The short answer: ChatGPT and other AI tools recommend the businesses they can find, understand, and trust. On Maui, that means an accurate Google Business Profile, a website that says what you sell and where in plain words, AI crawlers allowed in, and current details that other trusted sites confirm.
1.Get your Google Business Profile category exactly right
Your primary category is one of the strongest signals for local AI answers. If you sell locally made gifts but your category says something broader or different, AI tools may never match you to the question a visitor is actually asking.
Then fill in everything: hours, services or products, attributes, photos, and a description written the way a customer would describe you.
2.Say what you sell in plain words, on your own site
AI tools quote the language they find. If your homepage says "curated island experiences" but customers search for "snorkel tours from Kīhei," you're asking the AI to guess. Use the words your customers use, on the page itself, not only in hidden metadata.
3.Name the towns and areas you serve
Visitors ask by place: "best poke near Wailea," "gift shops in Kīhei," "breakfast on the way to Hāna." Put your town and the nearby areas you actually serve in your page headings and copy, so AI can connect you to location-based questions.
4.Let AI crawlers read your website
Some website settings block the bots that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI use to read pages. Check your robots.txt file and make sure it allows them. An llms.txt file, a short plain-text summary of your business written for AI, gives them a clean starting point.
5.Add structured data
Structured data (schema markup) is code that tells machines exactly what's on a page: your business name, address, hours, products, and FAQs. For a local business, LocalBusiness and FAQPage markup are the place to start. Retail and e-commerce shops should add Product markup too.
6.Answer the questions visitors ask before they arrive
Is there parking? Do you ship to the mainland? Are you open on holidays? Do you take walk-ins? A clear FAQ page answers those questions for people and gives AI tools ready-made answers to repeat.
7.Keep your details current
AI tools repeat what they find, including outdated hours, closed locations, and products you no longer carry. When something changes, update your website and Google Business Profile the same day. A recommendation is only worth something if the visitor finds what the AI promised.
8.Get mentioned on sites AI already trusts
AI tools cross-check your own claims against other sources: local guides, visitor sites, news coverage, business directories, and reviews. Every accurate mention on a trusted Maui or Hawaiʻi site makes you easier to recommend with confidence. Our guide to auditing which off-site sources AI uses shows how to find the ones that matter in your category.
9.Ask AI yourself, every month
Write down five to ten questions your customers would ask, like "where can I buy locally made gifts in Kīhei?" Ask ChatGPT, Google, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude each month. Note whether you're named, what it says about you, and who's named instead. That's your scoreboard.
A ChatGPT recommendation that walked through the door
In August 2026, a customer walked into Tutu's Pantry in Kīhei and showed owner Ellie Salazar a ChatGPT conversation. They had asked for local gift-shopping suggestions in Kīhei and Wailea, and Tutu's Pantry was the #1 recommendation for locally made gift items, complete with the address, hours, and what to buy. The customer had driven 51 minutes from Kāʻanapali because of it.
That happened mid-project, after AI crawler access, an llms.txt file, and a full brand audit of the store's 613 products were already in place. See the case study
Common questions
Does my Google Business Profile affect ChatGPT recommendations?
Yes, it matters. Your profile's primary category and details are a strong signal for local and map-based AI answers, and an inaccurate category can keep you out of results for the exact thing you sell.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?
It varies by business and by AI tool. Some changes show up within weeks, others take months. Re-testing the same questions every month is the only reliable way to know where you stand.
Can I do this myself?
Many of these steps, like fixing your Google Business Profile category or adding an FAQ page, you can do yourself. Structured data and AI crawler settings are more technical. A free AI Visibility Snapshot shows which gaps matter most for your business.
Does ChatGPT recommend your business today?
Get a free AI Visibility Snapshot: we check what AI tools say about your business right now and show you which of these nine gaps to fix first.