Getting found locally, now people ask AI too
The handful of things that decide whether a local firm shows up on Google and in AI answers, and what you can do yourself this week.
Most people looking for a local firm start on Google. More and more of them now just ask an AI, "who's the best [trade] near me", and take the answer it gives. In both cases the firms that come up aren't always the best ones. They're the ones set up to be found.
The good news is that hardly any local business has got round to this yet, so there's a real edge for whoever moves first. Here are the five things that decide it, and what you can do yourself.
Claim your Google Business Profile
It's the box with the map, the reviews and the phone number. If you haven't claimed it, you're leaving Google to guess, and guessing is how you end up below firms half your size.
Do this: search your business name, claim the profile, and fill in your hours, the areas you cover, your services and a few photos. This one move does the most.
Get a few recent reviews
Three or four reviews from your last happy customers do more than people think. They tell Google and the AI tools that you're active, real and trusted, and that pushes you up the local results.
Do this: ask straight after the job, while they're pleased. Send them the review link so it takes ten seconds. A steady trickle beats a big one-off.
Put real photos up
A few photos of actual jobs beat stock images every time. They show you're a real local outfit, and fresh photos keep your profile active, which helps you climb.
Do this: snap a before and after on your phone on the next job and add them to your profile. A handful a month is plenty.
Say what you do and where, in plain words
AI answers quote the businesses that spell it out clearly. If your site and profile don't plainly say what you do and the towns you cover, the AI has nothing to repeat back to the person asking.
Do this: write it the way you'd say it on the phone. "Roofer covering Carmarthen, Llanelli and the villages around." No jargon, no burying it three pages deep.
Keep your details the same everywhere
Same business name, number and address on Google, your website, Facebook and any directories. When they don't match, you get split in two and pushed down, because nothing's sure it's all the same firm.
Do this: pick one correct version of your name, number and address and make everywhere match it. Tidy that up and you look like one solid business.
If you only do one thing this week, make it the reviews. It's the quickest nudge up the page, and it costs nothing.
An honest word: none of the above needs me. Plenty of local firms can work through that list themselves in a few evenings, and if that's you, crack on, you'll be better for it.
Where I come in is when you'd rather it was set up properly and kept on top of every month, so you climb and stay there while the people around you are still working it out. That's what Top of Local is: I run the lot for you on a flat monthly fee, no long tie-in.
Want it done for you?
I'll take a quick look at where you're sitting now and tell you straight what would move you, and whether it's worth paying for or something you can do yourself. No hard sell.