How to rank in AI search: a small business guide.

Your customers are asking AI first

A lot of your customers don't start with a Google search anymore. They ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or the AI Overview at the top of Google, and they get an answer with a few businesses named in it. If yours isn't one of them, you're not in the conversation.

I've worked in marketing for around 8 years, across software, real estate, food and agriculture, and I work with businesses in the Philippines, Australia and the US. The question I get most is simple: how do we rank in AI search?

Here's the honest answer. There's no secret trick. AI search for small business runs on the same things that make you visible on Google, plus a few habits that make you easy for AI to quote. Let me walk you through them.

How AI tools decide which businesses to mention

AI search tools don't make up their list of businesses. Before they answer, they search the web, pick the pages they trust most, and summarise them. So the businesses that get named are mostly the ones that already show up well in search.

Google says this plainly. Its AI Overviews and AI Mode are "rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems" and pull pages from the normal Search index (Google Search Central). Google also runs what it calls query fan-out. Someone asks one question, and the AI quietly runs several related searches to build a fuller answer.

ChatGPT search and Perplexity work in a similar way. They look things up on the live web, then cite the pages they used.

What this means for you:

• If search engines can't find or read your site, AI can't either.
• If your site only says vague things, there's nothing worth quoting.
• If other trusted sites, reviews and listings say the same clear facts about you, AI has more to go on.

What it looks like when it works

I tested this with businesses I've worked on. I asked ChatGPT the kind of questions their customers would ask, and they came up by name in the answers. Here's what I saw in October 2026.

• "Do you know a hardwood floors supplier in New Zealand?" An Auckland flooring company came up second. The answer listed its suburb, its services (solid timber, engineered timber and laminate) and "supply and installation," all taken from its website.
• "I need to sharpen our blades or buy new ones to hit our target output. Do you know a precision cutting service?" A blade sharpening business was the first recommendation. The AI named every branch city and gave a phone number, all pulled from the business's own site.
• Managed IT providers in New Zealand. Two IT companies I've worked on were both on the same shortlist. The AI said it picked providers "based on their published services and New Zealand presence."
• "The best PMO in New Zealand." A consultancy made the shortlist, and the AI repeated an industry award the business lists on its own website.

The pattern is the same every time. The AI quoted what each business had clearly published: where they are, what they do, and proof like awards and branch locations. Vague claims didn't make it into any of the answers. Specific facts did.

On all of these, I worked on the copy, content strategy and SEO. Being mentioned is never down to one thing, but clear, specific content is the part a business controls.

How to show up in AI search: 6 things to do this month

To show up in AI search, make your site easy to find, easy to read, and worth quoting. These are the six things I check first on every small business site I audit.

1. Fix your Google Business Profile. For local businesses, this comes before anything on your website. Fill in every field: services, service areas, hours, photos. Google's own AI guide points local businesses to Business Profile for visibility in AI responses.
2. Make sure you can be found at all. Your pages need to be indexed, crawlable, and allowed to show a snippet in Google. Check that your robots.txt isn't blocking Googlebot, Bingbot or OAI-SearchBot (the crawler behind ChatGPT search). I find accidental blocks more often than you'd think.
3. Say exactly what you do, where, and for whom. "Quality service you can trust" gives AI nothing. "Licensed plumber in Parramatta, same-day hot water repairs" does. Put your name, location, services and areas in plain text on your site.
4. Answer real questions directly. Use clear headings that match what customers ask, then answer in the first two or three sentences under each one. That makes a section easy to lift into an answer.
5. Share what only you know. Real projects, real numbers, your process, local detail. Google calls this "non-commodity" content. A summary of what's already online won't stand out, but your first-hand experience will.
6. Measure it. Search Console now has a Generative AI performance report. Also check your analytics for visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and copilot. Then look at what matters most: calls, bookings and quote requests.

What not to waste money on

A lot of "AI SEO" packages sell fixes Google says you don't need. Before you pay for any of these, know what Google itself has published.

• llms.txt and special AI files. Google says Search doesn't use them, including for its AI features.
• Schema as an AI shortcut. Structured data still helps you get rich results, so keep it. But Google says no special markup is needed for AI search, and I wouldn't trust anyone who promises schema alone will get you cited.
• Hundreds of near-identical pages. One page per suburb or per keyword variation, made just to catch more queries, breaks Google's scaled content abuse policy. One strong page per real service or location works better.
• Buying mentions. Google calls out "inauthentic mentions" as not worth chasing. Real reviews and real press are a different story.

One honest flag: some GEO writers say you should cut content into short, self-contained chunks so other AI engines can quote it. Google says that isn't needed. My approach sits in the middle. I write clear sections that each answer one question, because that helps readers, and I don't chop pages up just for AI.

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