TL;DR
- A new gatekeeper: customers increasingly ask AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity which business to choose, and the assistant does the research for them.
- Longer questions, fewer clicks: instead of three keywords in Google, people describe their whole situation in a conversation, and the assistant shortlists a few names.
- Scale: ChatGPT passed 800 million weekly users in October 2025, Google’s AI Overviews reached more than 2 billion monthly users, and AI traffic to US retail sites grew by 693% in the 2025 holiday season.
- What assistants look for: clear positioning, detailed expert content, consistent information across channels, real reviews and mentions in independent sources.
- Why businesses stay invisible: vague positioning, thin content, no third-party mentions, generic texts and weak social profiles.
Contents
- How customers choose businesses now
- From keywords to conversations
- The numbers behind the shift
- What AI assistants look for
- Five reasons a business is invisible to AI
- A 90-day action plan
- FAQ
- Vyara’s take
For two decades, businesses competed to be chosen by customers. Now they also have to be chosen by the AI assistants those customers ask for advice. When the assistant does the research, a business it cannot find, understand or trust simply does not make the shortlist.
How customers choose businesses now
| Period | Main way to choose | Whom people trusted |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-2000s | Printed directories and word of mouth | Friends and family |
| Around 2010 | Google Search and Google Maps | Star ratings and reviews from strangers |
| Late 2010s | Social media and influencers | People they follow but don’t know personally |
| 2025 and beyond | AI assistants | An assistant that knows their context from previous conversations |
Each step added a new layer of trust rather than replacing the previous one. AI assistants now sit on top of all of them: they read the reviews, the websites and the social profiles, and summarize them into a recommendation.
From keywords to conversations
| Classic search | AI assistant |
|---|---|
| “accountant Sofia” | A conversation over several days: I’m opening a single-owner company in Sofia, I need an accountant with experience in cases like mine, with good reviews |
| The user opens several websites and compares | The assistant reads the websites, reviews and mentions for the user |
| The user decides | The assistant suggests a shortlist, often of two or three names |
| Each search starts from zero | The assistant remembers context from earlier conversations |
The practical consequence: if a business has not published the information the assistant needs, such as its specialization, typical cases, location, experience and real reviews, the assistant has nothing to base a recommendation on.
For the technical side of how AI search engines pick sources, see How AI Search Decides Who to Cite.
The numbers behind the shift
- ChatGPT reached 800 million weekly users in October 2025, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- Google’s AI Overviews, the AI summaries at the top of search results, reached more than 2 billion monthly users in 2025.
- Shopping-related use of generative AI grew by 35% between February and November 2025, according to BCG.
- Traffic from generative AI tools to US retail sites rose by 693% in the 2025 holiday season compared with a year earlier, according to Adobe.
What AI assistants look for
| Signal | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Clear positioning | One memorable message about whom you serve and what you are best at |
| Expert content | Detailed pages, articles and videos about real cases, processes and results |
| Consistency | The same core information and message on the website, profiles and directories |
| Reviews | Real, recent reviews on Google, social media and industry platforms, with replies |
| Mentions and citations | Independent sites, media and partners that mention or link to the business |
| Technical quality | A fast, mobile-friendly website that AI crawlers can read |
Two qualities sit above all: authority, being recognized online as an expert in a specific field, and credibility, being confirmed by multiple independent sources. Fake reviews and bot-generated praise are easy to spot and do not build either.
Five reasons a business is invisible to AI
- Vague positioning. “We do everything for everyone” gives the assistant nothing to match against a specific request. A dental clinic known for treating anxious patients, or an architect specializing in energy-efficient timber houses, is far easier to recommend.
- No expert content. A short About page and a contact form are not enough. Detailed, regularly updated content about real cases helps the assistant understand what the business is good at.
- No online mentions. Assistants give more weight to what others say than to what a business says about itself: media articles, interviews, directories and partner websites.
- Generic texts. Content written by pasting a prompt into a chatbot tends to be thin and similar to competitors’. Detailed content based on real expertise stands out.
- Weak social profiles. Assistants also look at LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and other profiles. A dedicated professional profile with expert posts strengthens the signal.
A 90-day action plan
| Period | Focus |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1 and 2 | Clarify positioning, rewrite the key website texts, set up or update the Google Business Profile, reply to existing reviews |
| Weeks 3 and 4 | Publish the first expert articles or videos and share them on social media |
| Month 2 | Actively collect reviews and look for mentions: media, directories, partners |
| Month 3 | Launch a consistent social media strategy with a human face behind the brand |
A simple test before you start: ask ChatGPT or Gemini, as a customer would, whom they would recommend for your service in your city. If your business is not in the answer, that is your starting point.
FAQ
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
Not in the organic answers. Assistants build recommendations from publicly available information. Paid ads in AI products are a separate format and are labeled as ads.
Do reviews matter for AI recommendations?
Yes. Assistants use reviews and ratings as signals of trust, alongside independent mentions. Real, recent reviews with replies from the business carry more weight than a few old ones.
Will fake reviews or bot posts help?
No. They are easy to detect, they can break platform rules, and they do not build the independent credibility that assistants rely on.
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO prepares a website to rank in search results. GEO, also called AI visibility, prepares a brand’s whole online presence to be understood, trusted and cited by AI assistants. GEO builds on good SEO rather than replacing it.
Is this relevant for small and local businesses?
Especially. Many local businesses have little online information, so a clear website, real reviews and a few expert articles can quickly put a small business ahead in its niche.
How do I check if AI recommends my business?
Ask several assistants the questions your customers would ask, with real details such as location and need, and note which businesses appear. Repeat the test every few months.
Vyara’s take
“AI behaves a lot like a careful person: it trusts what others say about you more than what you say about yourself. Make your expertise visible with real cases, real reviews and a real human face behind the brand. Customers who find me through my content often tell me they already know I’ve solved a case like theirs, before we’ve ever met.”
Further reading: Customers Now Ask AI: How to Get Your Business Recommended – Vyara Stefcheva’s practical guide on stefcheva.com.
Sources: TechCrunch on ChatGPT weekly users · Digiday on Google AI Overviews · BCG on consumers and AI shopping · Adobe holiday shopping 2025
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