Does ChatGPT Use Google Reviews? What We Found in Singapore

ChatGPT does not read your Google reviews as a source for its answer. When we asked ChatGPT's API with web search who to hire in 11 Singapore trades, it gave 803 links, and Google appeared in 5 of them, each a Google Maps address search and none a review. At rankr, the Singapore SEO agency that writes this blog, we ran that study in October 2026, and then checked the ChatGPT app, which shows something different.

What does ChatGPT link to when it recommends a business?

Mostly the businesses' own websites. Of ChatGPT's 803 links, 57% went to websites of businesses in the trade, 19% to government sites such as the Ministry of Manpower, 10% to directories and review sites, and 9% to "best of" lists. The 5 Google links all came from one question template, "I live in Tampines. Which [provider] near me would you recommend?", asked for aircon servicing and car workshops, and each was a Google Maps search for an address in Tampines.

Perplexity linked no Google page at all in its 3,109 links. Its review sources were directories such as whatclinic.com (96 links), which publishes its own reviews, and the booking marketplace fresha.com (84).

Does ranking top 3 on Google Maps get you recommended?

Often not. We looked up the 3 businesses Google Maps shows first in each of the 11 trades, then searched all 1,100 answers for their names. 12 of the 33 were never named by either assistant.

Our study: 100 answers per trade on 5 and 6 October 2026 (ChatGPT's API with web search, and Perplexity's API). Google Maps top 3 from Ahrefs, August to October 2026.

Google says its local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that popularity draws partly on how many reviews a business has. Those signals decide the map pack. The assistants in our study answered from the web pages their searches returned, and a map ranking did not carry over to them by itself.

What does the ChatGPT app show?

Star ratings, on cards. On 26 October 2026 we asked the app, in a temporary chat, "Can you recommend a good aircon servicing company in Singapore?". The answer opened with "Based on recent customer reviews, pricing transparency and service coverage", then showed a card for each pick with a star rating and a review count: 4.9 from 11,477 reviews for the first, and 4.9 from 3,355 for the second.

The same day, Google Maps showed those two businesses at 4.9 from 11,491 reviews and 4.9 from 3,361. The app's card names no source for its ratings, and we found no OpenAI page that does; OpenAI's help page on ChatGPT search says it "sometimes partners with other search providers". The links under the answer went to pages about the five businesses and to sethlui.com, and none was a Google review page.

This was one question in one session, and the app changes often. In Search Engine Land's tests published in May 2025, ChatGPT said it had no direct access to Google, and in one answer it took Google review data from a business website that carried it.

So do Google reviews matter for ChatGPT?

Yes, but not as a page it reads. Your Google rating can appear on the app's cards, and reviews help you in Google's own map results. For the answer text, put reviews where ChatGPT reads:

• On your own website, as text. ChatGPT sent 57% of its links to business websites. Quote a few real reviews on your service pages, with the customer's first name and the job. A review widget that loads after the page opens may be invisible: Vercel's 2024 study found OpenAI's crawlers do not run JavaScript.
• On the review sites your trade's answers cite. For clinics and physiotherapy that was whatclinic.com and fresha.com; the listings ChatGPT and Perplexity read has the table for 11 trades.
• On Google, still. Keep asking customers for Google reviews. They decide your map ranking and they are the rating a customer sees on the app's cards.

At rankr, our Google Business Profile work covers the reviews and the profile, and our site work puts the best of them on the pages ChatGPT reads.

How we checked

The study asked ChatGPT (OpenAI's model with its web search, through the API) and Perplexity (its sonar model, through the API) 55 questions about 11 Singapore trades on 5 and 6 October 2026, 1,100 answers in all; links were sorted for the first 330 answers, 3,912 of them. The app check was one logged-in temporary chat on 26 October 2026, and the Google Maps figures were read the same day through DataForSEO's Google Maps results for Singapore. Every answer is on the study page.

Frequently asked questions

Does ChatGPT use Google reviews?

Not as a source it links to, in our study: Google appeared in 5 of ChatGPT's 803 links, all Google Maps addresses. The ChatGPT app does show star ratings on business cards, and on 26 October 2026 they matched Google Maps within 14 reviews, without naming a source.

Does a top 3 Google Maps ranking get you recommended by ChatGPT?

Not on its own. 12 of the 33 businesses in Google Maps' top 3 across 11 Singapore trades were never named in 1,100 ChatGPT and Perplexity answers.

Should I put my Google reviews on my website?

Yes, as text on the pages they relate to. ChatGPT sent 57% of its links to business websites in our study, and a review written in the page can be read and quoted, while a widget that loads later may not be.