More people now ask an AI assistant instead of typing a search into Google: “who fixes water heaters near Oxford?” or “is there a law firm in Anniston that handles wills?” Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google’s AI answers read websites and summarize what they find. Here is what that means for a local business, what your website can do about it, and what we do on every site we build.
What is AI search?
AI search is when an assistant answers a question in plain language instead of handing back a list of links. To answer, it relies on sources it can read and trust, and for a local business, one of those sources is your own website. If your site is vague, out of date or hard to read, the answer may be vague or wrong too.
What a website can do
No one controls what an AI assistant says. But you can give it clear, accurate source material. That comes down to a few practical things:
1. Say exactly what you do, and where
A page for each service and each town you work in gives a specific question a specific answer. “Water heater repair in Anniston, AL” on its own page beats a single services page that lists everything in one paragraph.
2. Answer the question right away
Put a short, plain-English answer near the top of the page: two or three sentences that a person (or an assistant) can understand without reading everything else. We call these quick answers.
3. Mark up your FAQs
Real questions customers ask, answered on the page, with FAQ markup so search systems can tell the question from the answer. The markup should match the words on the page exactly.
4. Describe your photos
An assistant can’t see a photo of your finished job. A short description in words tells it, and screen readers, what’s there.
5. Keep your business details the same everywhere
The same name, address and phone number on your website, your Google Business Profile and every listing site. Conflicting details make it harder for any system to be sure it has the right business.
6. Show real reviews as text
Reviews typed out as text can be read; a screenshot of a review can’t. Real reviews only.
7. Add a summary file
A small plain-text file (often called llms.txt) can summarize your site for AI tools and point to its most important pages.
What we do
Every Standard and Pro website we build includes quick answers, FAQ markup, described photos and a summary file for AI tools, along with the Google basics: titles, descriptions, Google business markup, a sitemap and Search Console at launch. Our Growth plan ($399 a month instead of Care) adds a monthly check on whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI mention your business, plus listings kept consistent and new service and town pages every month.
What we won’t do
We won’t promise that any AI assistant will recommend you, and we won’t promise a ranking. No one honestly can. What we can do is make your site the clearest, most accurate source about your business, and tell you what we see each month.
See how we build for AI search, or ask for a preview of your new site.