How do you show up when someone asks an AI assistant for your trade?

How AI assistants decide who to name

When someone asks an assistant to recommend a plumber or a dentist, it does not invent a name. It retrieves pages that answer the question, reads them, and repeats what they say, citing the ones it trusts. Three things decide whether you are in that set.

First, it favours pages that answer the question directly and sit near the top of ordinary search, because that is largely where it retrieves from. Second, it weighs what the wider web says about you, the mentions, listings and reviews, more heavily than the raw count of links pointing at your site. Third, for anything local, it leans on map and profile data to confirm you exist, where you are, and whether you are open.

Put the answer at the top of every page

Assistants quote the sentence that answers the question, not the paragraph that builds up to it. If a page opens with a welcome and the history of the firm, there is nothing to lift. Put a short, direct answer in the first two or three sentences, then explain underneath.

A roofer's storm-damage page should open with what to do first, roughly what a repair costs in that area, and how fast the roofer can get there. The detail still belongs on the page. It just comes second.

Write the way people ask

People ask assistants in full questions: how much a filling costs, whether you take emergencies on a Sunday, how long a lawn treatment takes to work. Pages built as plain questions and answers match that shape, and a model can lift a clean answer without guessing.

You do not need clever formatting. A heading that is the question, followed by a short answer, repeated down the page, does the job. Write the questions customers actually ask on the phone, not the ones you wish they asked.

Keep your Google Business Profile complete and consistent

For local searches the Google Business Profile is the spine. It is where the assistant confirms your name, category, address, hours, phone number and service area, and it is one of the most trusted local sources it has. A thin or out-of-date profile quietly keeps you out of answers you would otherwise win.

Fill every field, and match the details to your website and other listings exactly: same name, same phone number, same address, down to the abbreviation. Inconsistency reads as uncertainty, and an assistant that is unsure will name someone else.

Get mentioned and reviewed across the wider web

Assistants trust a business that other places talk about. A single link from a large site matters less here than being named, described and reviewed across many ordinary ones: your trade association, the local directory, the supplier who lists approved installers, the review sites your customers already use. That spread is what signals you are real and established.

Reviews do double duty. The count and the average get you considered, and the words inside them get you named. A review that says you fixed a boiler on a Sunday in January is exactly what an assistant repeats when someone asks for emergency heating help. Ask happy customers to be specific about what you did.

Make sure the pages that answer real questions exist

You cannot be cited for a question you have never answered anywhere. Many trade sites have a services list, a contact form and little else, so when someone asks about a specific problem there is no page to retrieve. The fix is unglamorous: write the pages.

Note what customers ask on the phone for a fortnight. Each recurring question is a page you are missing. One clear page per real question, answered plainly, does more for this than any amount of tuning on pages that already exist.

This is early, and there is no trick

This is early, and it moves. The assistants change how they retrieve, the sources shift, and anyone selling a fixed formula is guessing. What holds is the direction: these systems are built to surface businesses that genuinely answer questions and that other people genuinely vouch for.

So there is no shortcut worth chasing. A business that is well reviewed, clearly described and consistently listed is the one that gets named, because that is what the systems are trying to find. Do that, and you are ready for the next change too.

Common questions

Is this different from normal SEO?

It overlaps heavily. Assistants retrieve from ordinary search results, so ranking well still helps. The difference is that being mentioned and reviewed across other sites, and having a complete Google Business Profile, matters more here than the backlink counts traditional SEO chased.

Do I need to do anything special for ChatGPT versus Google?

Not really. They draw on overlapping sources: your site, your business profile, and third-party listings and reviews. A page that answers a question plainly and a profile that is accurate everywhere serve all of them. Chasing each assistant separately is rarely worth the effort.

How many reviews do I need before an assistant will mention me?

There is no confirmed threshold, and any specific number you see quoted is an estimate. What is clear is that a steady stream of recent, detailed reviews on the platforms your customers use matters more than hitting a round figure. Consistency and content beat volume alone.

Can I pay to appear in AI recommendations?

Not for the recommendation itself. The businesses named in an assistant's answer are pulled from what it retrieves and trusts, not from an ad slot. Paid ads may appear alongside, but the named recommendation is earned through reviews, mentions and clear pages.

How long does it take to show up?

Longer than you would like. Assistants lean on sources that take time to build: reviews, listings, and pages that others reference. Expect months, not days. The upside is that the same work keeps paying off, because it is the same work that earns trust with customers directly.

What is the single most important thing to fix first?

For a local business, the Google Business Profile. It is the most trusted local source these systems use, and it is fully within your control. Complete every field, match the details to your website exactly, and keep the reviews coming. Then write the pages that answer your customers' real questions.