How do I show up when customers search with AI?
When someone asks ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, or Perplexity for a recommendation, the assistant reads what's publicly indexable: your website pages, your reviews, credible mentions of your business. A social feed or a listing can't carry the answer, because the model needs full sentences it can lift and cite.
What gets quoted — and what gets skipped
- Quoted: direct answers in the first sentence, FAQ pages worded the way people actually ask, real specifics (pricing, service area, who it's for).
- Skipped: marketing language, buried details, anything that describes the vibe instead of answering the question.
The uncomfortable part: you can't submit yourself to ChatGPT. You control the inputs — clear pages, consistent facts, real answers — and the citation is the model's call. Businesses that publish honest answers get named more often than businesses that publish slogans. That's not a trick; it's the whole game.
What to do this week
- List the ten questions customers ask before they buy from you. Ask your front-line staff — they know.
- Answer each one on your site, first sentence first. One page or one FAQ entry per question.
- Make your hours, services, prices, and service area say the same thing on every page and listing.
- Test it: ask an AI assistant those questions and see whether you show up. Repeat monthly.
Key point — This page is the strategy in action: a real question, a direct answer, on a site we own. Write yours the same way and the assistants have something to quote.
