Someone just asked AI recommendations for a business like yours. Did it pick you?

Post three. We’ve talked about getting found online, and we’ve talked about your Google profile. Now for the new kid on the block, the one quietly changing how people find local businesses while half the high street hasn’t even noticed.

So let us talk about how to get your business into AI answers, because that is the bit people keep asking me about and there is very little sensible written about it.

People have started asking AI assistants for recommendations. Not searching. Asking. “Who’s a good electrician near Bingham?” “Recommend a dog groomer in Bottesford.” And ChatGPT, or Gemini, or whatever’s living on their phone, just answers. A name. Sometimes three. Not a page of ten links to wade through, an actual recommendation, like asking a mate who somehow knows everyone.

Here’s the bit that should make you sit up. If the AI can’t find clear, consistent information about you, it doesn’t recommend you. It doesn’t pause to wonder why. It picks someone else and moves on. You’re not rejected. You’re just not in the room.

Why AI answers work differently to a Google search

With a normal search you get a list. You can be eighth and still claw your way up over time, and a determined customer might scroll down and find you anyway.

An AI assistant doesn’t really do lists. It gives an answer. One, maybe a small handful. So the stakes are higher and the seats are fewer. You’re either the business it names, or you’re the business it’s never heard of. There isn’t much in between, and that’s a proper shift in how this all works.

What the AI tools actually look at when they pick a business

They read your website, assuming they can. Some sites are built so that only a human with eyes can make sense of them, and a tool trying to read the page comes back with nothing useful. If a machine can’t read you, it can’t recommend you.

They also read your Google profile, your reviews, your listings on other sites, and any mentions of you knocking about online. Basically, the AI forms an opinion of you from whatever it can scrape together. If that information is thin, out of date, or says three different things about your phone number, the AI gets nervous and quietly leaves you off.

Consistency is the whole game. Same name, same number, same address, everywhere. Reviews that back up the story. A website that isn’t a locked box to anything without a pulse.

How to get your business into AI answers

Good news: if you’ve read the first two posts, you’re already halfway there. The solid Google profile, the steady reviews, the matching details, all of that feeds straight into how the AI sees you. It’s the same foundations doing double duty.

On top of that, make sure your website is readable by machines and not just gorgeous to humans. Keep a few honest reviews trickling in. And describe what you do and where you do it in plain words, so there’s no guesswork about whether you cover Radcliffe on Trent or only Newark.

Where I would start this week

This is early days. Most businesses across the Vale of Belvoir haven’t given AI search a single thought yet. And that, if you ask me, is exactly the opportunity. Being the business the AI already knows and trusts while everyone else is still catching up is a lovely place to be standing.

Questions I get asked about AI answers

How do I get my business into AI answers?

Same foundations as everything else, mostly. A complete Google Business Profile, reviews that keep coming, and your name, address and phone number saying the same thing everywhere. Then make sure your website can actually be read by a machine. That is the bit people skip.

Which AI tools actually matter if I am a local business?

ChatGPT and Google AI overviews, mainly. Gemini and Perplexity after that. I check all four for clients, but if you only worry about one, worry about ChatGPT. It is the one your customers are already using without telling you.

Does my website need anything special?

It needs to be readable. A lot of small business sites put the important information inside images, or behind scripts that only load when a human clicks something. A tool reading the page gets nothing. Plain text, clear headings, your services and your area written out in words. A slow site does not help either.

How long does it take to show up in AI answers?

I think honestly, weeks rather than days, and it depends what state you are starting from. If your listings are already tidy, you can see movement in a month. If there are three versions of your phone number floating about, sort that first and give it longer.

Can I check this myself?

Yes, and you should. Open ChatGPT and ask it to recommend a business like yours in your town. See what comes back. Do it a couple of times, because the answers vary. If you are not in there, now you know. If you would rather I did it properly, that is the do it yourself versus hire someone question.

Curious what the AI tools say about you right now? That’s part of my free visibility check. I’ll genuinely ask ChatGPT and the others about your business and show you, in black and white, whether you came up or whether it recommended someone in Grantham instead. Then I’ll send you a simple one-page report on what to do about it.

Better to find out now, while it’s quiet, than the day you realise the phone’s been ringing for someone else.

Becky Halls – websites, Google profiles and AI visibility for local businesses across Nottinghamshire and the Vale of Belvoir. beckyhalls.com