How to get AI to recommend you.
Everything published on AI visibility is written for enterprise software companies. None of it helps a plumber in Tampa. These guides are for the people who actually answer the phone — specific to your trade, no marketing degree required.
Foundations
11The 25 Questions Customers Ask AI Before Hiring a Contractor
The actual question patterns homeowners type into ChatGPT before they call anyone — grouped into four categories, with what each one reveals about your visibility gap.
2026-08-04·4 minAEO vs GEO vs SEO: What Actually Changed for Local Businesses
Three acronyms, one underlying shift. Here's the honest difference between SEO, AEO, and GEO for a local service business — and which parts of your old SEO still matter.
2026-08-04·5 minDoes AI Search Actually Matter Yet for Local Businesses?
An honest answer for the skeptic. What the volume really looks like today, why the traffic numbers understate it, and how to decide without taking anyone's word for it.
2026-08-04·4 minHow ChatGPT Decides Which Local Business to Recommend
ChatGPT names three or four businesses when someone asks who to hire. Here's the actual mechanism behind that shortlist, and the six things that get you on it.
2026-08-04·5 minHow Claude Answers "Best [Service] Near Me" Questions
Claude is the most conservative of the assistants about naming specific local businesses. That changes what you need to do to get recommended by it.
2026-08-04·3 minHow Gemini Recommends Local Businesses
Gemini has something no other assistant has: direct access to Google Maps, Google Business Profiles, and Google reviews. That makes it the most map-driven AI of the five.
2026-08-04·4 minHow Google AI Overviews Choose Which Local Businesses to Show
AI Overviews sit above your organic ranking and answer the question before anyone scrolls. Here's how Google assembles that block for local service queries — and how to get into it.
2026-08-04·4 minHow People Phrase Questions to AI vs Google (and Why It Changes Your Content)
Search queries are three keywords. AI prompts are full sentences with context. That difference changes what your pages need to say and how they need to be structured.
2026-08-04·5 minHow Perplexity Picks Local Businesses (and Why It's Different)
Perplexity cites its sources on every answer, which makes it the most diagnosable of the AI assistants. Here's how it builds local recommendations and why it's the fastest one to influence.
2026-08-04·4 minWhat Is Answer Engine Optimization? A Local Business Owner's Guide
AEO is the practice of getting AI assistants to recommend your business by name. Here's what it means for a plumber, roofer, or HVAC company — and what to actually do about it.
2026-08-04·6 minWhy Your Competitor Shows Up in ChatGPT and You Don't
You have more trucks, better reviews, and a nicer website. They get recommended by AI and you don't. Here are the seven reasons this happens, in the order we actually find them.
2026-08-04·4 min
Trade playbooks
20Appliance Repair AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
An appliance repair playbook for AI search. Error codes, repair-or-replace math, brand authorization, and the model-specific queries nobody is targeting.
2026-08-04·5 minAuto Repair AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
An independent shop's playbook for AI search. Symptom and code queries, dealer-versus-independent comparisons, and the specializations that beat generic "auto repair near me."
2026-08-04·5 minChiropractor AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A chiropractic playbook for AI search. Condition-specific queries, the evidence question assistants raise, insurance coverage, and how to be the clinic that gets named.
2026-08-04·5 minDental Practice AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A dental practice playbook for AI search. Insurance and cost questions, emergency queries, procedure explanations, and the YMYL constraints that change the rules.
2026-08-04·5 minElectrician AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
An electrician's playbook for AI search. Safety questions, panel upgrades, EV charger installs, and why licensing verification matters more here than in any other trade.
2026-08-04·5 minFlooring Installer AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A flooring contractor's playbook for AI search. Material comparison queries, subfloor and moisture problems, and how to beat the big-box installers.
2026-08-04·5 minGarage Door AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A garage door company's playbook for AI search. Broken spring urgency, the scam-warning problem, opener brand queries, and how to read as the legitimate option.
2026-08-04·5 minGeneral Contractor AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A remodeler's playbook for AI search. Budget reality, permits and code, the contract questions homeowners ask, and why project-type pages beat a generic services page.
2026-08-04·5 minHouse Cleaning AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A cleaning company's playbook for AI search. Pricing transparency, trust and background checks, move-out cleaning, and how to beat the app marketplaces.
2026-08-04·5 minHVAC AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
An HVAC contractor's playbook for AI search. Diagnostic queries, equipment-brand authority, rebate content, and the seasonal windows that decide your year.
2026-08-04·5 minLandscaper AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A landscaping and lawn care playbook for AI search. Plant and climate questions, the maintenance-versus-design split, and the regional specificity that beats national content.
2026-08-04·5 minLocksmith AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A locksmith's playbook for AI search. The fake-locksmith problem, lockout urgency, and why a verifiable physical presence is worth more here than in any other trade.
2026-08-04·5 minMoving Company AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A mover's playbook for AI search. The rogue-mover problem, binding estimates, DOT number verification, and the cost questions that decide every booking.
2026-08-04·5 minPainting Contractor AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A painting contractor's playbook for AI search. Cost-per-square-foot questions, prep quality, color and product advice, and the exterior climate specifics that win locally.
2026-08-04·5 minPersonal Injury Law Firm AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A PI firm's playbook for AI search. Statute of limitations and comparative fault questions, fee transparency, and the ethics rules that constrain what you can claim.
2026-08-04·5 minPest Control AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A pest control playbook for AI search. Identification queries, regional pest pressure, treatment safety questions, and why species-specific pages beat generic ones.
2026-08-04·5 minPlumber AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A plumber's playbook for getting named when a homeowner asks an AI assistant who to call. Emergency intent, the directories that matter, and the schema that gets you cited.
2026-08-04·5 minPool Service AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A pool service and repair playbook for AI search. Water chemistry troubleshooting, equipment failures, and the regional seasonality that decides your content calendar.
2026-08-04·5 minRoofer AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A roofing contractor's playbook for AI search. Storm response, insurance claim questions, material comparisons, and the certifications that count as verification.
2026-08-04·5 minTree Service AI Visibility: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT in 2026
A tree care playbook for AI search. Storm emergencies, hazard assessment, the insurance and liability questions, and why ISA certification is your strongest signal.
2026-08-04·5 min
Technical fixes
13The 15-Point AI Visibility Audit You Can Run Yourself
Fifteen checks, most under five minutes, no tools required. Run them in order — the first three explain most zero scores.
2026-08-04·4 minEntity Building: Making AI Understand Your Business Exists
AI systems reason about businesses as entities, not keywords. Here's what an entity is, why yours might be thin, and the concrete work that makes it solid.
2026-08-04·5 minFAQPage Schema: The Fastest Path Into AI Answers
Question-and-answer pairs are the format AI assistants lift most readily. Here's how to build FAQ content that gets cited, and the schema that hands it over pre-formatted.
2026-08-04·5 minGetting Mentioned on Reddit (and Why AI Weighs It So Heavily)
Community threads show up in AI citations far out of proportion to their traffic. Here's how to earn genuine mentions — and why the shortcut will cost you more than it returns.
2026-08-04·5 minYour Google Business Profile Is an AI Ranking Factor Now
Gemini and AI Overviews read your Business Profile directly. ChatGPT and Perplexity read the pages that display it. Here's the field-by-field completion guide most owners have never finished.
2026-08-04·5 minHow AI Assistants Actually Read Your Reviews
Star ratings are the least interesting thing in your review profile. Here's what AI systems extract from review text, and how to get customers to write the reviews that matter.
2026-08-04·5 minllms.txt for Local Businesses: What It Is and How to Write One
A plain-language summary of your business, written for AI systems, served at a predictable URL. What llms.txt actually does, an honest read on adoption, and a working template.
2026-08-04·4 minLocalBusiness Schema: The Copy-Paste Guide for Service Businesses
The forty lines of JSON-LD that tell AI assistants exactly who you are, what you do, and where. With a working template, the specific type list, and the mistakes that break it.
2026-08-04·5 minNAP Consistency: Why AI Gets Your Phone Number Wrong
Your name, address, and phone number disagree across a dozen listings. Here's why that costs you AI recommendations, and the audit that fixes it in an afternoon.
2026-08-04·5 minService and AggregateRating Schema for Local Businesses
LocalBusiness schema describes who you are. Service schema describes what you do, page by page. Here's how to mark up individual services, and the honest rules on rating markup.
2026-08-04·5 minService-Area Pages That AI Can Actually Parse
Templated city pages with one word swapped stopped working years ago. Here's what a service-area page needs to contain to get you named for "[service] in [city]."
2026-08-04·5 minShould You Block GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot? (No — Here's Why)
A wave of advice told website owners to block AI crawlers. For a local service business that advice is backwards. Here's what each bot does and how to check whether you're blocking them.
2026-08-04·5 minWhy JavaScript-Heavy Sites Are Invisible to AI Crawlers
Your site looks fine in a browser and empty to an AI crawler. Here's the thirty-second check, why it happens, and what to do if your site fails it.
2026-08-04·5 min
Channels
6Apple Maps, Siri, and Apple Intelligence for Local Businesses
Apple Business Connect is free, takes thirty minutes, and is claimed by a small fraction of local businesses. Here's what it feeds and why iPhone-heavy markets make it matter.
2026-08-04·4 minBing and Copilot: The Local Channel Everyone Forgets
Bing Places takes twenty minutes and almost nobody claims it. Here's why that's a mistake, and what Copilot pulls from when it recommends a local business.
2026-08-04·4 minChatGPT Ads for Home Service Businesses: The 2026 Guide
OpenAI opened self-serve advertising to U.S. businesses in beta in May 2026. Here's what it is, how it differs from being organically recommended, and whether a local contractor should bother yet.
2026-08-04·5 minDo Yelp, Angi, and Thumbtack Help Your AI Visibility?
The lead platforms take a cut of every job and get cited constantly in AI answers. Here's how to separate the listing value from the lead-buying, and stop paying for the wrong one.
2026-08-04·4 minWhich Directories AI Assistants Actually Read
Not all citations are equal. Here's how to find the exact directories shaping AI answers in your market, ranked by what they actually contribute.
2026-08-04·4 minYouTube, Facebook, and Nextdoor: Do Social Signals Reach AI?
Which social platforms actually feed AI answers about local businesses, which ones don't, and where a contractor's limited time is best spent.
2026-08-04·4 min
Measurement & buying
8A 30-60-90 Day AEO Plan for a Local Service Business
The complete sequence, in order, with time estimates. Everything in the first thirty days is free and most of it takes under an hour per task.
2026-08-04·5 minAI Visibility KPIs for a Local Service Business
Rank tracking doesn't work when there is no rank. Here are the five numbers actually worth tracking, how to collect them, and what good looks like.
2026-08-04·5 minAI Visibility Tools Compared — For Businesses Under $5M Revenue
Every AI visibility tool comparison is written for enterprise marketing teams. Here's what a local service business actually needs, and when a tool is overkill.
2026-08-04·4 minDIY vs Hiring for AI Visibility: An Honest Breakdown
Task by task, what you can genuinely do yourself, what needs a developer, and what is worth paying someone else to do consistently.
2026-08-04·5 minHow to Read Your AI Visibility Scan Results
You ran a scan and the score is bad. Here's how to interpret it — which numbers matter, what the failure patterns mean, and what to fix first.
2026-08-04·5 minIs AI Search Actually Sending You Customers? How to Tell
AI referrals hide inside your direct traffic and your phone calls. Here's how to find them in GA4, what the numbers look like for a real local business, and how to stop guessing.
2026-08-04·4 minShould You Fire Your SEO Agency Over AI Search?
Probably not — but you should audit what the retainer has actually been buying. Here's the eight-question review that tells you whether to keep, renegotiate, or leave.
2026-08-04·5 minWhat Should AEO Cost a Local Business?
Agencies are quoting $1,500 to $5,000 a month for AI visibility. Here's what the work actually is, what it's worth, and how to tell a real proposal from a repackaged retainer.
2026-08-04·5 min
Find out what the five AIs say about you right now.
Twenty-five real customer questions, five assistants, about fifteen seconds. Free, no account.
Run the free scan