Open ChatGPT. Type: "What is the best digital marketing agency in Accra, Ghana?" Read what comes back.
Some businesses appear. Most do not. The ones that appear did not pay for placement. They did not buy an ad. They did specific work over several months that positioned their business as a credible, well-described entity in the data that AI models draw from. That work is called Prompt Engine Optimisation, or PEO.
Here is exactly what that work looks like.
Why AI models recommend some businesses and not others
AI models like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity are trained on vast amounts of text from the web. When a user asks a question, the model draws on that training data plus, in some cases, live web retrieval to form an answer. The businesses that appear in recommendations are the ones the model has enough clear, consistent, credible information about to confidently name.
If your business has a sparse website, inconsistent online listings, no FAQ content, and almost no mentions on other websites, the model either cannot find you or does not have enough information to recommend you with confidence. No matter how good your business actually is.
The 7 steps to getting recommended by AI in Ghana
Define your entity clearly and consistently
Your business name, address, phone number, and description must be identical everywhere it appears online: your website, Google Business Profile, Facebook page, LinkedIn, and every directory listing. AI models use consistency as a signal of credibility. Inconsistencies reduce confidence in your entity.
Write a clear, accurate "About" description in plain English
Somewhere on your website, there needs to be a description of your business that an AI could read and use to introduce you. It should say what you do, where you operate, who you serve, and what makes you different. Written in plain language. Not in marketing speak. Think of it as briefing the AI the same way you would brief a journalist.
Build a structured FAQ library
Write 20 to 40 questions and answers that cover every aspect of your business, formatted with FAQPage schema markup on your website. These become direct training material. When someone asks ChatGPT "how much does web design cost in Ghana," if your FAQ answers that question clearly and your site is indexed, your answer has a chance of feeding the response.
Publish topical content consistently
A business that has published 20 detailed articles about its category in Ghana is more credible to an AI than a business with a one-page website. The blog posts do not need to be long. They need to be accurate, specific to Ghana, and consistently published over several months. The 10 posts you are reading right now are BVM Digital doing this exact work.
Get mentioned on other credible websites
Citations matter. A mention of your business on a Ghanaian news site, an industry association page, a partner website, or a business directory tells AI models that your business is real and recognised by others. Pursue these mentions deliberately: press coverage, partnerships, directory listings, guest content.
Add schema markup to your website
Schema markup is structured data code that tells search engines and AI crawlers exactly what type of business you are, where you are, what you offer, and who your customers are. A website with correct ProfessionalService, LocalBusiness, and FAQPage schema is significantly more likely to be correctly understood and recommended than one without it.
Monitor and measure AI mentions monthly
Ask the AI tools directly every month. Type your business category and city into ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. See what appears. Track whether your business shows up, and what context it appears in. This tells you whether the work is reaching the model and where the gaps are.
How long before your business appears in AI recommendations?
With consistent work on the 7 steps above, most businesses in Accra start appearing in at least one AI tool's recommendations within 60 to 90 days. Consistent category-level recommendation across multiple tools takes three to six months. The businesses that are doing this work now are building an advantage that will be very difficult for later entrants to close.
Start with the test: Open ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity right now. Type "best [your service] in [your city] Ghana." If your business does not appear, that is the gap. Every day that passes without working on it is another day a competitor can close.
BVM Digital runs SEO and PEO together as one programme
We coined the term PEO. We have been doing this work for Ghanaian businesses since before most agencies in Ghana knew what AI search was. See the full programme.
See the SEO & PEO service