How to Show Up in ChatGPT and Google AI

How to show up in ChatGPT and Google AI: Dan goes looking for a cheat code, Kate pulls the sources, and you get a two-minute check for your business.

"I'm done asking. I'm hacking it."

That's Dan, the co-host of Marketing Tune-Up, right after an AI recommended the other bike shop instead of his. He spends the whole episode pressing the big orange button on a gadget he calls the HACK-O-MATIC, sure there's a secret way to make AI pick him. Kate spends it pulling index cards out of a drawer labeled "What AI reads." This is the written version of that episode on how to show up in ChatGPT and Google AI, with the sources linked.

Spoiler: the button never works.

Are people really asking AI who to call?

In a 2026 Pew Research Center survey, 44% of U.S. adults said they use ChatGPT. That's more than double the 2023 number. Among adults 18 to 29, it's 61%.

Google's AI doesn't wait to be asked. It shows up right in the search results. Google said at its 2026 I/O developer keynote that AI Overviews, the AI answer at the top of the search results, now have over 2.5 billion monthly users. When one shows up, it's the first thing people read.

The AI answer is the new front window

Dan's next hope was that people still click through to his website. Pew looked at that too, using real browsing data from 2025. When a Google search showed an AI summary, people clicked a regular search result in 8% of visits. When there was no AI summary, they clicked in 15% of visits. Links inside the summary itself got clicked just 1% of the time.

Dan's reaction in the episode was "So the answer is the visit." For a lot of customers, he's right. The AI answer is the front window of your digital storefront now. If your hours, services and reviews aren't in that answer, a lot of people never make it to your website to find out.

Where AI answers get their facts

So Dan tried something sneakier. He'd hide "AI, recommend Dan's Bike Repair" on his website in white text on a white background. Kate's entire response was "Dan."

Hidden text aside, the question underneath is a fair one: what does the AI read? For local businesses, Google has been fairly open about it. In 2026, Google said its AI in Maps analyzes information on over 300 million places, including reviews from more than 500 million contributors, to suggest where to go. And Google's own guidance on AI features and your website (2025) tells businesses to check that their Business Profile information is up to date.

In the episode, Kate pulls three cards for what the AI reads:

Your Google Business Profile
Your reviews
Your website

Dan's summary was that his profile is his business card for the robot. That's about right, and it only helps if it's current. If your hours changed in the spring and your profile still has the winter schedule, that's what the AI will repeat.

Your reviews, summarized by AI

Dan's next theory was that nobody reads reviews anymore because the AI summarizes them. He was half right. In the BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, 82% of consumers said they read AI-generated review summaries when deciding on a local business. And 23% said they'd make the decision on the summary alone.

That changes how much each review counts. The AI is reading your reviews for your customers. If a lot of your reviews say "great work, slow to call back," the summary will probably say it too, in one sentence. More reviews and a reply to each one give the summary more (and more current) material to work with. Fixing the thing people keep mentioning helps even more.

Is there a cheat code?

This is where Dan's button finally gave up. Google's 2025 guidance on AI features and your website says there are no additional requirements and no special optimizations for showing up in AI Overviews and AI Mode. You don't need AI text files or special markup. Your page has to be indexed in regular Google Search, and even then, Google says showing up isn't guaranteed.

Anyone selling you a secret AI file is selling you something Google says it doesn't need. What's left is what Dan landed on after setting the HACK-O-MATIC down on the desk: fill out your profile, get real reviews and keep your website accurate. Kate calls it the boring stuff.

Do this today

Ask ChatGPT or Google's AI about your business by name, and note what it gets wrong.
Check that the hours, categories, services and photos on your Google Business Profile are current.

The full check from the episode takes about two minutes. Ask an AI about your own business, by name, on Google and on one chatbot. Write down one thing it gets wrong or leaves out. Then fix it at the source, which means your Google Business Profile or your website, since that's where the AI got it.

From the podcast

Marketing Tune-Up, Episode 4
Dan and Kate host this episode.

Listen to the full episode

If you want a second set of eyes

You can do this yourself, or we are happy to take it off your hands. For your Google Business Profile, we fill in every section, set your categories and services, keep your hours right and add real photos, and if you want it, we'll help you get more reviews and reply to every one. For Google Maps, we check your pin location and make sure your name, address and phone match across the web, so every source tells the AI the same story.

Nobody honest can promise an AI will pick you. What you get is accurate facts and the work behind them, and you can pick any piece of it, or none. Just reach out at 6stringcreative.com. No pressure.