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Where do ChatGPT, Claude and Grok get their information about local businesses?

By Adam Collins, Founder, 3Fold Labs

"Where AI goes to look you up." over dark library shelves of old books, with four sources (your website, business profile, directory listings, reviews and mentions) joined by gold lines to one sample AI answer about Apex Ridge Roofing.

Short answer

ChatGPT, Claude and Grok mostly look businesses up live with web search and link their sources. ChatGPT uses search partners, including Microsoft, plus unnamed listings providers. Anthropic and xAI don't name a local listings source for Claude or Grok. Google's AI Overviews draw on Search and Business Profiles. Your website feeds all of them, so keep it accurate and crawlable.

Do AI assistants look businesses up live, or answer from memory?

Both, depending on the tool and the question. It helps to think in three layers:

  • A live search index. The assistant runs a search and reads pages.
  • Listings data. Structured details like name, address, phone, hours, and reviews.
  • What the model already learned. Older information from training.
Three stacked rows: the live search index, listings data and what the model already learned, each with the problem it can cause for a business, as described in the text above.
AI answers come from three places, and each one goes wrong in its own way.
It helps to think in three layers.

The fixes are different for each layer. A crawler blocked from your site drops you out of the search index. Wrong listings put wrong details into the listings data (more on the business details that must match everywhere). What the model already learned you can't edit directly, which is one reason old phone numbers linger. Even OpenAI says "search results and citations can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect."

Where does ChatGPT get local business information?

From search partners, and from listings providers OpenAI hasn't named. OpenAI's help center says ChatGPT search "sometimes partners with other search providers," rewrites your prompt into targeted searches, and can use your general location to find local results. It links Microsoft's privacy policy as one of those providers.

For local results, OpenAI says ChatGPT "may share your location with trusted third-party providers that help provide more local information, such as nearby business listings." It does not say who they are.

You'll see pages say ChatGPT never uses Google Business Profile. OpenAI hasn't said that either way. The honest version is that it isn't documented.

ChatGPT also crawls websites with OAI-SearchBot (more on why ChatGPT doesn't mention your business). OpenAI says sites that opt out "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers."

Why does Bing matter for ChatGPT?

Because Microsoft is one of ChatGPT's documented search providers. OpenAI's enterprise help page says ChatGPT "may share disassociated search queries with the Bing search engine to return web results."

Bing's own blog says registering with Bing Places for Business helps keep your address, hours, and contact information "current and eligible for inclusion in AI-generated responses." If you have only set up Google, check Bing Places too.

Where does Claude get local business information?

From a live web search, with citations. Anthropic's pricing page lists "Search the web" on the Free plan, and Anthropic says web search is on all plans. Its help center says "Every response includes citations," and that Claude "may use your location (inferred from your IP address)" for local requests.

Anthropic's search crawlers are Claude-SearchBot, which "navigates the web to improve search result quality," and Claude-User, which fetches pages when a person asks Claude a question. Anthropic says both follow robots.txt. Blocking Claude-User "may reduce your site's visibility for user-directed web search."

On iOS and Android, Claude can use your device location, with permission, to show nearby places on a map and open one in Apple Maps or Google Maps for directions. Separately, a user can turn on a Yelp connector, which shows local business results "powered by Yelp." That is a connector the user chooses, not part of Claude's default web search. Anthropic doesn't name a local listings provider for web search.

Where does Grok get local business information?

From a live search of the web and X. xAI's Grok page says Grok searches the web and X live, with "Live citations from primary sources across the web." xAI's developer docs describe a Web Search tool that lets Grok "search the web in real-time and browse web pages" and an X Search tool for posts and threads on X.

xAI doesn't document which search provider Grok uses, where it gets local business data, or a crawler for Grok. That means there is no Grok line to add to robots.txt.

How do the three compare?

Your website at the top, connected to cards for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews and AI Mode. Each card lists its live search, listings data, website crawler and where to fix your details. The same details are in the table below.
Your website feeds all three, but each one also leans on its own sources.
Your own website feeds all three.

Swipe sideways to see every column.

ChatGPTClaudeGrok
Live searchSearch partners, including Microsoft (Bing)Claude web search; provider not named on Anthropic's help pageWeb and X search; provider not documented
Listings dataUnnamed "trusted third-party providers"Not documented; optional Yelp connector a user can turn onNot documented
Website crawlerOAI-SearchBotClaude-SearchBot, Claude-UserNone documented
Where to fix your detailsYour website, Bing PlacesYour websiteYour website

Checked 10/20/2026. Details change; check the source.

For local searches on Google, AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google's Search index, and Google says Business Profiles "can help your products and services to be visible in both AI responses and other Google Search results." Google also says a Business Profile "is compiled from a variety of sources," including your official website, so your site shapes that too.

Google says AI Overviews use "a customized Gemini model, which works in tandem with our existing Search systems," including its ranking systems and Knowledge Graph (more on how Google picks businesses for AI Overviews).

Bing matters beyond ChatGPT, too: Bing's AI Performance report also covers Microsoft Copilot.

Which sources should a contractor fix first?

Start with the ones you control, in this order:

  • Your website. It feeds every assistant here, and Google. Put your exact business name, phone, hours, service area, and license number on it in plain text. Make it the source of truth, the way I build websites for service businesses.
  • Crawler access. Make sure Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User aren't blocked in robots.txt or by your firewall.
  • Google Business Profile. Complete it and match it to your site.
  • Bing Places for Business. Claim it and match it too.
  • Major directories. Fix wrong phone numbers and old addresses where you find them.
A top-to-bottom path: your website, crawler access, Google Business Profile, Bing Places for Business and major directories, each with the one-line fix from the list above.
Start with the source you control, then work outward.
Start with the ones you control, in this order.

Vendor studies publish percentages for which directories AI tools cite most. I'm not repeating them here until their methods are checked.

This is the core of search and AI visibility work: Getting found on Google and in AI answers.

How 3Fold Labs helps

I fix these in the same order: your website first, then crawler access, then your listings. That's where SEO, AEO and GEO overlap (SEO vs AEO vs GEO): the same accurate facts serve Google and the AI assistants. I can't promise any assistant will name you.

Here's my Getting found on Google and in AI answers.

FAQ

Does ChatGPT use Google Maps or my Google Business Profile?

OpenAI hasn't said. It names Microsoft as a search provider and says it uses unnamed providers for business listings. Don't trust any page that answers this with certainty.

Why does ChatGPT have my old phone number?

It may be reading an old directory listing, an outdated page, or older training data. Fix your website first, then your Google and Bing listings, then the directories that still show the old number.

Do I need to be on Yelp?

OpenAI names Yelp for restaurant reservations, which doesn't tell me much about contractors. If you have a listing there, keep it accurate.

Can I submit my business to ChatGPT directly?

None of the OpenAI pages cited here describe a way to submit a local business. What you can do is keep your site crawlable and your listings accurate.

Sources

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