Your customers are asking AI
where to find you.

AI search refers to the growing use of AI-powered platforms — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot (Bing) — to answer questions that people previously typed into Google. Instead of returning a list of links, these platforms generate a direct answer, often including specific recommendations.

For local businesses, this is a significant shift. When someone searches Google for "plumber Berkhamsted," they get a list of results including Google Maps and organic listings — and your business can appear if you've done the SEO work. When someone asks ChatGPT the same question, they get a synthesised recommendation based on information gathered from across the web — and a completely different set of criteria determines whether you're included.

The difference matters because AI search usage is growing fast. ChatGPT has over 200 million weekly active users. Perplexity is growing rapidly as a research and recommendation tool. Google itself is integrating AI Overviews into core search results. This isn't a future trend — it's happening now.

AI platforms don't browse the web in real time for most queries (though some do for certain searches). Instead, they're trained on large datasets that include your website, your Google Business Profile, review sites like Trustpilot and Yelp, directory listings, and any press or editorial coverage mentioning your business.

For a local business to appear in AI-generated recommendations, it needs several things: a well-structured, information-rich website that clearly explains what you do and where you are; a complete and active Google Business Profile; consistent NAP (name, address, phone) data across directory listings; genuine reviews on multiple platforms; and schema markup — the technical structured data that explicitly tells AI systems what your business is.

Most local businesses in Berkhamsted and Hertfordshire are missing most of these. Their websites have thin content, outdated or inconsistent contact information, no schema markup, and a GBP that hasn't been updated since it was first created. To an AI system trying to recommend a local business, they're effectively invisible.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is the practice of structuring your digital presence so that AI systems can easily extract accurate, authoritative information about your business and include it in generated answers. It's the AI equivalent of SEO — but requires a different approach.

Key elements of AEO for local businesses include: FAQ sections on service pages that answer the specific questions your customers are likely to ask AI assistants; structured data (schema markup) that explicitly defines your business type, services, location, and contact information; consistent and complete presence on platforms that AI systems commonly reference; and content that is direct, factual, and structured for extraction rather than just reading.

I build all of this into every website I create, and it's a core component of the Visibility Retainer.

The longer-term shift is towards what's sometimes called "agentic commerce" — where AI assistants don't just recommend businesses but actively interact with them on behalf of users. An AI assistant might book a restaurant table, schedule a plumber visit, or request a quote from a local accountant — all without the user visiting a website at all.

For this to happen, your business needs to be discoverable by AI, structurally readable by AI, and eventually connectable to AI agents. This is early-stage territory, but the businesses building the right foundations now will be dramatically better positioned when it becomes mainstream.

I track these developments closely. It's one of the reasons the retainer model includes ongoing AI search signal maintenance — not just traditional SEO — and why I offer a dedicated AI Presence Audit for businesses who want to understand exactly where they stand today.