The short answer
In one paragraph
Yes, AI search already sends some customers to tradespeople, and the share is growing. But it runs on the same foundations as Google: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent details across the web, genuine reviews, and a website that says plainly what you do, where, and roughly what it costs. Get those right and you’re set up for Google Maps, normal search results and AI answers at once. No special file or secret format replaces them.
The difference with AI is the shape of the answer. Google shows a page of results and the customer picks. An AI assistant picks for them, usually naming two or three businesses. That makes being on the shortlist worth more, and being left off it costs more.
What AI SEO actually is
AI SEO for tradesmen is the work of making your business easy for AI assistants to find, understand, trust and recommend when someone asks who to hire. You’ll see it called several things:
- GEO (generative engine optimisation): getting your business into answers written by AI.
- AEO (answer engine optimisation): the same idea, with the focus on direct answers to questions.
- LLM SEO or AI visibility: more names for the same job.
For a local trade business, these aren’t separate disciplines. They’re thorough local SEO, plus one extra habit: regularly asking the AI tools what they say about you, and fixing what’s missing or wrong.
The AI tools your customers use
Several different things get called “AI search”. It’s worth knowing which is which:
- Google AI Overviews: the paragraph that appears above the normal Google results for many searches, with source links.
- Google AI Mode and Gemini: Google’s conversational search and assistant. Both draw on Google’s search index and its map and business data.
- ChatGPT: searches the web when a question needs current information, such as “who’s a good roofer in Swindon?”, and shows its sources.
- Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot: answer engines built around web search, with sources attached. Copilot uses Bing.
- Siri and Apple Maps: use Apple’s own business data, which you manage through Apple Business Connect.
You don’t need a different plan for each one. They all read the same web, and they reward the same things.
How AI picks a tradesperson
When a customer asks “who’s the best electrician in Beeston?”, the assistant typically:
- Turns the question into one or more web and map searches.
- Pulls the most useful passages from what comes back: business listings, review sites, directories, local articles and trade websites.
- Writes an answer naming the businesses it can describe with confidence, often with a line about each.
The key word is confidence. AI tools don’t judge your workmanship. They can’t. They judge what they can verify: that you exist, what you do, where you work, what customers say, and whether independent sources agree. A brilliant electrician with a half-finished Google profile and no reviews gives the AI nothing to go on, so it names someone else.
Where AI gets its information about you
| Source | Why it matters | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Feeds Google Maps, AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini. | Complete every field, every service and every area. Post and add photos regularly. |
| Bing Places | Bing feeds Copilot, and ChatGPT’s search has drawn on Bing’s index. | Claim it and keep it identical to your Google profile. |
| Apple Business Connect | Siri and Apple Maps use it, and it’s on every iPhone. | Claim it. Most trades never have. |
| Review sites | The clearest independent proof AI can check. | Ask every happy customer, by text, straight after the job. |
| Directories | Yell, Checkatrade, Thomson Local and others are often cited as sources. | Same name, address and phone number on every one. |
| Accreditation registers | Gas Safe, NICEIC, FENSA and others are checkable proof. | Make sure your listing matches your business details exactly. |
| Your website | Where AI finds your services, areas, prices and specifics. | A clear page per service and area, with real details. |
| Local mentions | News, community groups and suppliers are independent voices. | Get mentioned for real work in your community. |
Confirmed vs guesswork
A lot of AI SEO advice is guesswork sold as fact. Here’s where things stand:
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google’s normal search systems, so a page has to be indexed to appear. | Confirmed by Google |
| ChatGPT and Perplexity use their own crawlers to find web pages for their answers. Block them and you can’t be cited. | Confirmed by OpenAI and Perplexity |
| Your Google Business Profile is central to Google’s local results. | Confirmed by Google |
| Specific facts and figures make content more likely to be used in AI answers. | Research-backed |
| Consistent details and steady reviews help AI recommend you. | Very likely, not formally published |
| An llms.txt file helps you appear in AI answers. | Google says it doesn’t use it |
| FAQ schema gets you cited by ChatGPT. | No evidence |
| Answers must be exactly 40–60 words to be picked up. | No evidence |
| Anyone can guarantee you’ll be recommended. | False |
Specifics beat sales talk
AI tools are hunting for a clear, checkable answer to pass on. Vague reassurance gives them nothing. A study of generative engine optimisation led by Princeton researchers found that adding concrete facts, statistics and sources made content up to 40% more visible in AI-generated answers (Aggarwal et al.).
Compare
Skipped: “Reliable, professional electricians covering Nottingham and the surrounding areas.”
Quoted: “NICEIC registered. Covering NG1 to NG9, Beeston and West Bridgford. EICRs usually booked within five working days, certificate emailed the same day, from £180 for a flat.”
You already know these details. Most trade websites just don’t say them. And watch out for letting a chatbot write your pages: asked to make your notes “sound professional”, it tends to sand off exactly the specifics that get you quoted.
The 12-point AI SEO checklist for trades
- Complete your Google Business Profile. Primary and secondary categories, every service, every area, opening hours, photos, and a description with specifics.
- Claim Bing Places and Apple Business Connect. Copy your Google details exactly.
- Make your name, address and phone number identical everywhere. “St” on one site and “Street” on another is enough to cause doubt.
- Ask for a review after every job. By text, the same day, with a direct link. Ask customers to mention the job and the town.
- Reply to every review. Briefly, and especially the bad ones.
- Give each service its own page. What it is, prices from, how long it takes, the areas you cover.
- Give each area you genuinely cover a real page. Real jobs and real local detail. Not copy-and-paste.
- Put your accreditations everywhere, with registration numbers, matching the public registers.
- Write up finished jobs. Where, what was wrong, what you did. AI reads words more reliably than photos.
- Let the crawlers in. Check your website doesn’t block search engines or AI search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
- Get mentioned locally. Community projects, suppliers’ customer stories, local news, trade bodies.
- Ask the AI tools about yourself every month, and fix anything they get wrong at the source.
How to check what AI says about you
Ask the questions your customers ask, in the real apps: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google itself (look for the AI Overview). Use a private window, and ask several ways:
- “Who’s the best [trade] in [town]?”
- “I need an emergency [trade] in [town] today. Who should I call?”
- “Which [trade] in [town] has the best reviews?”
- “Is [your business name] any good?”
Answers vary from one go to the next, so ask each question a few times and note how often you’re named. Or run our free AI visibility check, which asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity for you and shows every answer side by side.
How to tell if it’s working
Honestly, AI traffic is hard to measure precisely. The tools often don’t pass on where a visitor came from. These help:
- Ask every new customer how they found you. Add it to your enquiry form. It’s the most reliable measure there is.
- Watch your analytics for visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and copilot.microsoft.com.
- Register for Bing Webmaster Tools, which has started reporting how often your pages are cited in Copilot’s answers.
- Check your Google Business Profile performance: calls, direction requests and website clicks.
- Re-ask the same questions every month and track how often you’re named.
Mistakes that get trades ignored or suspended
- Fake or bought reviews. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 made fake reviews illegal in the UK from April 2025, and Google suspends profiles for them.
- Keyword-stuffed business names, like “Best Plumber Leicester 24/7 Ltd”. Against Google’s rules, and a common reason for suspension.
- Dozens of near-identical town pages. Thin pages get ignored, or worse.
- Claiming 24/7 when you’re not. AI repeats it, customers ring at 2am, and the bad reviews follow.
- Paying for a “guaranteed #1 on ChatGPT”. Nobody can promise that.
Questions
Is AI going to replace Google for finding tradespeople?
Not soon, and maybe never fully. Most customers still search Google or ask a friend. But AI answers are a growing slice, they now sit at the top of many Google searches, and the work that gets you named by AI also lifts your Google rankings. You don’t have to choose.
Do I need a big website to be recommended by AI?
No. A small site with clear, specific, consistent information often does better than a big vague one. What matters is that your services, areas, accreditations and contact details are easy to find and agree with everything else about you online.
Should I rewrite my whole website as questions and answers?
No. A heading that asks a real customer question, followed by a straight answer, is a useful pattern where it fits naturally. Forcing every page into that shape isn’t necessary.
Can I do all this myself?
Yes. Everything in the checklist is doable by a determined tradesperson. It takes time and consistency, which is what most people don’t have. That’s the part we do for you.
Want to know where you stand?
Our free check asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers ask, and shows you who they name. It takes 30 seconds.
Run your free AI check