A small business owner searched for their own company in ChatGPT.
It recommended a competitor.
That's not a ranking problem. It's a confidence problem: the model could describe the other business more surely than it could describe yours.
Short answer: you get mentioned by being the easiest business in your category to verify, consistent everywhere, reviewed in specifics, and quick with a straight answer when someone asks what something costs.
RankControl, an AI SEO and AEO platform, ran the test behind this guide on October 19, 2026.
15 local searches, each run through Google twice: once typed the short way, once spoken the way you'd actually ask. The spoken version also went to ChatGPT.
Fifteen pairs across 15 US cities is a small sample, so what follows is a pattern, not a guaranteed rate. ChatGPT reported its own model as GPT-6 during the test.
In BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey, published February 11, 2026, consumers' use of AI tools like ChatGPT for local recommendations rose from 6% to 45% in a year.