How ChatGPT and Gemini choose which Pakistani businesses to name

What changed

Searches are turning into questions. Instead of typing "solar company Lahore" and opening five tabs, more people now ask an assistant and read one answer. That answer usually names two or three businesses, with a line about each.

If yours is not one of them, that customer may never reach your website. Nothing shows in your analytics either: no lost click, no dropped ranking. You simply were not in the answer.

What assistants read

Assistants do not keep a private list of good businesses. When they answer a question about a local service, they work from what they can find on the web. That falls into four groups:

• Your own website. What you do, where, for whom and when, in words a machine can read.
• Search indexes. ChatGPT's search features find websites through OpenAI's crawler, OAI-SearchBot. Gemini is Google's own assistant, so how well Google knows your site matters.
• Listings and profiles. Your Google Business Profile, directories, and the platforms your category lives on: Daraz for sellers, foodpanda for restaurants, oladoc or Marham for doctors.
• What others say about you. Reviews, news stories, blog posts, forum threads and comparison pages.

When these sources agree, an assistant can name you with confidence. When they disagree, with an old address on one site and a different phone number on another, it may leave you out or repeat the wrong detail.

What Google and OpenAI actually say

Two official statements are worth knowing, because they cut through a lot of sales talk.

Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in its AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page has to be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet. Google also says you do not need AI text files or special markup for these features, and that any structured data should match what the page visibly says.

OpenAI says sites that block its OAI-SearchBot crawler will not be shown in ChatGPT's search answers.

So most of AI SEO is good SEO done carefully, plus close attention to everything written about you away from your own site.

A 10-step checklist

1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Exact name, the right category, hours, phone, photos and services. It is free, and it is one of the most-read sources about any local business. Our Google Business Profile setup guide walks through every step.

1. Use one name, address and phone number everywhere. Karachi addresses get written many ways: "Shahrah-e-Faisal" or "Sharah-e-Faisal", "Block 13-D, Gulshan-e-Iqbal" or "Gulshan Block 13D". Pick one exact form and use it on your website, Google profile, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Business profile and every listing.

1. Say what you do in plain sentences on your own site. One page per service, with the areas you serve written into it: "We repair split ACs in North Nazimabad, Gulberg and Federal B Area." Keep key facts in text, not only inside images, posters or a PDF menu.

1. Answer the questions buyers actually ask. Add a short FAQ to each service page: "Do you deliver to Bahria Town?", "Are you open on Sundays?", "Do you take bank transfer?", "Is there a female doctor?". Give direct answers in one or two sentences, the way you would say them on the phone.

1. Add structured data. LocalBusiness markup, or a more specific type such as Dentist or Restaurant, with your name, address, phone and hours. Make sure it matches what the page shows.

1. Let the crawlers in. Check that your robots.txt does not block Googlebot or OAI-SearchBot. Some security plugins and firewall settings block automated visitors broadly, so ask your developer to confirm which ones get through.

1. Write an llms.txt file. A short plain-text summary of who you are and the facts people get wrong. Google says it does not need one, so treat it as a cheap extra, not a fix. Our llms.txt guide shows what goes in it.

1. Get listed where your category lives. Doctors on oladoc and Marham, restaurants on foodpanda, property on Zameen.com, car dealers on PakWheels, sellers on Daraz, plus your trade association's member list. Use the same name, address and phone on every one.

1. Earn mentions from other sites. A story in Dawn, The Express Tribune, Business Recorder or ProPakistani, a local food blogger's review, an industry association's page. Give them something real to write about: a new branch, local data, a useful guide. Avoid paid "guest posts" on sites that exist only to sell links.

1. Collect genuine reviews, and reply to them. Ask every customer, with a direct link sent on WhatsApp after the job. Reply to the good and the bad. Do not offer discounts for reviews or ask only your happy customers: both are against Google's policy, and such reviews can be removed.

How to check where you stand

You can test this yourself in half an hour.

• Write down ten questions a buyer would ask: "best bakery in Bahadurabad", "orthodontist near Clifton open in the evening", "who makes school uniforms in Karachi".
• Ask each one in ChatGPT and in Gemini, in a fresh chat.
• Note who is named, what is said about them, and whether anything said about you is wrong.
• If your buyers write in Roman Urdu, ask a few that way too.

Answers vary from one day to the next, so look for patterns rather than reading too much into a single answer. Repeat the same questions every month and keep your notes, so you can see what moves.

What not to do

• Do not fake it. Fake reviews, fake listings and pages calling yourself the best in the city can be removed, and they cost you trust when a customer spots them.
• Do not hide facts in images. A beautiful poster of your opening hours is unreadable to most machines.
• Do not let old details linger. A closed branch still listed on three directories is a mistake an assistant can repeat for years. Find the listings and correct or close them.
• Do not expect overnight results. Indexes and assistants update on their own schedule. This is steady work, judged over months.

The bottom line

Assistants name the businesses the web describes clearly and consistently. Get your Google profile, your own website and your listings telling the same story, earn a few genuine mentions, and check the answers every month.

If you would rather have this run for you, with your buyers' real questions checked on ChatGPT and Gemini every week, see our AI SEO in Pakistan page, or go straight to the a.hub SEO plans and prices (opens in a new tab).

Sources: Google Search Central, "AI features and your website", read on 23 October 2026 (opens in a new tab), Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode have no extra requirements beyond normal search: a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet; no AI text files or special schema are needed; structured data should match the visible text; OpenAI, "Overview of OpenAI crawlers", read on 23 October 2026 (opens in a new tab), OAI-SearchBot is the crawler that surfaces websites in ChatGPT's search features; sites that block it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers; Google Maps user contributed content policy, "Fake engagement", read on 23 October 2026 (opens in a new tab), offering incentives for reviews, or asking only happy customers for them, is against Google's policy.