BullishResources · AI search · 9 min read
How to get AI to say your name.
More customers are asking an AI assistant who to call. Here is what those assistants read, and the practical steps that make your business the answer.
By Ted Bullard, founder of Bullish Marketing · Updated October 2026- AI assistants recommend businesses they can find, understand and trust.
- They lean on your website, your Google and Apple listings, your reviews and what other sites say about you.
- The work is the same foundation as good local SEO, done more clearly and more consistently.
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overview "who's the best roofer near me" and you get a short list, not ten blue links. If you are not on that list, you are invisible to that customer. The good news: the businesses that get named are not the biggest ones. They are the ones the AI can understand.
How AI assistants decide who to recommend
No assistant publishes its exact formula, but they all work from the same raw material: what is written on the web about your business, how consistent it is, and whether other people vouch for you. In practice that means five sources:
- Your website. Clear pages that say what you do, where, for whom and at what price.
- Your listings. Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect (Siri and Apple Maps) and Bing Places, which some assistants draw on.
- Reviews. The number, the recency and what people actually say.
- Mentions elsewhere. Local news, directories, associations, suppliers and partners that name you.
- Structured data. Behind-the-scenes code (schema) that labels your business type, services, hours, area and ratings so machines do not have to guess.
Step 1: Make your website answer the questions
AI assistants answer questions, so give them answers to quote. Build a page for every service and every town you serve, and put the real answers on it: what it costs, how fast you can come, what is included, what is not. A page that says "Contact us for a quote" gives an assistant nothing to repeat.
Step 2: Label everything with schema
Schema markup tells machines, in their own language, that you are a roofing contractor in Mooresville with these services, these hours and this rating. It is invisible to visitors and takes a developer a few hours, but it removes the guesswork for every search engine and assistant that reads your site.
Step 3: Make your listings match exactly
Your business name, address and phone number should be identical everywhere: website, Google, Apple, Bing, Facebook, Yelp and industry directories. Small differences ("St." versus "Street", an old phone number) make it harder for machines to be sure all those mentions are the same business.
- Claim and complete your Google Business Profile: categories, services, photos, hours, service area.
- Claim Apple Business Connect so Siri and Apple Maps have your details right.
- Claim Bing Places. It takes ten minutes and can import from Google.
Step 4: Get reviews that say something
"Great job!" helps your star rating. "Showed up same day, gave us a price from photos and hauled a hot tub out of the backyard" helps an AI recommend you for same-day hot tub removal. Ask happy customers to mention the service, the town and what stood out. Reply to every review, good and bad.
Step 5: Get mentioned by other sites
Assistants trust businesses that other sources talk about. Join your local chamber and trade association, sponsor something local that gets written up, get listed by your suppliers and partners, and pitch a useful story to local news. Each mention is another independent signal that you are real and respected.
Step 6: Check what AI says about you, every month
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Google and Siri the questions your customers ask, in your towns, and write down who they name. Do it monthly. When you are missing, the answer usually points to the gap: no page for that service, no reviews mentioning it, or a competitor with clearer information.
What does not work
- Stuffing keywords or hiding text. Assistants read for meaning, and it makes your site worse for people.
- Fake reviews. They violate platform rules and can get your listing suspended.
- Hundreds of thin, copy-paste town pages. One genuinely useful page beats twenty near-duplicates.
This is exactly what our Found Pro service does every month: new answer pages, schema, listings, reviews and a monthly check of what the major AI assistants say about you. Want to see where you stand first? Run the free SEO + AI check.
Sources
Google: Business Profile help
Apple Business Connect
Bing Places for Business
Schema.org: LocalBusiness