Local Business GEO: How to Win AI Recommendations for 'Near Me' Searches

Someone in your city opens ChatGPT and types: "What's a good dentist near me?"

Or: "Best pizza place in [your city] with gluten-free options?"

Or: "Recommend a reliable plumber in [your neighborhood]."

You have a business that answers every one of those queries perfectly. You've been there for 8 years. You have 200 five-star reviews. You're three blocks away from the person asking.

But AI recommends someone else.

This is the local GEO gap. And it's more fixable than most local business owners realize — because the signals AI uses for local recommendations are specific, concrete, and very different from what most SEO advice focuses on.

How AI Handles Local Queries Differently

When someone asks a general product question ("best running shoes"), AI draws from its entire knowledge base. The whole internet is the playing field.

When someone asks a local question ("best running shoe store near me"), everything changes. AI is now trying to solve a geographic constraint problem. It needs to find businesses that:

Are in the right location

Offer the right product or service

Are trustworthy and well-reviewed

Have enough structured data for AI to be confident recommending them

The challenge? AI wasn't originally designed for local search the way Google Maps was. When someone asks ChatGPT "coffee shop near me," it doesn't have access to your GPS. It's working from:

• What it knows about your location (from earlier in the conversation, or inferred context)
• Its indexed knowledge of businesses in that area
• Structured data and signals that connect businesses to geographic areas

This is both the problem and the opportunity. AI's local knowledge is patchier than Google Maps — which means businesses that optimize their local signals correctly have a real advantage over those that don't.

The Three Platforms You Need to Understand

Not all AI handles local queries the same way. Before optimizing, know the landscape:

Google AI Overviews (Most Powerful for Local)

Google AI Overviews, the AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, pull heavily from Google's own ecosystem: Google Business Profile, Google Maps, Google Reviews. If you're a local business, Google's AI is the highest-priority platform to optimize for.

When someone searches "best Thai restaurant in [city]" and Google AI generates an overview, it's drawing from verified Google Business data. A fully optimized Google Business Profile is the single most impactful thing a local business can do for AI visibility.

Perplexity

Perplexity crawls the web in real time and synthesizes results. For local queries, it pulls from business directories, review sites (Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google), local news, and your own website. It looks for consistency: does the same business appear across multiple trustworthy sources?

ChatGPT

ChatGPT's local knowledge varies. With web browsing enabled, it can search for current information. Without it, it works from its training data. The businesses that appear in ChatGPT's local recommendations are those with strong presence across multiple indexed sources — not just one.

Bottom line: Optimize for Google first (highest local search volume), then build consistent presence across directories and review platforms to capture Perplexity and ChatGPT.

The Local GEO Foundation: NAP Consistency

NAP — Name, Address, Phone — is the bedrock of local AI visibility. And it's where most local businesses have hidden problems.

Here's why it matters: AI builds an entity profile for every business it knows about. It collects information from dozens of sources — your website, Google Business, Yelp, Facebook, local directories, review sites — and tries to reconcile all of it into a coherent picture.

When it finds inconsistencies, it loses confidence. When it's not confident, it doesn't recommend.

Common NAP problems:

• Business name slightly different on each platform ("Joe's Pizza" vs "Joe's Pizza & Pasta" vs "Joes Pizza")
• Old address still showing on some directories after you moved
• Two phone numbers (old and new) showing on different platforms
• Website URL inconsistencies (with/without www, with/without trailing slash)

To AI, these inconsistencies make it uncertain whether it's dealing with one business or multiple. It hedges by not recommending any of them specifically.

Fix it systematically:

Decide your exact official business name (include LLC, Inc., etc. if it's part of your legal name — or omit consistently)

Pick your primary phone number and retire old ones

Use your exact current address everywhere

Audit every listing with a service like Moz Local or BrightLocal

Update anything that doesn't match perfectly

This is unsexy work. But NAP consistency is the foundation everything else builds on. AI can't confidently recommend a business it's not sure exists in a coherent form.

Google Business Profile: Your AI Headquarters

For local businesses, Google Business Profile (GBP) is not optional. It's the most direct pipeline into Google's AI recommendations — and because Google dominates local search, it's the highest-leverage asset you have.

Complete Every Field

Most businesses claim their GBP and fill in the basics: name, address, phone, hours. That's the floor, not the ceiling.

AI uses every piece of data in your GBP:

Business description — Write 700+ characters. Include what makes you different, who you serve, specific services, and relevant keywords. This is what AI reads when deciding if you're relevant to a query.

Categories — Select your primary category carefully. It directly determines which searches you appear for. Then add all relevant secondary categories. A physical therapy clinic that only lists "Physical Therapist" is missing queries for sports rehabilitation, post-surgery recovery, and pediatric PT.

Attributes — "Wheelchair accessible," "Women-owned," "LGBTQ+ friendly," "Outdoor seating," "Free Wi-Fi." These attributes directly answer the kind of specific qualifiers people add to AI queries ("coffee shop with outdoor seating near me").

Products and Services — Add individual services with descriptions and prices if applicable. This creates machine-readable service data that AI can reference.

Questions & Answers — The Q&A section is essentially FAQ schema for Google. Seed it with real questions your customers ask, and answer them thoroughly. AI pulls directly from GBP Q&A.

Photos and Updates

Active GBP profiles signal to AI that a business is current and operating. Post Google Business updates (equivalent to social posts) at least twice a month. Add new photos regularly. This freshness signal matters.

Respond to Every Review

AI reads your GBP review responses. Thoughtful responses to negative reviews demonstrate professionalism and accountability — both trust signals AI weighs. And each response adds more natural-language content about your business.

LocalBusiness Schema: Your AI Business Card

While GBP handles your Google presence, LocalBusiness schema on your website handles AI crawlers from every other platform.

Here's a complete LocalBusiness schema for, say, a dental practice:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dentist",
  "name": "Downtown Family Dental",
  "url": "https://downtownfamilydental.com",
  "telephone": "+1-555-234-5678",
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Main Street, Suite 200",
    "addressLocality": "Portland",
    "addressRegion": "OR",
    "postalCode": "97201",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 45.5231,
    "longitude": -122.6765
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday"],
      "opens": "08:00",
      "closes": "18:00"
    },
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": "Friday",
      "opens": "08:00",
      "closes": "15:00"
    }
  ],
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.8",
    "reviewCount": "312"
  },
  "priceRange": "$",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://g.page/downtown-family-dental",
    "https://www.yelp.com/biz/downtown-family-dental-portland",
    "https://www.facebook.com/downtownfamilydental"
  ]
}

A few things worth highlighting:

Use the specific @type — Don't just use LocalBusiness. Use Dentist, Restaurant, Plumber, HairSalon, etc. Schema.org has hundreds of specific business types. The more specific, the better AI understands what you do.

Include geo coordinates — Latitude and longitude give AI an unambiguous geographic anchor. This is more precise than an address alone and helps significantly with "near me" queries.

The sameAs array — This is gold. It tells AI: "These profiles on Yelp, Google, and Facebook are all the same business." AI uses this to cross-reference and build a richer, more confident entity profile.

aggregateRating — Include your current average rating and review count. AI uses this as a quality filter. Keep it updated.

Local Review Strategy for AI Visibility

We've covered how reviews work for e-commerce. Local businesses have a few additional dimensions to consider.

Volume and Recency Both Matter

For local AI recommendations, review volume is a strong signal. A restaurant with 500 Google reviews signals "established, popular, trustworthy" to AI in a way a restaurant with 12 reviews simply can't.

But recency matters too. A business with 500 reviews — 480 from 2019 and 20 from this year — looks different from one with 500 reviews flowing in steadily. AI wants to recommend businesses that are currently operating and currently being experienced by customers.

Set up a systematic review request process:

• Email follow-up after service delivery asking for a Google review
• QR code on receipts/invoices linking directly to your review page
• Ask verbally at the right moment (after a great experience, not mid-transaction)

Where to Get Reviews (Platform Priority)

Google Reviews — Highest priority. Direct pipeline to Google AI. Most trusted by all AI platforms.

Yelp — Matters especially for restaurants, service businesses, and anything in the US consumer space. Perplexity weights Yelp heavily.

Industry-specific platforms — TripAdvisor for hospitality, Zocdoc for medical, Houzz for home services, Avvo for legal. AI knows these are authoritative sources in their verticals.

Facebook Reviews — Relevant for community-oriented businesses. AI factors these in, especially for brand entity building.

Review Content Quality

Encourage reviews that mention specific services, neighborhoods, and qualifiers. A review that says "best gluten-free pizza in Southeast Portland" is far more valuable for AI visibility than "great food, will return!"

Prompt reviewers with specifics: "If you're happy with your experience, we'd love a Google review — especially if you can mention what service you came in for and what you liked about it."

Hyperlocal Content: The Underused Advantage

AI recommendations for local queries heavily favor businesses with hyperlocal content — content that signals deep connection to a specific geographic area.

Most local businesses have generic content that could apply to any city. This is a missed opportunity.

Hyperlocal content ideas that work for AI:

Neighborhood landing pages — If you serve multiple neighborhoods, create a dedicated page for each. "Dentist in [Neighborhood]" pages with locally specific content (references to local landmarks, community events, neighborhood-specific patient base) tell AI you're genuinely embedded in that community.

Local FAQ sections — "Do you serve patients from [neighboring town]?" "Is parking available near your [city] location?" "Are you near [landmark]?" These natural-language local questions map directly to how people query AI.

Community involvement content — Sponsoring a local event? Partner with a local school? Write about it. This builds topical local authority that AI associates with your geographic area.

Local comparison content — "Our [service] vs what you'll find at [generic chain]" — honest comparisons that help local customers make decisions also help AI understand your positioning in the local market.

The "Near Me" Query Optimization

"Near me" queries deserve special attention because they're so common in AI conversations.

"Best sushi near me" — AI needs to infer your location and find businesses close to it. "Dentist near me taking new patients" — AI needs location plus the specific qualifier. "Urgent care open now near me" — Location plus time-sensitive attribute.

To rank well for these queries, you need:

Precise geographic coordinates in schema (the geo property covered above)

Hours clearly specified in schema (especially important for "open now" queries)

Specific attributes in GBP ("accepting new patients," "walk-ins welcome," "open weekends")

Consistent citations in directories that geo-index local businesses

For "open now" specifically: make sure your hours in schema and GBP are always accurate. If you close early on Sundays, if you have holiday hours, update them. AI recommending a closed business is a terrible user experience — and AI learns to trust sources that get this right.

Building Local Citations

Citations are mentions of your business on other websites, typically including your NAP. For local AI visibility, citations on authoritative local and industry sources are crucial.

Priority citation sources:

• Google Business Profile (most important)
• Apple Maps
• Bing Places
• Yelp
• Facebook Business Page
• Industry-specific directories (Zocdoc, Houzz, Avvo, etc.)
• Local chamber of commerce directory
• Local newspaper business listings
• Neighborhood business associations

The key is consistency. Every citation should use exactly the same NAP. Every citation is another data point telling AI: "This business exists, is located here, and is established."

Your Local GEO Action Plan

This week:

Audit your NAP consistency. Google your business name. Click every result. Is the name, address, and phone number identical everywhere? Fix mismatches one by one.

Complete your Google Business Profile. Fill every field. Write a detailed business description. Add all relevant categories. Enable all applicable attributes. Add photos.

Add LocalBusiness schema to your website. Use the specific @type for your business. Include geographic coordinates. Add your review data. Link your profiles in sameAs.

This month:

Build a review generation system. Set up automated post-service review requests. Create a direct Google review link and put it everywhere.

Create hyperlocal content. Add an FAQ section addressing location-specific questions. If you serve multiple neighborhoods, consider dedicated landing pages.

Submit to key directories. Ensure you're listed on Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, and any industry-specific directories. Use identical NAP on every one.

Ongoing:

Test your AI visibility monthly. Ask ChatGPT and Perplexity "[your business type] in [your city]." See what comes up. Compare to the previous month. Track your progress.

The Local Advantage

Here's something encouraging about local GEO: the competition is smaller. You're not competing with every business in the world. You're competing with the other businesses in your area and category.

And most local businesses aren't doing this at all. Their GBP is incomplete. Their schema is missing. Their NAP is inconsistent across the web. Their website content is generic.

If you implement what's in this article, you're already ahead of most local competitors for AI recommendations — not just in Google AI Overviews, but across every AI assistant that handles local queries.

Local search was already shifting to mobile and voice. AI is the next shift. Businesses that establish strong local AI signals now will compound that advantage for years.

The person in your neighborhood asking ChatGPT "best [your type of business] near me" could be your next customer. Make sure AI knows you exist.

Check how AI sees your local presence — free Recomaze audit checks your schema, entity signals, and overall AI visibility. Takes 2 minutes.