Key takeaways
- How assistants rank businesses is not published, so make every source they read accurate and specific instead of chasing a trick.
- Give each location its own page with details only that location has, and keep its listings identical everywhere.
- Test monthly with prompts written the way customers ask, and log which location gets named.
- Earn reviews at each location honestly. Never buy, write or filter them.
To get a multi-location franchise recommended by ChatGPT and other assistants, give them clear, matching facts for every location: a specific page per location, an accurate Business Profile, consistent listings elsewhere and steady reviews. How assistants rank businesses is not published, so nobody can promise you a mention. You can make sure that when they do mention you, they name the right location.
How AI assistants choose businesses
AI assistants search the web and listing sources, then summarize what they find, and the details of how they pick are not documented. ChatGPT search draws on web results and links its sources (OpenAI's announcement). Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode use normal Search signals, and Google documents no special markup for getting into them (Google's guidance on AI features).
For franchise groups, the problem is often not absence. It is confusion. These are the patterns to look for:
| What the assistant does | Why it happens in a franchise group |
|---|---|
| Names the brand but sends people to the corporate site | Location pages are thin, or exist only inside a store locator |
| Gives one location's hours for another | Hours differ between the Business Profile, the brand site and other listings |
| Recommends a location that has closed | Old listings were never marked closed |
| Blends reviews from different locations | Third-party sites discuss the brand, not the location |
| Names a competitor instead | The competitor's pages say more about the service and the neighborhood |
| Repeats a brand-wide complaint | National news or forum threads about the brand |
You cannot control every source. You can make the ones you own say the same thing, location by location.
What an AI assistant draws on
An assistant's answer Which local businesses it names
- Web results Pages that answer the question
- Listings Your profile and directory entries
- Reviews What customers say, and where
- Your website Clear facts about what you do
Fixes that help
- Give each location a real page. It should carry the address, hours, the services this location offers, the team, parking, how to book and answers to the questions customers ask about this location. Make sure the text is in the page itself, not loaded only inside a store-locator widget.
- Mark up each location page with LocalBusiness structured data that matches the Business Profile exactly (Google's local business structured data guide).
- Make every listing match. The Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, the brand locator and the location's social pages should show the same name, address, phone and hours. Check holiday hours too.
- Close what has closed. Mark closed locations as permanently closed everywhere, and redirect their old pages to the nearest open location.
- Say what is specific. Write down which services each location does and does not offer, published prices where your brand allows them, and what a first visit involves. Specific facts are what an assistant can repeat.
- Earn mentions outside your site. Local news about an opening, community sponsorships, and business associations that list members. These must be real.
- Work through the franchisor where it owns the page. If the brand controls location pages, send corrections through its process and keep a record of each request.
The AI Overviews guide for franchisees covers Google's side, and the Business Profile guide covers the listing each location depends on most.
Testing your visibility
Test by asking assistants the questions your customers ask, near each location, and logging what comes back every month. Write the prompts in customer language, not brand language:
- "Where can I get [service] near [neighborhood] that's open on Saturday?"
- "Is the [brand] on [street] any good?"
- "What's a good place for [service] near me for a first-timer?"
- "[Brand] or [competitor] for [service], which is better?"
- "Who does [service] near [landmark] and has openings this week?"
- "How much does [service] cost at [brand] near [neighborhood]?"
For each prompt, record the assistant used, whether you were named, whether it was the right location, whether the hours and details were right, and which sources it cited. Answers vary between sessions and users, so look for patterns over months rather than reacting to one reply. Traffic from Google's AI features is not reported separately in Search Console, so the log is often your best record.
Reviews and AI
Reviews feed what assistants say about a location, so each location needs its own steady flow of honest reviews. An assistant summarizing a location reads the themes in its reviews: the team, the specific services and how the visit went. A location with few reviews gets described from brand-wide chatter instead.
- Ask every customer, not just the happy ones. Google's policy bans review gating and incentives.
- Never buy, write or suppress reviews. The FTC's rule bans fake reviews, including AI-written ones, as well as buying reviews and suppressing negative ones (FTC rule on consumer reviews).
- Reply at each location. Replies are public text that assistants can read too. A calm, specific reply to a complaint helps more than silence.
The Google reviews guide for franchisees covers the asking routine.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
We check how assistants describe each of your locations today, fix the location pages, structured data and listings so they agree, and set up a monthly prompt log by location. Every page and profile stays in your company's or your brand's accounts, as your agreement sets. The work is a project with dates, and we report what changed in the answers alongside calls and booked new customers per location. Book a growth consultation and we will run your customers' questions through the assistants and show you what they say.
Sources
- Introducing ChatGPT search, OpenAI
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central
- Local business structured data, Google Search Central
- 16 CFR Part 465: Use of consumer reviews and testimonials, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations