When your customer asks AI instead of Google

Someone in London needs an electrician. A year ago they typed "electrician near me" and got a map with three pins. Today there is a good chance they ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Mode which electrician to call, and get back a short list with reasons.

They may make up their mind from that answer before they ever open your website. Your site still matters, but it is now often one source behind a recommendation rather than the first thing a customer sees.

How big this is

BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey found that the share of people using AI tools for local business recommendations jumped from 6% in 2025 to 45% in 2026, making AI the third most used source after Google and Facebook. It surveyed about a thousand American adults, so it is not a Canadian number, but the direction is hard to miss.

Ranking well on Google does not guarantee you appear in an AI answer, and the answers vary by question, location and tool. That is exactly why it is worth checking what they say about you.

Where the answers come from

AI tools build their answers from what they can find and read about you. Google says its AI features run related searches across subtopics to assemble a response and its links. Other assistants use web search too, with their own sources.

In practice, four places shape what gets said about a local business:

• Your Google Business Profile
• Your listings elsewhere: Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp and the directories that feed them
• Your reviews, and especially what reviewers actually write
• Your own website, if it says something concrete and is easy to read

When all four tell the same clear story, a person or a machine can understand your business quickly.

Give a customer, or the tool they are asking, something clear and checkable to work with.

Six things that make your business easier to recommend

1. Keep your facts identical everywhere. Name, address, phone, hours and services should match on every platform. Fix contradictions first. It also stops customers calling an old number or driving to a closed shop.

2. Claim your other listings. Bing Places and Apple Business Connect are free and widely used. Accurate details there help customers on those platforms and give AI tools more consistent information.

3. Complete your Google Business Profile. The right primary category, a real list of services, your service area, current hours including holidays, and recent photos. It still drives the map results too.

4. Collect reviews with real detail. A review that says what job you did and how it went gives a reader, and an assistant, something specific to repeat. Ask every customer consistently, never offer anything in exchange, and reply to reviews without sharing private details.

5. Write pages that answer questions in your customers' words. A page called "Services" with a paragraph about commitment to excellence gives an assistant nothing to quote. A page called "Emergency furnace repair in London, Ontario" that covers the call out fee, response time, neighbourhoods and brands you service gives it a complete answer.

6. Describe your business in structured data. A small block of code can state the facts already on your page: business type, address, hours, services. Google says no special markup is required for its AI features, so be wary of anyone selling markup as a shortcut into AI answers.

Get onto the lists AI already trusts

Look at the sources cited in real answers for your kind of business. They are often local roundups, industry directories, chamber of commerce listings and trade associations. Make sure you appear where you belong, with accurate details. That is ordinary relationship work: contact the editor, explain why you fit, and send correct information. Never buy fake endorsements or pass off paid placement as independent praise.

Check it yourself every month

Write down five questions a customer would ask, such as "best dentist accepting new patients in London Ontario" or "who fixes garage doors near Masonville." Ask them in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and look at Google's AI Overview for the same searches.

Note whether you were named, what was said about you, and which sources were cited. That last column is the useful one. It shows which platforms are shaping your reputation, and those are the ones to fix first. Answers vary from session to session, so look for patterns over a few months rather than reacting to one result.

What not to do

Do not buy an "AI visibility" package from anyone who cannot explain exactly what they will change. Do not stuff extra keywords into your business name on Google, which breaks its guidelines. And do not publish fifty thin articles hoping to be quoted. Accurate details, honest reviews and genuinely useful pages are what get you recommended.