ChatGPT names two or three businesses when it answers a recommendation query. Here's what it looks for, what to change on your site, and how to test whether it's working.

Showing up on Google used to be the whole game. Get ranked, get the call. That's still true. But it's not the whole story anymore. A lot of homeowners -- especially younger ones -- skip the search results page entirely now. They ask ChatGPT or Perplexity directly: "who's a good HVAC company near Avon?" They get a name back. Sometimes two or three. They call one of them. If your business isn't set up to show up in those answers, you're not in that conversation at all.