Why Your Business Isn't Showing Up in ChatGPT (And How to Fix It in 2026)

Someone just asked ChatGPT for the best HVAC contractor in their city. Or a trusted immigration attorney. Or a top-rated family dentist. ChatGPT named three businesses. Yours wasn't one of them.

That's not a fluke. It's a structural gap. And it's fixable.

The Real Reason AI Skips Your Business

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Grok don't crawl the web the way Google does. They pull from what's already been indexed, cited, structured, and verified. If your website doesn't signal authority in a format these systems can parse, you don't exist to them.

Most service businesses share the same set of problems:

• Thin service pages with no specific, structured content
• Missing schema markup — the machine-readable layer that tells AI what your business does and offers
• No llms.txt file, which signals to AI crawlers what content is available and how to use it
• Weak or inconsistent trust signals across directories and listings
• No visible proof that real people have had real experiences with you

Your competitor didn't get recommended because they're better at their job. They got recommended because their digital footprint is easier for AI to read, cite, and trust.

What's Actually Changed in 2026

AI-generated answers have moved from novelty to default behavior. Google's AI Overviews now appear on a significant share of searches. ChatGPT has hundreds of millions of active users asking questions that used to go straight to Google. Perplexity, Gemini, and Grok are all pulling citations from the open web.

The businesses appearing in those answers didn't get there by accident. They have structured content, consistent entity data, and a public footprint that AI systems can verify. That's the new baseline.

Classic SEO (Search Engine Optimization), AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are now three parts of the same problem. If you're only optimizing for Google's blue links, you're optimizing for a shrinking share of how buyers find service providers. The relationship between SEO, AEO, and GEO for local businesses is worth understanding before you decide where to invest.

The Five Gaps That Keep You Invisible

These are the specific problems that show up most often when a service business scores low on AI visibility.

1. Thin service pages A page that says "We offer plumbing services in Denver" doesn't give AI systems enough to work with. You need pages that answer the questions buyers actually ask: what the service includes, who it's for, what the process looks like, and what outcomes to expect.

2. Missing schema markup Schema is structured data embedded in your site's code. It tells search engines and AI systems your business name, address, phone number, service types, hours, and more. Without it, AI has to guess. It often guesses wrong — or skips you entirely.

3. No llms.txt file Most businesses don't have one. This file signals to AI crawlers what content on your site is available for citation. Without it, you're leaving AI systems without a clear map of what you've published.

4. Weak trust signals AI systems weight citations, reviews, and third-party mentions heavily. If your Google Business Profile is sparse, your reviews are thin, or your business doesn't appear in relevant directories, AI treats you as unverified. That's a citation killer.

5. Listing inconsistencies If your business name, address, or phone number varies across directories, AI systems flag the inconsistency. Inconsistent entity data is one of the fastest ways to get deprioritized in generative answers.

Why Monitoring Tools Don't Solve This

There are tools that track where your brand appears in AI answers — Profound, Otterly.ai, Semrush's AI Toolkit, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Scrunch AI. They're useful for understanding the problem. None of them fix it.

Profound's Starter plan covers ChatGPT only at $499 per month. Multi-engine coverage starts at $399 per month. Ahrefs Brand Radar adds $699 per month on top of an existing Ahrefs subscription. Scrunch starts at roughly $300 per month. All of these tools tell you what's wrong. Then they hand the problem back to you.

If you have a marketing team with the bandwidth to act on a detailed audit, that might work. Most service business owners with 5 to 50 employees don't have that team.

How New Reward Actually Fixes It

New Reward scores your brand across Google, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Grok. The free scan takes about 60 seconds and returns a 0–100 readiness score. That score maps directly to a ranked audit of the specific gaps holding you back.

Then the New Reward team ships the fixes. Not a report. Not a recommendation list. The actual work: schema added, service pages rebuilt, llms.txt created, listing inconsistencies corrected, trust signals strengthened.

Every change comes with before-and-after evidence you can inspect. No black box. You see exactly what changed and when.

That matters because the gap between knowing what's wrong and fixing it is where most businesses stall. The audit names the problem. Execution closes it. New Reward does both.

If you're tracking how AI search is evolving, the AI search engine optimization guide for buyers covers what the shift means in practical terms. And as GEO matures, measurement is becoming part of the loop too — not just optimization.

What the Fix Actually Looks Like

A roofing contractor runs a free scan. Score comes back at 31 out of 100. The audit surfaces four problems: no schema on the service pages, inconsistent NAP (name, address, phone) data across 14 directories, no llms.txt, and a thin Services page that lists roofing types without any structured content.

New Reward ships the schema, corrects the directory listings, creates the llms.txt, and rebuilds the service page with structured content that answers buyer questions. Before-and-after evidence documents every change. The contractor sees exactly what was done.

That's the loop: scan, score, fix, evidence.

What to Do Right Now

If your business isn't showing up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini, the first step is knowing your actual score. Not a guess. A number.

Run the free scan at Newreward.com. It takes about 60 seconds and only requires an email address. No credit card. You'll get a 0–100 readiness score and a ranked list of the gaps keeping you invisible.

From there, you can see exactly what's broken and decide whether you want New Reward to fix it or tackle it yourself. Either way, you'll know what you're dealing with.

Your competitor is showing up in AI answers right now. The question is whether you close that gap this month or let it compound.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't my business show up in ChatGPT even though I rank on Google? Google rankings and AI visibility use different signals. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini weight structured data, entity consistency, citations, and crawlable content differently than Google's ranking algorithm. A business can rank well on Google and still be invisible in generative AI answers if it lacks schema, has inconsistent directory listings, or has thin service pages.

What is an llms.txt file and do I need one? An llms.txt file sits in your website's root directory and signals to AI crawlers what content is available and how to use it. It's relatively new and most service businesses don't have one. Without it, AI systems have no clear map of your content — which can reduce how often you get cited.

How long does it take to fix AI visibility problems? It depends on the number and severity of gaps. Schema additions and listing corrections can be shipped quickly. Service page rebuilds take longer. New Reward documents every change with before-and-after evidence so you can track progress at each stage rather than waiting for a final report.

Is a free scan enough to understand my AI visibility problem? The free scan gives you a 0–100 readiness score and a ranked audit of specific gap types. That's enough to understand the scope of the problem and prioritize what matters most. The execution work that follows is where visibility actually moves.

What's the difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO? SEO targets Google's traditional ranked results. AEO targets featured snippets and AI Overviews within Google. GEO targets the answers generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Grok. All three now matter for service businesses because buyers use all three surfaces to find providers.

Why do other AI visibility tools cost so much without fixing anything? Tools like Profound, Ahrefs Brand Radar, and Scrunch AI are built for marketing teams with the bandwidth to act on detailed reports. They charge $300 to $699 per month or more for monitoring and recommendations, then leave execution to the client. New Reward is built for service businesses that need the work done — not just diagnosed.

What types of businesses does New Reward work with? New Reward has industry-specific programs for hospitality, legal, dental, medical and wellness, financial services, contractors, and pest control. There's also a white-label program for agencies managing multiple local or service clients. The common thread: a service business with an active website and Google Business Profile that isn't appearing in AI-generated answers.

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Your score is waiting. Run it at Newreward.com and find out exactly where you stand.