Does ChatGPT Recommend Your Portsmouth Business?

Here's a quick experiment: open ChatGPT and type "recommend a good [your service] in Portsmouth". Does your business appear? If not, you've just discovered a problem that's costing you customers.

How ChatGPT Decides Who to Recommend

ChatGPT doesn't have a secret directory of businesses. It generates recommendations based on patterns in its training data and — increasingly — real-time web searches. Several factors influence whether your business gets mentioned:

• Online presence and reputation — reviews, citations, and mentions across the web
• Website content quality — clear, well-structured information about your services
• Schema markup — structured data that makes your business details machine-readable
• Authority signals — credentials, awards, accreditations, and industry recognition
• Consistency — matching business information across Google, directories, and your website

The Portsmouth Competitive Landscape

We've audited dozens of Portsmouth businesses and found a consistent pattern: most local websites are not optimised for AI. They might rank on page one of Google, but when a customer asks ChatGPT or Google Gemini for a recommendation, they don't appear.

This creates a massive opportunity. The businesses that optimise for AI search now will dominate recommendations before their competitors even realise the landscape has changed.

Real Example: A Portsmouth Tradesperson

We recently audited a well-established plumbing company in Southsea. They had great Google reviews (4.8 stars, 120+ reviews) and a decent website. But when we asked ChatGPT to recommend plumbers in Portsmouth, they weren't mentioned at all.

The reason? Their website had no structured data, no clear service pages, and no schema markup. ChatGPT simply didn't have enough structured information to confidently recommend them.

After implementing GEO optimisation — adding LocalBusiness schema, restructuring their service pages, and improving their content — they started appearing in AI recommendations within weeks.

How to Check Your AI Visibility

You can do a quick check yourself:

1. Ask ChatGPT: "Recommend a [your service] in Portsmouth"
2. Ask Google Gemini the same question
3. Ask Siri or Alexa: "Find me a [your service] near Portsmouth"

If you don't appear in any of these, your AI visibility needs work. We offer a free, detailed AI visibility audit that goes much deeper — checking your schema markup, content structure, local signals, and competitive positioning.