AI visibility for local businesses: get recommended when people ask AI for a plumber

Yes, and quickly more of them. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, which polled 1,002 US adults, found that 45% had used ChatGPT or other generative AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% the year before.^[1] ChatGPT was the most used AI tool for this (31% of consumers), followed by Google's AI Mode (23%).^[2] That is one US survey, so treat it as a direction rather than a global figure, but it matches the obvious trend: “who's a good emergency plumber in Denver?” is now a question people type into a chat box.

They work out where the person is, search for businesses that match, and summarize what profiles, directories, reviews and business websites say. OpenAI says ChatGPT search can use an approximate location based on IP address for local results, and can use more precise device location if the user turns it on (it is off by default).^[4] Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode build on Google Search, and Google advises keeping your Business Profile up to date.^[11]

BrightLocal analyzed close to 2 million citations from Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT across 1,355 business locations in the US, UK and Australia. Google Business Profile made up 28.5% of all citations and Yelp 8.53%, with Yelp used more heavily in ChatGPT; around 93% of the cited domains were individual business websites.^[3] Directories are also plugging in directly: Yelp has licensed its business data to OpenAI so ChatGPT answers can include Yelp reviews and details,^[5] and in the UK, Checkatrade launched an app inside ChatGPT for finding and booking vetted tradespeople.^[6]

It depends on the market and the trade, so check which sites engines actually cite for questions in your city. These are common starting points:

Add the vertical sites for your field: booking platforms for restaurants and salons, medical directories for clinics, legal directories for law firms. The test is simple. If an engine cites a site when it answers questions about your trade in your city, your listing there should exist and be accurate.

Complete every field and follow Google's rules, because it is the single most cited local source in the BrightLocal study.^[3] Google says local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence, that complete and accurate information helps, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.^[7]

• Name. Use your real-world business name, as on your storefront and website. Google's guidelines rule out adding keywords, taglines or locations to the name.^[8]
• Categories. Choose the primary category that completes “this business is a …”, and as few extra categories as you need.^[8]
• Address or service area. Give a precise address, or if you travel to customers, hide the address and set a service area.^[8]
• Phone. Use a local number you control rather than a central call center line where possible.^[8]
• Hours, services and photos. Keep holiday hours current and list the services people ask about (“emergency call-outs”, “accepts new patients”).
• Reviews. Ask every happy customer, and reply to reviews, including critical ones.

NAP means name, address and phone. When an engine pulls facts from five sources and they disagree, it may repeat the wrong one, mix you up with a similar business or leave you out. Consistency is cheap to fix and removes a reason for an engine to doubt you.

1. Write down your canonical name, address (with ZIP or postal code), phone, website and hours.
2. Search each directory in the table above for your business and fix mismatches, duplicates and closed locations.
3. Use exactly the same format on your website footer and contact page.
4. After a move or a phone change, update your Business Profile first, then directories, then your site.

Add LocalBusiness markup in JSON-LD to your homepage or each location page, using the most specific type available. Google requires a name and address and recommends phone, URL, opening hours, coordinates and price range, and says to use the most specific LocalBusiness subtype.^[9] Schema.org has trade-specific types, for example Plumber, which sits under HomeAndConstructionBusiness.^[10]

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Plumber",
  "name": "Example Plumbing Co.",
  "url": "https://example.com/",
  "telephone": "+1-303-555-0100",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "100 Example St",
    "addressLocality": "Denver",
    "addressRegion": "CO",
    "postalCode": "80202",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": 39.75000, "longitude": -104.99000 },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [{
    "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
    "dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"],
    "opens": "08:00",
    "closes": "18:00"
  }],
  "areaServed": "Denver metro area"
}

Match the markup to what the page shows and to your Business Profile. For several locations, it is usually clearer to give each one its own page and markup than to list every address in one block.

Ask the questions your customers ask, in each city you serve, without your name in them: “best family dentist in Austin”, “emergency electrician in Manchester”, “Steuerberater in Köln”, “reliable roofer in Brisbane”. Ask each in a few wordings over several weeks and record how often you are named, which competitors appear and which sources are cited. A single check from your office is not enough, because answers vary by run and by location.

Glossy Data's local mode runs city-level questions and tracks each market's own directories, on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Every number shows its sample size and a 90% range. Maps and geo-grid tracking and wrong-facts checks (catching AI answers that give your old phone number or hours) are coming soon. Microsoft Copilot is coming soon too.

1. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile; check name, category and service area against Google's guidelines.
2. Fix NAP details on the main directories for your country and trade.
3. Add LocalBusiness (or a more specific type) markup that matches your profile.
4. Publish one page per service and one per location, in plain language, with prices or price ranges where you can.
5. Ask for reviews steadily and reply to them.
6. Make sure AI search crawlers can reach your site with the AI crawler checker.
7. Set a city-by-city baseline and re-measure monthly.

See local businesses for example question sets by trade, and the AI share of voice guide for how to read the numbers.