Guarantees do not exist.
Think of it as the modern version of good local SEO: get the fundamentals genuinely right, keep your information consistent everywhere it appears, and earn real reputation over time. That's the honest playbook. If you'd like a hand auditing your current presence across these sources, that's the kind of work we do at GEO SEO — but much of the above you can start on yourself today.