For small businesses
How small businesses get recommended by AI
When someone asks ChatGPT who to use, they rarely ask for a chain on purpose — they want a name they can trust. Too often the answer is a bigger brand, because that brand has a site the engines can quote. A small business does not need an SEO team to change that. It needs a website that says what you do, where, and for whom, in words a crawler can read. launchAEO is how you get there: a free check that ChatGPT can load the homepage, a plain-language list of what to fix, and on Growth a record of whether the assistants actually name you.
Questions customers already ask AI
These are the prompts, not keywords. An assistant that cannot match them to a page on your site will name someone else.
- Can you recommend a small local company for this job in my town?
- Who should I use instead of a big chain?
- Is there an independent business that does this well near me?
- Why does ChatGPT only name the well-known brands?
- How do I get AI to recommend my small business to customers?
Why someone else gets named
The engines name whoever they can quote
A national brand usually has pages that say the offer, the town and the proof in HTML. A small firm often has a logo, a phone number and a contact form. ChatGPT will not invent the rest. The recommendation goes to the site it can read.
You should not need an SEO agency for this
Search still sends customers. Being named in the answer is a different job. Paying someone to chase blue links does not measure whether ChatGPT recommends you. launchAEO is built for the owner who will do the site work themselves, without a specialist on retainer.
The listing and the website look like two firms
The van says one name, Google another, the site a third. Assistants treat that as three businesses and pick none of them confidently. One trading name, used everywhere, is the cheapest fix — and launchAEO’s listings check is there to catch the mismatch.
What launchAEO checks
Whether ChatGPT can read the homepage
Free is a permanent check, not a trial: can the assistants load the page, which issues to fix, and whether the site and Google look like the same business. No card.
The rest of the site, once the homepage is in the running
Starter adds more pages, backlinks and technical checks. If the offer lives on a services or about page, the homepage-only scan is not enough to get you recommended.
Whether the answers name you
Growth asks the customer questions across ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini and stores who was recommended. That is how a small business sees if the work moved them onto the shortlist.
What to change
Same shape as the action plan in the product: what’s wrong, why it matters, how to fix it.
What’s wrong
The site never says what you do, where, or for whom.
Why it matters
Assistants lift sentences. “Quality service since 2009” does not match “who should I use in my town”.
How to fix it
Write the offer, the place and who it is for in HTML. The action plan is labelled what’s wrong, why it matters, how to fix it — so you can act without an SEO expert.
What’s wrong
Nobody has asked the assistants the questions a customer would.
Why it matters
Guessing from traffic is not a mention. If you have never asked, you do not have a result.
How to fix it
Run the free readability check first. When you need the names in the answers, that is Growth — the same questions a customer types, stored as who was named.
What’s wrong
Google, the site and the public profiles disagree.
Why it matters
Local and online businesses are scored on different proof, but both need one identity. Split names look like split firms.
How to fix it
Pick a trading name. Use it everywhere. The listings screen is the check, including why the score moves if you are local versus online.
Where assistants look
Google Business Profile
The map listing most local answers still start from — rating, hours, review count — before any specialist directory.
Companies House
How an assistant confirms a UK company is real when it is not a sole trader.
The public profiles you already have
LinkedIn, industry registers, review sites. launchAEO checks whether the ones you use match the site, so the engines see one business.
Questions about this
How can a small business get recommended by ChatGPT?
Give the engines a site they can read: what you do, where, and for whom, under one name that matches Google. launchAEO shows whether that site is ready, what to fix, and on Growth whether the answers name you.
Do I need an SEO agency to get mentioned in AI answers?
No. The action plan is written as what’s wrong, why it matters, and how to fix it. Technical names stay inside the expanded cards. launchAEO is for owners who will change the site themselves.
Is there a free way to see if AI can read my website?
Yes. Free is a permanent homepage check: crawler access, the issue list, how to fix each one, listings match. Starter is £79 a month for more pages. Growth is £179 when you need to see who ChatGPT names.
Why does AI name big brands instead of small firms?
Because those brands usually have pages the model can quote. A small business with a thin site leaves a blank. launchAEO is how you fill that blank and then measure whether you made the shortlist.
Where these facts come from
Independent studies, not launchAEO scores. We summarise them; we do not pretend we ran them.
Other businesses
Trades
ChatGPT citing Checkatrade 85% of the time is the gap: most trade sites are not ready. launchAEO gets the firm recommended instead.
Restaurants
Sunday roast, tasting menus, a table at eight. ChatGPT’s stars are Tripadvisor; the reserve button is OpenTable.
Accountants
Limited companies, IR35, year-end. ChatGPT currently names Xero more often than it names a practice.
The full playbook sits in the 2026 guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT.
Get onto the recommendation
Free is a homepage check, not a trial. launchAEO shows whether AI can read the site, what to fix, and — on Growth — whether the answers name you. Prefer us to handle it? Managed services are quoted separately.