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Does the business you're buying show up in AI answers?

Hugo Pegley 3 min read

Ask an AI tool for a plumber in your town and it names two or three businesses. The ones it names get the call. So when you are buying a local service business, it is fair to ask whether it is one of the names.

You can test this in about half an hour with no special tools.

The ten prompts

Replace the bracketed parts with the target’s trade, town and a couple of specifics.

  1. Best [trade] in [town]
  2. Who should I call for [common job] in [town]
  3. [Trade] near [neighborhood]
  4. How much does [common job] cost in [town], and who does it
  5. Trusted [trade] in [town] with good reviews
  6. [Trade] that handles [specialist job] in [county]
  7. Emergency [trade] in [town]
  8. Best [trade] for [homes, or small businesses] in [town]
  9. Alternatives to [the biggest local competitor]
  10. Is [the target’s name] any good

The first nine ask the way a customer would, without the name. The last one is the only branded prompt, and it tells you what the tools say when they are asked directly.

Where to run them

Run all ten in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, using either AI Overviews or AI Mode. Use a private window and sign out where you can, so earlier searches do not color the answers. Note that these tools vary by location, so set it to the town the business serves.

How to score it

For each prompt, give the target a score.

  • 2 if it is named in the answer
  • 1 if it is only listed as a source or link
  • 0 if it does not appear

Alongside, write down which businesses are named instead. That list is often more useful than the score. It tells you who the target is actually competing with for these answers.

Run each prompt twice. Answers change from one run to the next, so a single result is a snapshot, not a verdict. Treat the total as directional. A target that scores nothing on nine of ten prompts is clearly missing. One that scores 12 out of 20 is doing well. The middle takes judgment.

What drives inclusion

These tools assemble their answers from the sources a search engine already reads. The businesses that appear tend to have a strong Google Business Profile, reviews with real content, the same name and address everywhere, and pages that answer the question plainly. I have covered the mechanism in how AI answers choose a local business, and what the page itself needs in what an AEO-ready service page looks like.

If the business does not show up

Do not read it as a reason to walk away. Most local businesses are absent, and the reasons are ordinary.

  1. Check the Business Profile for the basics: category, services, hours, photos
  2. Check the reviews for pace and content
  3. Check that the name, address and phone number match across the web
  4. Look at the website for a clear page per service and per town

If those are weak, the fix is usually a few weeks of ordinary work. If they are strong and the business still never appears, that is rarer and worth a closer look.

Making it a diligence line item

Quality of earnings and legal diligence cover what has happened. This covers an early signal of where leads may come from next. It will not set the price on its own, but it belongs in the same pile as the rest of the 30-minute screen, and it is cheap enough to run on every target you seriously consider.

For a fuller read, SEO diligence for searchers includes it alongside the other checks.