How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and Google's AI: a New Zealand guide for trades and services
Short answer. AI tools recommend businesses they can find, understand and trust. In practice that means your business details are the same everywhere, your website answers the questions customers ask in plain words, your licences and memberships can be checked, and you have recent reviews. None of it is a trick. It is the same work that helps you rank on Google, done thoroughly.
Checked October 2026.
Are New Zealanders really using AI to find businesses?
More each year. InternetNZ's 2025 research found about 44% of New Zealand adults had used AI in search engines, such as Google's AI Overviews, in the past year, and about 42% had used a text-based chatbot such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini.
That does not mean Google is finished. It means a growing share of people now get a short answer, sometimes with a business named in it, before they see a list of links. If your business is not in that answer, you may not get the call.
How does AI decide which businesses to recommend?
No AI company publishes the full recipe, so be wary of anyone who claims to know it. But the tools work from what they can read on the web and in search indexes, and the patterns are consistent:
They need to find you. Your website, your Google Business Profile and the directories that list you.
They need to understand you. What you do, where you work, and who you do it for, stated plainly.
They need reasons to trust you. Reviews, licences, memberships and other sites that mention you.
The more consistent and specific that information is, the easier it is for an AI tool to name you with confidence.
Step 1: make your business details identical everywhere
Your business name, address, phone number and website should be exactly the same on your website, your Google Business Profile, Facebook, LinkedIn and every directory. Small differences, such as an old phone number or a former trading name, make it harder for any system to be sure it has the right business.
In New Zealand, check the places customers already look: Google Business Profile, Facebook, Builderscrack, NoCowboys, Yellow, your trade body's "find a member" listing and the Companies Office.
Step 2: make your credentials checkable
AI tools, like customers, give weight to things that can be verified. Put these on your website, with numbers:
Licensed Building Practitioner numbers and classes, which customers can check on the public LBP register.
Electrical, plumbing, gasfitting or drainlaying registrations, where they apply.
Trade body membership, such as Registered Master Builders, NZ Certified Builders, Master Electricians or Master Plumbers, with a link to your listing.
Any guarantee you offer through a trade body, described accurately.
Step 3: answer the questions customers actually ask
AI tools quote pages that answer a question directly. Write pages and posts in your customers' words:
What does a [your service] cost in Auckland, and what changes the price?
How long does it take?
Do I need a consent?
What should I check before I hire someone?
Put the answer in the first two or three sentences, then the detail. Use headings that are the questions themselves. Give each service its own page, and say which suburbs and regions you cover.
Step 4: earn recent, specific reviews
Ask every happy customer for a Google review, and send a direct link so it takes them a minute. Reviews that mention the job and the suburb ("replaced the deck in Takapuna, on time") tell both people and machines what you do and where. Reply to every review, good or bad, briefly and politely.
Step 5: get mentioned on other sites
Mentions on sites other than your own are a strong trust signal: a supplier's case study, a trade body's news page, a local news story, a community group you support. Each one is another place an AI tool can confirm you exist and do what you say.
Step 6: check what AI says about you
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google the questions your customers would ask, such as "best builder for a renovation on the North Shore", and see who is named. Do it every month and keep notes. Different tools often give different answers, so check more than one.
What not to do
Do not pay for "guaranteed AI rankings". Nobody can guarantee what an AI tool will say.
Do not stuff pages with suburb names. Write for the customer. A list of 40 suburbs helps nobody.
Do not invent reviews or credentials. Apart from the legal risk under the Fair Trading Act, false claims are quick to check and hard to undo.
How we handle AI search
Search and AI search are part of every Molten engagement, not an extra. We fix your business details across the web, build service pages that answer real questions, add structured data so machines can read your site, and track how AI tools describe your business each month alongside your Google results.
To find out what AI tools say about your business today, email us at hello@moltengroup.co.nz or visit moltengroup.co.nz.
Questions owners ask
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Make your business simple to find, understand and trust: identical details everywhere, a website that answers customers' questions plainly, checkable licences and memberships, recent reviews, and mentions on other reputable sites.
Is AI search replacing Google for New Zealand customers?
Not replacing, but changing it. InternetNZ's 2025 research found about 44% of New Zealand adults had used AI in search engines and about 42% had used a chatbot in the past year.
Can an agency guarantee my business will appear in ChatGPT?
No. No one controls what AI tools say. An agency can improve the signals AI tools rely on and track the results, but it cannot guarantee a recommendation.
Does a Google Business Profile help with AI search?
Yes. It is one of the main sources of business details, reviews and service areas that search engines and AI tools read. Keep it complete, accurate and in your business's ownership.