Only 23% of businesses ranking in Google's local pack appear in ChatGPT results
That's not a ranking problem - it's a visibility problem
Here's what nobody's talking about:
In 2017, Google researchers invented the transformer architecture - the same tech powering ChatGPT. Both companies have the same core mission: figure out who to trust based on nothing but digital information
Google spent years moving away from keyword matching toward entity based search
BERT launched in 2019. MUM followed in 2021
They wanted the algorithm to understand what words actually mean, not just look at keywords
OpenAI built ChatGPT on the exact same transformer foundation (that's what the T stands for.) Both systems are solving the identical problem: determine trust and relevance from online information
And here's the part that matters for local businesses:
The optimization strategies converge
Google prioritizes local engagement based on goal completion. Did the searcher get what they wanted? Android and Chrome give Google direct data on user behavior after the search. ChatGPT doesn't have access to this "goal completion" data, so it's stuck using the same signals Google relies on when businesses don't have engagement data yet: brand mentions across the web, domain authority, and structured content
ChatGPT uses the foundational trust signals that Google also uses before it has enough user data
But both systems use transformers to understand entities and context
ChatGPT runs a Bing search in real time, scans the top 20 to 30 web results, then uses its pattern recognition machine to determine which businesses to recommend based on what it recognizes as credible, structured information. Which means if your website ranks well in organic search, you're already halfway there
Research found only 23% of businesses appearing in Google's local business section were also recommended by ChatGPT
The gap isn't massive technical differences
It's a handful of missing signals
Businesses with high domain authority and extensive web mentions performed better in ChatGPT recommendations
If you're already doing local SEO [search engine optimization] for Google, the bridge to ChatGPT visibility is shorter than you think
Your Google Business Profile gets you local pack rankings
Your website and brand mentions get you ChatGPT recommendations
Both platforms use the same transformer technology to parse entities and determine relevance. The difference is where they look for trust signals. Over 70% of ChatGPT's local business results come from Foursquare for core information like name, category, address, photos, and ratings. Business websites make up 58% of ChatGPT's local search sources, followed by brand mentions at 27%
So the optimization path is simple:
Keep doing what works for Google's local pack
Then add: claim your Foursquare listing, build NAP [name/address/phone #] consistency across directories, and get your website into Bing's index
Both systems read entities the same way. They just pull from different data sources to validate trust
The businesses winning on both platforms aren't doing twice the work. They're doing the same entity-based optimization, then ensuring they exist in both ecosystems. Same transformer technology. Same entity understanding. Different trust validation sources. That's the pattern
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