Which listings does ChatGPT use for local businesses?
OpenAI won’t name every listing source. Yelp has confirmed an agreement with OpenAI, and in one large study Yelp showed up in 80% of ChatGPT’s local answers.
What changed
OpenAI doesn’t publish a full list of where ChatGPT gets local business information. Its search help page says ChatGPT may share your location with trusted third-party providers for things like nearby business listings, without naming them. The same page lists Microsoft among its search providers, and names OpenTable, Resy and Yelp for restaurant reservations.
Yelp said in its February 12, 2026 results release that it had recently signed an agreement with OpenAI, as part of putting its content to work for local discovery across AI tools. We couldn’t find either company’s own published terms, so we’re not repeating the details that have only been reported second-hand.
BrightLocal published a study on August 26, 2026 (60,970 checks across 1,355 business locations in the U.S., U.K. and Australia). Yelp appeared as a source in 80% of ChatGPT’s local answers. Google Business Profile wasn’t a top ChatGPT source, even though it was the top source for Google’s own AI Overviews and AI Mode. Apple’s listings showed up for ChatGPT, but only 600 times.
One caveat from BrightLocal itself: about 20% of the locations it checked were restaurants, which may skew some sources (like OpenTable) up.
Who it affects
Any local business that wants to show up when someone asks ChatGPT who to call. If you’ve only ever worked on your Google profile, ChatGPT may be reading listings you haven’t touched in years.
What to do this week
- Claim and fill out Yelp. In the BrightLocal study it was the source ChatGPT used most, by a wide margin.
- Claim Bing Places. OpenAI lists Microsoft among its search providers.
- Claim Apple Business Connect. It was a small ChatGPT source in the study, but it was on the list.
- Keep Google Business Profile as the master copy. Google’s own AI leans on it heavily. Copy its name, address, phone, hours and categories exactly to every other listing.
- Claim your listing in ChatGPT itself. See how claiming works.
Justin’s take
Google is still the master copy. It’s just not the only copy that matters anymore. ChatGPT reads the listings most owners ignored for years.
Match your details exactly. One wrong phone number on Yelp can now end up in an AI answer.
— Justin
Sources
- OpenAI Help Center, Searching the web with ChatGPT
- Yelp Inc., Yelp Delivers Record Net Revenue in 2025 Accelerating Investment in AI Transformation (February 12, 2026)
- BrightLocal, Top sources and directories for local AI search (August 26, 2026)
Checked against these sources on November 11, 2026.
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