If you want to get your business recommended by Gemini, start with what it can check on Google: your Business Profile, then your reviews, then what Google has indexed from your website. There's also a two-minute safety check on your site you should do today.
At a glance
The fastest win with Gemini is a complete Google Business Profile backed by specific Google reviews. Your website helps when Google has indexed a clear page for each service.
Gemini reads Google's own data: Google Maps (where your Business Profile and reviews live) and the Google Search index. ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers (OpenAI names Microsoft) and gets nearby business listings from third-party providers.
Google says Gemini uses Google Maps to "find places such as business, stores, restaurants" and show their addresses, websites, ratings, and hours. Google's crawler docs add that the Gemini app can also draw on pages from the Google Search index, which means your website when Google has indexed it.
Gemini also sits inside Google Search. Gemini 3 became the default model for AI Overviews in January 2026, and Gemini 3.5 Flash became the default for AI Mode in May 2026. So the profile, review and website work below is the same work I'd do for AI Overviews.
If you already have a Google Business Profile, most of the work happens there. The general signals every AI looks for are in how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT. This page stays on the Google side.
Gemini recommends businesses it can verify on Google: a complete Business Profile, specific Google reviews, and service pages Google has actually indexed. The Business Profile is the main work. The robots.txt row is only a two-minute safety check, so clear it first and then put your real time into the rows below it.
| Where to work | What to fix |
|---|---|
| Your robots.txt (2-minute check) | Make sure it doesn't block Google-Extended. That token controls whether Gemini can use your pages in its answers and train future models on them. It's one token, so blocking it opts you out of both. It doesn't affect your Google rankings, and AI Overviews follow regular Search controls. Your Maps and Business Profile data reach Gemini either way, so this alone won't get you named. |
| Your Business Profile | A primary category that matches most of your work, plus secondary categories for the rest (a plumber might add Water heater installation service and Drain cleaning service). Then every service, your service area, real hours (Saturday too, if you work it), a plain description, recent photos, and attributes like Veteran-owned or Women-owned. Keep it fresh with posts and recent photos, because Google's AI answers questions about your business from your profile, reviews and photos. Google says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results. |
| Your Google reviews | Ask every happy customer, and reply to every review. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. |
| Your website | One page per service, the cities you serve on it, and LocalBusiness schema whose name, address and phone match your Business Profile word for word. Then confirm Google has indexed each page: paste the address into Search Console's URL Inspection tool, or search site:yoursite.com and look for it. |
A block in yoursite.com/robots.txt looks like this:
User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /If you see those two lines, delete them (unless you blocked it on purpose), or switch off the AI-bot setting in your host or security tool. On Cloudflare, the managed robots.txt option adds exactly this rule.
Because Gemini pulls your rating straight from Google Maps, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
When I ask Gemini about a business, its answer often echoes what customers wrote. "Great service, five stars" gives it nothing to work with. "Fixed our water heater the same day in Goodyear" tells it the service, the speed, and the city.
So when you ask for a review, ask for a sentence about the job. Never buy reviews or write them yourself. Review schemes are one of the SEO company red flags I'd walk away from.
Open the Gemini app signed in to your Google account, with Keep Activity turned on. Google requires both for Maps results, so with Activity off you may see no businesses at all and think Gemini doesn't know you. Then ask what a customer would ask. Don't type your business name first. Try these:
Ask from where your customers are, and ask more than once. Answers shift with location and wording. After you fix your profile or pick up new reviews, check again over the following weeks. How fast changes show up varies, and Google doesn't promise a timeline.
Don't count on analytics for this. A Gemini answer often ends in a Maps tap or a phone call, and analytics doesn't credit those to Gemini. So I ask it directly.
My free Website + AI Audit runs these questions for your trade and city, then shows you who gets named instead of you.
With the Business Profile. It costs nothing, and the same profile shows up in Google Maps, Google Search, and Gemini.
The profile is an afternoon. Reviews are a habit. Where owners usually get stuck is the website side: service pages, matching details, and LocalBusiness schema. That's the part I build, and it's what AI visibility work means on my end. I did it on my own business first, and Liquid Breathwork went from 17 to 1,647 clicks a month (Google Search Console). That's search data, not a Gemini promise.
If you're weighing a budget, here's how much AI search optimization costs.
Yes. Google says the Gemini app uses public Google Maps information to find businesses and show their addresses, descriptions, websites, ratings, and opening hours. You need to be signed in with Keep Activity on. Ask it for a plumber or a painter near you and it will usually name a short list of specific companies.
Make your business easy to verify. Keep your name, address, and phone the same everywhere, earn real reviews that describe the job, and give each service its own clear page. For Gemini, start with your Google Business Profile. Mentions on other sites (Yelp, the BBB, local news, trade directories) still help, because Gemini can also draw on the Google Search index. ChatGPT leans more on outside search providers and third-party listings, so in my experience directory listings carry even more weight there.
Not that Google documents. Google says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google, and Gemini's business results draw on public Google Maps information. A complete Business Profile and steady reviews are the levers Google names.
Two things. It's a place customers find you, through Google Maps, Search and your Business Profile. It's also a tool you can use yourself, for drafting review replies, service page outlines, or answers to common customer questions. Read anything it writes before you publish it.
No. Google says Google-Extended does not affect inclusion in Google Search and is not a ranking signal. It only controls whether the Gemini app can use your site in its answers and whether future Gemini models can train on it, so leave it unblocked if you want Gemini to use your site.