5 things you can do today to show up more in AI search.
The basics that move the needle for most local businesses — regardless of category. Free. Take an afternoon. Whoever does them first wins.
AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity don't pick businesses at random. They pull from a small handful of signals — your Google Business Profile, your home page, recent reviews, local “best of” round-ups, your FAQ page. Most small business owners don't know which signals matter or how to influence them.
Here are the five that matter most. Do them in this order.
- 1
Claim and complete your Google Business Profile
It's the single biggest source AI engines pull from for local recommendations. Fill in every field — hours, photos, categories, services, attributes, the lot. Add 10+ recent photos. Pick a primary category that matches what customers actually search for, not what feels most accurate.
Why this works: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI all lean heavily on Google's local index for “near me” queries. An incomplete profile is invisible to them. A complete one with photos is twice as likely to be cited. - 2
Rewrite the first 200 words of your home page
State, in plain English: what you do, who you serve, where, and what makes you the right choice. One sentence each. AI engines scan the top of your page first — they want a clear, conversational answer to “who is this for and what do they offer?”
Why this works: AI doesn't read your site like a customer. It reads like a librarian trying to summarise it in 30 seconds. The clearer your first 200 words, the more accurate the summary. - 3
Get 5 new reviews this month — and reply to every one
Ask your last 20 happy customers, by name, today. Five will say yes. Then reply to every single review — old, new, good, bad. Use the words customers used. Quote them. Thank them by name.
Why this works: AI engines weight recency heavily. Five new reviews this month beats fifty from two years ago. And reply text — your words — often gets quoted verbatim in AI answers about your business. - 4
Get listed in the local “best of” round-ups
Search “best [your category] in [your town]” on Google. Note the top 5 articles. Email the writer of each: a friendly intro, a clear pitch for why you should be added, one photo, your contact. Three out of ten will add you, free.
Why this works: These round-ups are the second-biggest source AI engines pull from after Google. Being mentioned in three of them is roughly equivalent to ranking on page one of search. - 5
Add an FAQ page using your customers' actual questions
Look at your inbox, your DMs, your last 50 phone calls. Pull out the 10 questions customers actually ask — not the ones you wish they asked. Write them up as Q&A, in the language they use. Link the FAQ from your home page.
Why this works: AI engines specifically look for Q&A-formatted content because it matches how users prompt them. An FAQ page is the single highest-leverage content addition a small business can make.
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