AI assistants recommend businesses they can identify and verify. Make your business easy to understand (structured data, clear service and area pages), easy to verify (consistent name, phone, and address everywhere, plus reviews), and easy to quote (direct answers to the questions homeowners ask). Then keep checking how you appear.
1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile
Your profile is one of the most widely used sources of local business information. Fill in every field, choose accurate categories, add real photos, and keep hours current.
2. Earn reviews, and ask for detail
Reviews that mention the service and the town ("replaced our roof in New Albany after hail") give AI tools specific, quotable evidence. Ask happy customers, and respond to every review.
3. Keep your business information identical everywhere
Use the same business name, phone number, and website on your site, Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp, Facebook, and industry directories. Inconsistent details make it harder for AI tools to be sure they have the right business.
4. Add structured data to your website
Business structured data tells machines exactly what you are, where you work, and how to reach you. In our study of 111 local contractor websites, 77% had it, but only 19% marked up FAQs and 21% marked up reviews. Those last two are where most competitors leave room.
5. Answer real questions, directly
AI answers are built from clear, direct statements. Add a page or section for each common question (cost, timelines, insurance, service areas) and lead with the answer in the first sentence.
6. Make your site readable to AI tools
- Don't block AI crawlers in robots.txt unless you mean to. Only 1 studied site did.
- Publish an llms.txt file that summarizes your business. 30% of studied sites already have one.
- Keep important information in text, not only inside images.
7. Get into Bing as well as Google
Microsoft Copilot runs on Bing, and Bing results feed other search tools too. Submitting your site in Bing Webmaster Tools is free and takes a few minutes.
8. Check how you appear, every month
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot the questions your customers ask, like "best roofer near Jeffersonville, Indiana." Track whether you appear and what they say. Fix what's wrong, then check again.
Want help?
We build every site with structured data, answer-first FAQs, and an llms.txt file from day one, and we can audit how AI tools see your business today. Request a free website review