A growing share of customers now ask tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude the same questions they used to type into a search bar — and increasingly, questions they used to ask a friend. “Who should I call for X near me?” “Which of these companies actually has good reviews?” “Is this business legitimate?”
Traditional search isn’t going away. Search results still give people a list of links to compare. AI-driven search often gives them an answer that names a few providers, and the conversation can end there. AI Search is an additional, increasingly important layer in how customers discover, compare, and choose, and when it happens you usually never see it.
“What’s a reliable HVAC company near me that services older homes?”
“Find me an accounting firm that specializes in small manufacturers.”
“Which home care agencies in this area actually have good reputations?”
“Who does IT support for small businesses in North Texas?”
In our own research and testing, large national companies and franchises frequently dominate AI recommendations, while strong independent businesses, with real customers and real reputations, may not appear at all.
That isn’t a verdict on your business, and it isn’t permanent. Independent and local businesses can break through. The first step is seeing what AI is actually recommending in your market.
“A new client who started services with us shared that they initially contacted us specifically because ChatGPT recommended us when they searched for home care.”
And it wasn’t an isolated occurrence. The agency has since received multiple confirmed leads from people who reported finding the company through ChatGPT.
This work began when I tested AI Search for a strong, growing local business I was already working with. It was absent from the recommendations, while large national companies and franchises dominated. That sent me digging into what was happening and what independent businesses could practically do about it.
I believe strong independent businesses should be able to compete as technology changes, without needing the resources of a giant corporation.
It used to be simple: type your business into a search bar and see what came back. AI works differently. Depending on the platform and its settings, an AI account can draw on account context, conversation history, memory, personalization, and other signals.
An AI account that already has context about you or your business is not a controlled test of what an unfamiliar prospective customer encounters.
Meaningful AI Search testing takes more controlled, repeatable methods, designed to minimize those variables and give you a more useful picture of how your business appears to prospective customers.
The work isn’t identical for every business. We look at what AI is actually recommending in your market, find where the important gaps are, and prioritize accordingly.
The questions prospective customers are actually asking when they research and choose a provider like you.
How AI systems answer those questions, and which businesses they recommend.
What information a prospect needs while they are deciding who to contact.
Whether your business has clear, accessible information that addresses those questions: what is strong, what is weak, and what is missing.
Website and content, business information, reputation and reviews, third-party presence and citations, technical structure and discoverability, and measurement.
We help you strengthen the assets you already have and develop the important information that's missing.
AI Search keeps changing, so we keep testing what shows up, measuring, and adjusting.
Identify → guide → help develop → implement together → test → optimize
When important information or content is missing, we identify the gap and help your team develop what’s needed, then implement it together.
ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude are separate systems that use different sources and methods. What shows up in one may not show up in another, so we look across more than one.
There isn’t one universal AI database or one algorithm to game. There’s no single directory, piece of code, keyword trick, or website edit that makes a business show up everywhere. Anyone who tells you otherwise is overselling.
No one can guarantee AI rankings or recommendations, and neither do we.
What works is the durable stuff: keeping the facts about your business accurate and consistent, building real authority and reputation, earning legitimate customer feedback, publishing genuinely useful information, and then testing and measuring what happens. You have to do the work, and we’ll do it with you.
The place to start is a complimentary AI Search Audit, personally researched for your business.
Request My AI Search AuditI actively study, research, and test how AI is changing business more broadly: practical applications, operations and systems, technology, AI strategy and adoption, risk, privacy and security, and cybersecurity.
The difference is the combination: broader business and AI understanding, technical depth, continuous testing, and the ability to turn it into practical action for small and mid-sized businesses.
AI can now do much of the research and narrowing that used to require a prospective buyer to visit several websites. They ask, compare, and shortlist inside the AI conversation.
When AI is part of the buying journey, the website visit increasingly comes later in the decision, if it comes at all. For higher-stakes purchases and services especially, a buyer often reaches your website after AI has already helped narrow the choices. They use it to validate the result, look more deeply at the business, and find the expertise, reputation, and trust signals they need before making contact.
That’s why website traffic alone is an incomplete measure of AI Search performance. AI can influence discovery, comparison, and choice-narrowing without producing a click at the start of the journey.
So we look at several observable signals together, not an invented score:
What relevant AI searches surface and recommend
Changes in those observations over time
Identifiable AI referral traffic, where available
Lead-source information
Prospects reporting that they discovered the business through AI
Actual attributable opportunities and leads, where available
AI systems and their results change, so we treat these as signals to track and interpret over time, not guarantees.
You’re an established local or service-area business with real customers
Reputation and discoverability meaningfully affect how you win business
Your prospects research before they buy
You have a defined geographic market or service area
You’re looking for immediate, paid-lead generation
You want this to replace your broader marketing strategy
You expect a guaranteed AI-ranking outcome
Not in the traditional sense. Traditional SEO is built around ranking in search-engine results pages, and it still matters. AI Search is an additional layer of customer discovery: when someone asks AI who they should hire, does it recommend your business? There's overlap in some of the underlying work, but the question and the way we measure it are different.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and "AI SEO" are labels for parts of a fast-changing field. We use "AI Search" because it describes what matters to a business owner: whether you're being found and recommended when customers use AI to research providers.
No. No one can guarantee AI rankings or recommendations, and any offer that promises it should raise questions. What we can do is observe what AI actually recommends, help you strengthen the information and assets your business controls, and measure what changes over time.
Because your own account isn't a controlled test. Depending on the platform and settings, AI can use conversation history, memory, personalization, and other context associated with you or your business. That makes your own account a poor proxy for what an unfamiliar prospective customer encounters. We use controlled, repeatable testing methods designed to reduce those variables and give us a more useful picture of how your business appears in AI Search.
Either, depending on what your business needs. Our primary approach is collaborative: we identify what is strong, weak, and missing, guide your team, help develop the important information and content that's needed, implement it together, then test, measure, and adapt. For businesses that don't have the internal capacity, or simply want us to take on more of the implementation, a more comprehensive done-for-you option is also available.
We look at observable evidence: what relevant AI-driven searches surface and recommend, changes over time, identifiable AI referral traffic where available, lead-source information, prospects who report finding you through an AI platform, and actual attributable leads where available. We don't use an invented AI visibility score.
The major systems relevant to your business and customers, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude. Each uses different sources and methods, so we look across more than one rather than focusing on just one.
Yes. A defined service area is fully eligible, and you don't need a physical storefront.
Request a complimentary AI Search Audit and see how your business shows up when prospective customers ask AI who to hire.
Request My AI Search Audit