How does a local business get recommended by AI assistants?
All guidesUpdated 6 steps
TL;DR
Give assistants consistent, checkable facts about you wherever they look. Keep your name, address, phone, hours and services identical on your website, your Google Business Profile and the main directories. Give each service a clear page that answers the questions locals ask, and earn real reviews. Then ask assistants your customers' questions and see which sources they name.
When someone asks an assistant for a good dentist or plumber nearby, the answer has to come from somewhere: your website, map listings, review sites, directories or local press. No assistant publishes exactly which sources it trusts for local questions, and the answer may differ by city and by question.
What you can control is whether the facts about you are easy to find and say the same thing everywhere. If your listings disagree on your address or hours, there is no single fact for anyone, person or machine, to repeat.
Step by step
- Step 1
Fix your core facts first
Write down your exact business name, address, phone number, opening hours and main services. Use that exact version on your website, including the footer and the contact page. Every other step copies this one list.
- Step 2
Claim and complete your map listings
Claim your Google Business Profile, your Bing Places listing and your Apple Business Connect listing, and fill each one in with the same facts. Pick the most specific category that fits. Add real photos and keep your hours current, including holidays.
- Step 3
Give each service a clear page
Each main service, and each area you really serve, deserves a page that says what you do, where and for whom. Open it with a short answer to the question a customer asks, such as whether you take emergency call-outs. Do not make near-identical pages that only swap the town name.
- Step 4
Mark up your business details
Add LocalBusiness structured data, or a more specific type such as Dentist or Restaurant, with your name, address, phone, hours and URL. It must match what the page shows. This states your facts in a format machines can parse.
- Step 5
Earn real reviews the right way
Ask real customers for reviews in the way each platform allows: some forbid asking for reviews at all, and most forbid rewarding them. Reply to reviews, including the bad ones. Never write or buy reviews.
- Step 6
Check the questions locals ask
From your area, in a clean session, ask assistants the questions your customers ask, such as the best family dentist in your neighbourhood, and note which businesses and sources they name. Where a directory or local site keeps appearing, make sure your listing there is correct. RankingTop's free scan covers the website side: crawler access, structured data and which domains show up for a few buyer questions.
Questions people ask next
Is my Google Business Profile enough?
It matters, but it is one source. Assistants other than Google may rely on different listings, review sites or your own website. Keeping all of them consistent covers more ground than perfecting one.
Should I create a page for every nearby town?
Only for places you really serve and can say something specific about. Pages that are identical except for the town name are doorway pages, which Google's spam policies prohibit. One strong service page is worth more than a stack of thin copies.
Do reviews affect AI recommendations?
No assistant publishes how it weighs reviews. When review sites appear among the sources an assistant shows for your customers' questions, an accurate, active profile there is worth having. Fake reviews break platform rules and, in many countries, consumer protection law.