How to Get Your Venue Recommended by ChatGPT
More customers than ever ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI “what’s the best [activity] near me?” and act on the two or three venues it names. There’s no page two in an AI answer — if you’re not named, you’re invisible. Here’s exactly how to get your venue recommended.
1. Let the AI crawlers read your site
You can’t be recommended if the AI can’t read you. Check your robots.txt (at yoursite.com/robots.txt) explicitly allows the AI bots — security plugins and some hosts block them by default:
- GPTBot (ChatGPT), OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search)
- PerplexityBot (Perplexity)
- Google-Extended (Google’s AI / AI Overviews)
Make sure none are disallowed, and that your firewall/CDN isn’t silently blocking them either.
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2. Publish an llms.txt
Add a plain-text llms.txt file at your domain root that tells AI tools who you are in their preferred format: your venue name, what you are, your town/city, what you offer, and links to your key pages (services, parties, contact). Think of it as a cheat-sheet that removes ambiguity.
3. Add the schema AI lifts answers from
- LocalBusiness schema with exact name, address, phone, opening hours, geo — so AI knows what and where you are.
- FAQPage schema answering the literal questions people ask AI: “best [venue] for a kids’ party in [city]”, “suitable for beginners?”, “how much is it?”, “what ages?”. AI tools pull these structured answers directly.
4. Make your facts identical everywhere
AI cross-checks your website, Google Business Profile, Tripadvisor and directories before trusting you. Your name, address, phone, hours and offering must match exactly across all of them. Inconsistency makes AI hedge — or pick a competitor it’s more sure about.
5. Earn the citations AI trusts
AI builds its shortlist largely from third-party sources, so get named on them:
- “Best [activity] in [city]” roundups and local blogs
- Tripadvisor and “things to do in [city]” lists
- Your council/tourism what’s-on pages
- Local press and parenting groups
And keep winning reviews — rating and recency are signals AI uses to decide who’s worth recommending.
6. Write content that answers the question
Create pages and posts that directly answer the prompts customers type — “best escape room for a hen do in [city]”, “indoor things to do with toddlers in [city] when it’s raining”. Clear, specific, well-structured answers are what AI quotes.
7. Monitor which AI tools mention you
Each month, actually ask ChatGPT and Perplexity the queries that matter for your area and note whether you’re named — and which competitors are. That tells you what’s working and where to push. (It’s also the first thing our free visibility audit checks.)
How long does it take?
Typically around four months. A climbing wall we work with went from invisible to recommended by ChatGPT for climbing birthdays in its city in that window. And don’t drop local SEO — Google Maps is still where most bookings are won today; AI is the fast-rising second front.
Want it done for you?
This is our AI search visibility service. Start with a free visibility audit to see whether AI currently recommends you — and which competitors it names instead.
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