GEO-Score
ServicesAboutLearnLeaderboardReportsPricingBlog

GEO-Score

The Best GEO Analysis Tool

Test your content for AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. Get actionable insights to improve your visibility.

Get GEO content tips

Resources

  • Knowledge Base
  • What is GEO?
  • GEO Blog
  • GEO Score Checker
  • Leaderboard
  • AI Glossary
  • Case Studies
  • GEO Insights
  • Reports

GEO Tools

  • Complete Website GEO Audit
  • GEO Analysis
  • AI Visibility Checker
  • ROI Calculator
  • Schema Validator
  • Perplexity SEO Checker
  • ChatGPT SEO Checker
  • Google AI Mode Checker
  • AI Crawler Checker
  • Agent Readiness Checker
  • llms.txt Generator
  • Query Fan-Out Tool
  • AI Bot Log Analyzer
  • Competitor Comparison
  • Professional Services
  • All Tools

Analyze Your

  • Blog Posts
  • Product Pages
  • Landing Pages
  • Homepages
  • Service Pages

GEO-Score

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • White Label
  • Build Your Success

Follow GEO-Score

AI Search Guides

AI Search OptimizationPerplexity SEOChatGPT SEOLLM SEOAI Visibility CheckerAll guides →
GDPR CompliantData Hosted in EUMade in the Netherlands
KVK: 61855111BTW: NL004509498B76© 2026 GEO-score.onlineGEO-Score is part of Be-Found.
Empower your blogging with Bloffee
  1. Home
  2. Guides
  3. Local AI search

Local AI search

Local AI search: get your business found by ChatGPT and Google

People now ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode things like “good plumber near me?”. Here’s what the companies themselves say about where those answers come from. And what you can do about it.

Last checked: 19 October 2026

https://geo-score.online/guides/local-ai-search

Where each AI gets local information

Below is only what each company says itself. Where they say nothing, we tell you that too.

Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

What the company says

  • Google says Business Profiles and Merchant Center feeds can help your products and services show up in AI responses. Source:Google [1]
  • Google advises keeping your Business Profile and Merchant Center information up to date. Source:Google [2]

What it doesn’t say: How AI Mode picks one business over another. Google hasn’t published that.

Google Maps (Ask Maps) and the Gemini app

What the company says

  • Ask Maps answers questions about places. Google says it uses information from over 300 million places, including reviews from more than 500 million contributors. Source:Google [10]
  • Since August 2026 it’s rolling out in over 150 countries and territories in English. Ordering food, hotels and events in Ask Maps are US only for now. Source:Google [11]
  • The Gemini app uses public Google Maps information, such as addresses, websites, ratings and opening hours. Source:Google [12]

What it doesn’t say: When Ask Maps comes to other languages.

ChatGPT

What the company says

  • ChatGPT may use your approximate location, based on your IP address, for local results. Sharing your exact device location is optional and off by default. Source:OpenAI [13]
  • It can turn “good restaurants near me” into a search like “top restaurants San Francisco” for its search partners. The partners OpenAI names are Microsoft and Shopify. Source:OpenAI [13]
  • Restaurant bookings go through OpenTable (worldwide), Resy (US) and Yelp (US and Canada). Source:OpenAI [13]
  • Mapbox says its maps are used in ChatGPT search. That’s about drawing the map, not about where business details come from. Source:Mapbox [15]

What it doesn’t say: Which business database it uses. OpenAI only says it shares your location with “trusted third-party providers” for things like nearby business listings. It doesn’t name them, so any article that does is guessing.

Perplexity

What the company says

  • Perplexity has a partnership with Tripadvisor, announced in January 2025. It brings Tripadvisor reviews and contributions into Perplexity’s answers about places. Source:Tripadvisor [16]

What it doesn’t say: A full list of its local data sources.

Microsoft Copilot

What the company says

  • Microsoft documents that Copilot (the work version) sends a short search query to Bing and grounds its answer in Bing results. Source:Microsoft [17]
  • Bing Places for Business listings appear in Bing search and Bing Maps. Since October 2025 you manage them at bing.com/forbusiness. Source:Microsoft Bing [18]

What it doesn’t say: That Copilot reads Bing Places today. Microsoft calls deeper Copilot integration a plan.

Apple Maps, Siri and Spotlight

What the company says

  • Apple Business is free and replaces Apple Business Connect. Your place card shows across Apple Maps, Safari, Spotlight and more. Source:Apple [19]

What it doesn’t say: Whether Apple Intelligence uses it.

Claude, Grok and DeepSeek

What it doesn’t say: Where they get local business information. We found no official documentation.

What Google confirms about local ranking

Google names three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence means how well-known your business is.

Links to your website and the number of reviews feed into prominence. More reviews and positive ratings can help. You can’t pay for a better spot.

This is about Google Maps and local results. Google hasn’t published how its AI features pick businesses.

Source:Google [3]

Consistency: what it really means

Google wants your business shown the way it looks in real life: on your sign, website and stationery. Stuffing extra keywords into your business name can get your profile suspended.

Google builds your profile partly from your own website, plus licensed data and edits from users. So if your website and your profile disagree, Google has to pick one.

The simple rule: the same name, address, phone number and opening hours on your website, your profiles and your front door.

Source:Google [5]Google [4]

Reviews

Real reviews help your local ranking on Google. Reply to them, the good ones and the bad ones. Google says a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy.

Never pay for reviews or give a discount in return. Google calls that fake content and strictly prohibits it.

Review stars in your own website’s structured data won’t show up for your business. Google only shows them on sites that review other businesses.

Source:Google [3]Google [6]Google [8]

When Google’s AI calls your business

AI Mode can call local businesses for a user when the information isn’t online, for example prices or availability. It works in English for signed-in users over 18.

Google says these automated calls are only available in select regions and languages so far. In the US they work in most states. Calls made for customers are recorded.

Google may also call or text to confirm details like your opening hours. You can opt out in your Business Profile settings.

The best fix is simple: put your prices and availability on your website. If your in-store products are in Merchant Center, Google uses that instead of calling about stock.

Source:Google [9]Google [7]

0 of 11 done

Your ticks are saved in this browser only.

Your local checklist

Work through it once. Check it again whenever your hours, prices or address change.

  • Google lists verifying your business as a first step to show up in local results on Maps and Search.

    Source:Google [3]Check it:Google Business Profile

  • Google says complete and accurate information helps your local ranking. Its AI features docs also ask you to keep your profile up to date.

    Source:Google [3]Google [2]Check it:Google Business Profile

  • Your listing shows in Bing search and Bing Maps. You can import your details from Google.

    Source:Microsoft Bing [18]Check it:Bing Places

  • It’s free and controls your place card in Apple Maps, Safari and Spotlight.

    Source:Apple [19]

  • Google uses your website as one source for your profile. Keep your site, your profiles and your signage the same.

    Source:Google [5]Google [4]

  • Google’s AI calls businesses when the information isn’t online. A clear page answers those questions before anyone has to call.

    Source:Google [9]Google [7]Check it:GEO page analysis

  • Google asks that structured data matches the visible text. Leave out review stars about yourself: they won’t show.

    Source:Google [2]Google [8]Check it:Schema validator

  • OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot don’t appear in ChatGPT search answers. Microsoft is one of ChatGPT’s named search partners, one more reason to let bingbot in.

    Source:OpenAI [14]OpenAI [13]Check it:AI crawler checker

  • Use Google’s review link or QR code. Never offer anything in return: Google strictly prohibits it.

    Source:Google [6]Google [3]

  • Google’s automated calls are only available in select regions so far, mainly the US. You can switch them off in your Business Profile settings.

    Source:Google [7]Check it:Google Business Profile

  • Write down the date and the answer. AI answers change, so test again every month.

    Our advice, not an official ruleCheck it:ChatGPT checkerGoogle AI Mode checkerPerplexity checker

Check your location page

Our page analysis scores one page on 22 signals, including structured data, AI bots in robots.txt and page speed. Run it on your most important location page.

Analyze your location page

Related guides

  • The full GEO checklist (23 checks)
  • ChatGPT SEO guide
  • Perplexity SEO guide
  • Google AI Overviews guide
  • Structured data for AI search

Sources

Everything on this page comes from these pages. Last checked: 19 October 2026.

  1. Google: AI optimization guide for Google Search (updated 10 July 2026)
  2. Google: AI features and your website (updated 10 December 2025)
  3. Google: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
  4. Google: How Google gets Business Profile information
  5. Google: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
  6. Google: Google Business Profile: getting and handling reviews
  7. Google: About automated calls and texts from Google to your business
  8. Google: Review snippet structured data (updated 8 September 2026)
  9. Google: Use AI Mode to check local availability and pricing
  10. Google: Ask Maps in Google Maps (March 2026)
  11. Google: Ask Maps rolls out further, with food ordering (August 2026)
  12. Google: Google Maps in the Gemini app
  13. OpenAI: ChatGPT search (OpenAI Help Center)
  14. OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers
  15. Mapbox: Mapbox 2024 year in review (December 2024)
  16. Tripadvisor: Tripadvisor and Perplexity partnership (January 2025)
  17. Microsoft: Manage public web access for Microsoft 365 Copilot
  18. Microsoft Bing: The new Bing Places for Business (October 2025)
  19. Apple: Introducing Apple Business (March 2026)