More shoppers now skip the list of search results and simply ask an AI assistant: “Which brands make good solid wood dining tables that ship to Germany?” The assistant answers with three or four brand names.
If yours is one of them, you're on the shortlist before the customer has visited a single website. If it isn't, that customer may never hear of you.
This guide explains how AI assistants choose which brands to name, and what you can do about it.
How AI assistants choose brands
AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity don't take payment to recommend brands. They try to give a useful, safe answer. To do that, they lean on information they can confirm from several sources.
In practice, brands get named more often when:
- Their website states the facts clearly. What they make, the materials, where they are, which countries they deliver to.
- Other trusted websites say the same thing. Design magazines, directories, associations and business listings that mention the brand with consistent details.
- Their pages answer real customer questions. Delivery times, lead times, materials and care, warranty, returns, trade pricing.
- AI tools can read the site. Some assistants search the web live before answering. If the site blocks their crawlers or hides its content in images, it gets skipped.
Step 1: check where you stand
Before changing anything, ask the assistants the questions your customers ask. Use the customer's language, not yours. For example:
- “Best Portuguese brands for solid oak dining tables that deliver to Germany”
- “Marcas de muebles de diseño para hoteles que fabriquen a medida”
- “Where can I buy a modular sofa made in Italy for a small apartment”
Write down which brands are named and in what order. Repeat it every month. This becomes your AI visibility baseline.
Step 2: make your facts impossible to miss
Go through your website and make sure these facts are written in plain text, not hidden in images or PDFs:
- Brand name, city and country
- What you make, collection by collection and piece by piece, with materials and dimensions
- Certifications and standards, such as wood sourcing or safety testing
- Countries you already deliver to
- Lead times, shipping options, custom and trade order terms
- How to contact you, including WhatsApp if you use it
Then add structured data to your site. This is a small block of code that tells search engines and AI exactly what your brand is, where it is and what it sells. Your web developer can add it, or I can.
Step 3: let AI tools read your site
Check your website's robots.txt file. Some sites block AI crawlers without the owner knowing. If you want to be recommended, assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity need to be allowed to read your pages.
Some brands also add a short llms.txt file: a plain summary of the brand written for AI tools. It's simple to create and doesn't hurt.
Step 4: get mentioned where AI looks
This is the step most brands skip, and often the one that matters most. AI assistants trust brands that other trusted sources talk about. Good places to be mentioned:
- Interior design and architecture magazines and blogs
- Furniture associations, chambers of commerce and design bodies
- Furniture and design fair exhibitor pages
- Trade directories and designer sourcing platforms
- Business listings like Google Business Profile and LinkedIn
Keep your brand details the same everywhere. If one site says you're in Porto and another says Braga, the assistant may not trust either.
Step 5: answer customers' questions on your site
Create pages that answer what customers ask before they buy. A page about delivery to Germany. A page about wood types and care. A page comparing two sofa fabrics. These are the pages an AI assistant can quote, and they help you rank on Google too.
How long it takes
AI assistants update what they know at different speeds. Some search the web live and can pick up changes within weeks. Others change more slowly. Most brands see their first mentions after a few months of steady work.
If you'd like to know whether AI assistants recommend your brand today, I can check for free in your top three markets. Request a free website check.