Blog · AI Search
AI search for local businesses.
How ChatGPT and other AI tools find local businesses, what the studies say about paying for "AI SEO", and what the evidence says gets a business cited.
How to get cited by AI, and how to know it worked
Quotes and statistics lifted visibility 30–40% — using fabricated data. Plus the Spanish finding: untranslated sites are effectively invisible.
Where AI actually looks for a local business
82% of citations come from somebody else's website. Directories hit 46.3% of ChatGPT citations on "best of" queries.
Is AI SEO worth paying for? What the studies actually found
A test of 1,885 pages found no citation change from schema. Google's own guidance says there's no special markup to add. Both sides, plus where my copy overstated it.
Why ChatGPT has never heard of your business
ChatGPT recommended 1.2% of chain and franchise locations. Google's map pack showed 35.9%. And the share of people who find AI search more helpful than traditional search fell 28 points in a year.
Browse by question
Whatever brought you here, it's probably one of these.
About your website
Do I actually own my website? Most asked My designer won't give me my logins Why are the quotes so different? Do I even need a redesign? Can I see work you've actually done?About AI search
Why doesn't ChatGPT know my business? Most asked Should I be paying for AI SEO? Does schema markup help with AI? Why does AI recommend my competitor? How do I check if AI mentions me?About getting found
Why don't I show up on Google Maps? Most asked How many reviews do I actually need? Why did my Google reviews disappear? Do I need a business tax receipt in Indian River County? How do I report a fake listing on Google Maps? Are Angi and Thumbtack worth it? Does a rebuild actually bring in more work? How do I stop paying for leads? Where does my contractor license number have to go? What does local SEO actually cost? Should I mark my business temporarily closed for a storm?Ready to go beyond the article?
Three next steps. Pick the one that fits.
Whether you've got no website, a website that isn't working, or a Google listing nobody's ever finished — there's a version of this that costs nothing to find out about.
If you have no website
Get a real price, published
Websites from $800, monthly plans from $150, every number on the site with a buy button next to it. No quote form, no discovery call before you know the cost.
See the price list →If your site isn't working
Find out if you even need a rebuild
Sometimes the site is fine and the Google listing is the whole problem — which is the cheaper half to fix. The redesign page starts by talking you out of it.
Website redesign →If you want to see the work first
Eight builds, written up honestly
What each business came in with, what changed, and the results where they exist. Where there aren't any yet, it says so instead of inventing them.
Case studies →Free, takes about ten minutes
Rather just ask someone?
Send me your business name and I'll look up your Google listing and tell you what's missing from it. No pitch, no obligation, and if it's a ten-minute fix you can do yourself I'll tell you which ten minutes.
