Be the business AI names when someone asks who to hire.
45% of consumers asked an AI tool for a local business recommendation this year, up from 6% the year before. We do the structured-data, content, and citation work that gets ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews to name you first.
Search changed. Two out of three Google searches now end without a click, more than 20% of them show an AI Overview at the top, and the fastest-growing way to find a contractor, dentist, or body shop is to ask an AI directly. The typical home-services business appears in only 27% of those AI answers. Three times out of four, the AI recommends someone else.
AI search optimization is the work of becoming that recommendation. It overlaps with SEO (reviews, clean listings, good pages) but it's a different job: giving AI engines structured data they can read, quotable answers to the questions people actually ask, and consistent citations on the third-party sites they trust. It takes 60 to 120 days to build and then it compounds. Our roofing and contracting clients reached #1 in their city and county inside three to six months, and the results are live: run the prompts yourself.
One of three positions we own on the page
Local Services Ads take position #0, Google Ads take the sponsored results, and AI search takes the answer box. AI Search is one piece; the three together are the system.
See how they work togetherEverything included in ai search optimization.
JSON-LD schema on every page
RoofingContractor, GeneralContractor, Dentist, AutoRepair, or whatever entity type fits, plus Service, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList, and AggregateRating, so an AI engine can read exactly who you are, what you do, and where.
Content AI can quote
City and county service pages with FAQ sections, breadcrumbs, and plain-language answers to real customer questions. AI engines lift answers from pages that answer clearly.
Google Business Profile as the source of truth
Categories, services, Q&A, photos, and posts, kept complete and consistent. Gemini and AI Overviews lean on it heavily.
Citations where AI actually reads
ChatGPT pulls roughly half its local citations from third-party sites (Yelp, directories, local news, forums). Gemini pulls half from brand-owned sites. We cover both, with matching name, address, and phone everywhere.
Review velocity
63% of AI users trust the recommendation and 88% then check reviews. Steady new reviews at 4.8+ are both a ranking signal and the thing that closes the deal.
Share-of-answer tracking
We run the prompts that matter in your market every month ("best roofer in [county]", "who should I call for [job]") and report how often you're named, and where.
From audit to weekly optimization.
Baseline
We ask the AI engines about your market and record who they name. Usually it isn't you yet.
Structure
Schema, breadcrumbs, FAQs, and entity-consistent pages go live across the site.
Cite
Listings, directories, and local mentions are cleaned up and built out.
Compound
Reviews and content keep accumulating; we re-run the prompts monthly and report your share of answers.
What the numbers look like.
Industry benchmarks and figures from our own client accounts. Your audit replaces these with your market’s real numbers.
| Segment | Figure | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero-click | 68% of searches | up from 60% in 2024 | SparkToro / Similarweb |
| AI adoption | 45% asked AI for a local business | 6% the year before | BrightLocal 2026 |
| Trust | 63% trust the recommendation | 88% verify with reviews | BrightLocal 2026 |
| Visibility gap | 27% median presence in AI answers | home-services businesses | Cheers GEO tracking |
A client this service worked for.
NVB Contracting: First name ChatGPT gives for "best roofers in Winchester, VA."
Scaled a multi-location roofing campaign across Winchester, Front Royal, and Manassas, ran Local Services Ads for the Winchester office, and built the structured content that got NVB named first by ChatGPT in a market crowded with 4.8 to 5.0-rated shops. Their one Winchester LSA listing pulls leads from Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
AI Search questions we get.
Related but different. SEO chases a position in a list of links. AI search optimization makes your business the one an AI engine names in an answer. The inputs overlap; the structured data, quotable content, and citation work are specific to how AI engines retrieve and cite sources.
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode (over a billion monthly users), ChatGPT (800 million weekly users), Gemini, and Perplexity. Each pulls from slightly different sources, which is why we cover both your own site and third-party citations.
Sixty to 120 days to start appearing consistently, and it keeps improving from there. Summit Exteriors, NVB Contracting, and MD Custom Construction all reached #1 in their markets within three to six months.
Yes. We screenshot the live answers and report your share of answers monthly, and you can open ChatGPT and run the same prompt on any call with us.
Let's find out where you show up, and where you don't.
A free, 30-minute growth audit: your Local Services position, your share of AI answers, and what your competitors pay per lead. You keep the plan either way.