AI Is Answering Your Customer's Questions. Here's How to Make Sure It Gets You Right.

Don't panic. The basics matter more now, not less.

Try something for me. Pull out your phone, open ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Google, and ask the question your customers ask: "Who's the best [what you do] near [your town]?" Then see what comes back.

Maybe you're in there. Maybe a competitor is. Maybe it says you close at 5 when you've been open till 7 for three years. Whatever it says, a growing number of your customers are hearing it about you before they ever pick up the phone.

What changed

Not long ago, asking an AI tool to recommend a local business was a niche thing. This spring, BrightLocal surveyed about a thousand U.S. consumers and found that 45% had used AI to find local businesses, up from just 6% the year before. ChatGPT was the most popular tool, followed by Google's own AI Mode.

Meanwhile, Google now puts an AI-written summary at the top of a big share of everyday searches. When Pew Research tracked real people's browsing last year, people who saw one of those summaries clicked through to a website on only 8% of visits, compared to 15% when there was no summary. And only about 1% clicked the links inside the summary itself.

Marketers have a name for this: zero-click search. The customer gets their answer right there on the results page and never visits your website.

Why you don't need to panic

Here's what gets lost in all the hype: AI tools don't invent your business out of thin air. They build their answers from what's already out there about you, which means your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your website, and your listings on socials matter!

So the things you should already be doing are the same things that decide whether AI gets you right.

And people aren't taking AI's word as gospel, either. In that same BrightLocal survey, 97% of people who use AI for recommendations said they at least sometimes double-check against review sites. Your reviews still close the deal.

One more reason to breathe easy: the big brands haven't figured this out yet. When the Interactive Advertising Bureau released guidelines for measuring AI visibility in August, it noted that only 16% of brands track it in any systematic way. You're not behind. Almost everybody is starting from the same line.

Tending the basics

My take on new marketing tech is pretty simple, whether it's AI ad tools or AI search: use it, but feed it well. For a small business, feeding it well looks like this.

1. Finish your Google Business Profile. Fill in every field: hours (holidays too), service area, categories, a real description of what you do, and current photos. It's free, and it's Google's own record of your business, so when Google's AI answers a question about a business like yours, that's one of the first places it can look.

2. Get reviews, and read them. Ask happy customers to leave one, and make it easy with a direct link. Reply to the glowing ones and the rough ones. Details help more than you'd think. If you can, get them to be specific, for example "They fixed our walk-in cooler on a Sunday" tells an AI (and a person) a lot more than "Great service!"

3. Make your information match everywhere. Your business name, address, phone number and hours should be identical on your website, Google, Facebook, Yelp and anywhere else you're listed. When sources disagree, AI has to guess, and it doesn't always guess right. It's tedious work, and it's also some of the most valuable time you'll spend this quarter.

4. Say plainly what you do on your website. Who you serve, what you do, and where you do it. Then answer the questions customers actually ask you on the phone: rough pricing, how long a job takes, what areas you cover. Write it the way you'd say it across the counter. Plain answers to real questions are exactly what these tools are looking for. Build a robust set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

5. If you're making video, put it where AI can find it. YouTube videos show up in AI answers more often than you might expect. One study of AI citations found it was mostly longer videos that got pulled in, and that view counts and subscriber numbers had almost nothing to do with it. A five-minute video answering a common customer question, with a solid written description, can do real work for you even if only forty people ever watch it.

Your homework this week

Go back to that experiment from the top. Ask ChatGPT and Google about your business, and ask the questions your customers ask. Write down what's right, what's wrong, and what's missing.

Then fix it at the source. If AI has your hours wrong, it's because somewhere online, your hours are wrong. If a competitor gets recommended and you don't, look at what they have that you don't: more reviews, a fuller profile, clearer answers on their website.

One word of caution. Over the next year you're going to get pitched plenty of "AI SEO" packages. Some of them will be worth it. But the IAB counted more than 20 companies selling tools to measure AI visibility, and they don't measure the same way or agree on the results. Don't pay for magic before you've done the basics. The basics are most of it.

Let's get started!

None of this takes a marketing department. It takes a couple of focused afternoons and the habit of checking back in every so often. If you'd like to talk any of it through, or you tried the homework and didn't love what came back, reach out. Lets make sure you are ready for AI to answer your customer's questions.

AI is answering your customer's questions. Here are some Common questions about AI and your business listing

How do I find out what AI says about my business?

Ask it. Open ChatGPT, Google, or Perplexity and type the question a customer would type: "Who's the best [what you do] near [your town]?" Then ask directly: "Tell me about [your business name] in [your town]." Write down what's right, what's wrong, and what's missing. That's your to-do list, and it takes about ten minutes.

Why does AI have my business hours wrong?

Because somewhere online, your hours are wrong. AI tools don't invent business details, they assemble them from your Google Business Profile, your website, and your listings on sites like Yelp and Facebook. When those sources disagree, the AI has to pick one, and it doesn't always pick the right one. Fix the hours at the source and the answer corrects itself over time.

Does my Google Business Profile affect what AI says about my business?

Yes, and it's the single highest-leverage thing a small business owner can fix. Your Google Business Profile is Google's own structured record of your business, hours, service area, categories, photos, description. It's free, and it's one of the first places Google's AI looks when someone asks about a business like yours. An incomplete profile means an incomplete answer.

Do online reviews still matter if customers are asking AI instead of searching?

Reviews matter more, not less. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, 97% of people who use AI for local recommendations said they at least sometimes check review sites before deciding. The AI may make the shortlist, but reviews are what close the deal. Specific reviews help most, "they were able to work with Google to get my profiles merged and all of my reviews survived" tells an AI and a customer far more than "great service."

What is zero-click search?

Zero-click search is when someone gets their answer directly on the search results page and never visits a website. Google's AI summaries are the main driver. Pew Research found that people who saw an AI summary clicked through to a site on only 8% of visits, compared to 15% with no summary. For a small business, it means your information has to be correct in the places AI reads, not just on your website.

Should I pay for an AI SEO service?

Not before you've done the basics. The Interactive Advertising Bureau counted more than 20 companies selling AI visibility tools, and they don't measure the same way or agree on results. A complete Google Business Profile, consistent information across your listings, real reviews, and plain answers on your website will get you most of the way there.

Does video help my business show up in AI answers?

More than most small business owners expect. YouTube videos get cited in AI answers fairly often, and one 2026 study of AI citations found that view counts and subscriber numbers had almost nothing to do with which videos got pulled in, longer videos did better. A five-minute video answering a common customer question, with a solid written description, can work for you even if only forty people ever watch it.