Where does ChatGPT get information about local businesses?

From two places: what its models learned from publicly available web pages ahead of time, and live web searches it runs through outside search providers when a question needs current information. For local questions, OpenAI says it can also work with outside providers of local information, such as business listings.

Does ChatGPT read my website?

It can, if your site lets OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, in. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, so check your robots.txt file.

Does ChatGPT read my Google Business Profile?

OpenAI hasn't said. Google does say that keeping your Business Profile up to date helps with its own AI answers, and the facts on your profile tend to get copied onto other listings, so keep it exact.

By Jimmy Davidson · November 7, 2026

Where ChatGPT Gets Its Answers

ChatGPT doesn't pull a contractor's name out of thin air. It reads. When a homeowner asks who to call for a new roof, a furnace that quit or a basement that keeps taking water, the names in the answer come from pages ChatGPT read, and the sentence about each company comes from what those pages said.

So the useful question for you isn't "how do I trick ChatGPT?" It's "what is it reading about me, and is it right?" Here's where it looks, in plain terms, using what OpenAI itself says.

Two ways ChatGPT knows things

ChatGPT has two ways of knowing about your business.

What it learned before you asked. OpenAI says the models behind ChatGPT are developed using information that's publicly available on the internet, information from partners, and information from users and trainers (OpenAI Help Center). That learning happens ahead of time, so it can be months old.

What it looks up while you wait. For questions that need current information, ChatGPT can search the web. OpenAI says it typically rewrites the question into one or more searches and sends them to outside search providers, and the page it links for those providers includes Microsoft, which runs Bing (OpenAI Help Center). For a local question, it can use your approximate location and work with outside providers of local information, such as nearby business listings.

A question like "who's a good roofer in Baxter?" is a local, current question. That's search territory, which is good news. Search reads today's pages, so what you fix today can show up.

Your website: the one source you control

ChatGPT reads your website before it names you, if you let it. Your site is the only place on the web where every word is yours. It's where ChatGPT can learn your trade, your towns, your services and your phone number straight from the source.

Two things have to be true for that to work.

First, the door has to be open. Websites have a small file called robots.txt that tells crawlers (the programs that read web pages) what they may read. OpenAI's search crawler is called OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says sites that block it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers (OpenAI crawler documentation). OpenAI also says your web host or content delivery network has to let its traffic through (OpenAI Help Center).

Second, the words have to be readable. A December 2024 study by Vercel and MERJ found that OpenAI's crawlers don't run JavaScript, the code some websites use to load their text after the page opens (Vercel). If your services or your phone number only appear after a script runs, or only inside a photo, a person sees them and the crawler may not.

What the rest of the web says about you

A lot of what ChatGPT knows about you isn't on your website. It's on everybody else's: directories, review sites, your Facebook page, the chamber of commerce, a local news story about a job, a supplier's list of installers.

Reviews are a big piece of that, and the picture changed this year. In July 2026, Axios reported that Yelp is licensing its reviews, ratings, photos and business information to OpenAI, with Yelp branding and links shown alongside that information in ChatGPT (MarTech, reporting Axios). So if you've never claimed your Yelp page, that page may now be part of what ChatGPT can tell a homeowner about you.

It isn't only Yelp. BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US consumers found people now use an average of six review sites (BrightLocal). Every one of those listings is another page that can say something about you, right or wrong.

That's why matching facts matter. When five sites agree on your name, phone and town, the story is clear. When they disagree, the answer can come out muddled, or with the wrong number in it.

Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is talking to Google's AI, and its facts travel. Here's what we know for sure, and what we don't.

Google says one of the best things you can do for its AI Overviews and AI Mode is to check that your Business Profile information is up to date (Google Search Central). That's Google's AI answers, straight from Google.

For ChatGPT, OpenAI hasn't said whether it reads Google Business Profiles directly. What we see in practice is that the facts on your profile travel. Directories and listing sites copy business details from each other, and an old address or phone number on one listing tends to turn up on others.

So treat your Google Business Profile as the master copy of your facts. Keep the name, phone, hours, service areas and categories exact, and make every other listing match it.

How to see what ChatGPT is reading about you

You can watch this happen. Ask ChatGPT, "What do you know about [your business name] in [your town], and where did you find it?" OpenAI says answers that use web search may include citations, and you can open each one or tap Sources to see the list (OpenAI Help Center).

Then open every source it shows you. For each one, ask:

Is this page about my business, and is it current?
Does it have my right name, phone, towns and services?
Is it a listing I can claim or fix?

What to do this month

Open the door. Check yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure it doesn't block OAI-SearchBot.
Write it down on your site. Your trade, towns, services and phone number as plain text, not only in pictures.
Claim the big listings. Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, the BBB, and the directories for your trade.
Make them match. Same name, same phone, same towns, everywhere.
Ask for reviews where people look. Google first, then the sites homeowners in your area actually use.

None of this guarantees ChatGPT will name you. Nobody can promise that. But a business that's easy to read, and says the same thing everywhere, gives ChatGPT something solid to repeat.

If you want to see how readable your own site is today, run the free audit at www.peakgrowthpartner.com/audit. It takes a few seconds, and your web address is the only thing it asks for.

Sources

OpenAI Help Center, "How ChatGPT and our foundation models are developed": https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7842364-how-chatgpt-and-our-foundation-models-are-developed
OpenAI Help Center, "Searching the web with ChatGPT" (search providers, location, local listings, citations, OAI-SearchBot): https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9237897-searching-the-web-with-chatgpt
OpenAI, "Overview of OpenAI crawlers" (OAI-SearchBot): https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots
Vercel and MERJ, "The rise of the AI crawler" (December 17, 2024): https://vercel.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-ai-crawler
MarTech, "Yelp brings reviews and local leads to ChatGPT" (July 28, 2026, reporting Axios): https://martech.org/yelp-brings-reviews-and-local-leads-to-chatgpt/
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (February 11, 2026): https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/
Google Search Central, "AI features and your website": https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features