Guide
The AI SEO guide for local businesses
Your client tops Google Maps, but ChatGPT names the competitor. Here is why that happens, and how to fix it.
Why AI search works differently from Google Maps
Google Maps ranks businesses by relevance, distance and prominence. Distance counts for a lot: someone searching two streets away sees a different top 3. That is why you measure Maps rankings street by street, not with a single screenshot taken from the office.
An AI assistant such as ChatGPT works differently. It does not show a list of twenty listings on a map, but one answer with a handful of names. Where the person asking is located barely matters; at most, the assistant knows the town named in the question.
The assistant builds that answer from text. With web search on, it reads websites about the topic and summarises them. Ask the same question twice and you often get a different answer. So asking once tells you little; you have to count across several answers.
You can see the result in practice: a business that tops Maps across the whole neighbourhood can be missing from AI answers. And a competitor in eighth place on Maps can be the one AI recommends.
Where AI gets its answers
Which sources an AI assistant reads differs by platform and by question. For local businesses they usually come from three places.
Booking and review platforms. For hairdressers and salons, that is Treatwell, for example; every trade has its own platforms. They contain exactly what AI looks for: name, town, treatments, prices and reviews in plain language.
Local blogs and round-ups. Articles such as "the best hairdressers in Utrecht" are a ready-made answer for an AI assistant. Businesses that appear in them get named more often. Businesses that are missing do not exist for that answer.
The Google Business Profile and the business's own website. Name, address, phone number, category and opening hours. When sources contradict each other, the assistant picks one, or leaves the business out.
In mystreetwise you see, for each answer, which sources the AI platform itself cites. So you know where your client needs to be listed, instead of guessing.
Step 1: claim and complete every profile
Start with the Google Business Profile: claimed, with the right primary category and a description that says what the business does and where. Then do the same on the platforms for the trade, such as Treatwell for salons.
Use exactly the same business name, address and phone number everywhere. An AI assistant links sources by name; to it, "Knipkamer" and "Kapsalon Knipkamer Lauwerecht" are not obviously the same business.
Step 2: get into the local round-ups
Find the round-ups and blogs that AI answers use for this keyword. If the competitor is in them and your client is not, you know where the difference lies.
Approach the writers with something they can use: a short description, photos, an opening offer. Ask happy customers to leave a review on the platforms AI reads, not only on Google.
Step 3: fix opening hours and basic details
Outdated opening hours are the quietest mistake. If a platform says the business is closed on Mondays, an AI assistant may pass that on. Check the hours on the Business Profile, the website and every platform, including public holidays.
Then measure again. Ask the same question several times and count how many answers name your client. Only when that count rises over a few weeks is it working.
Also read The AI Cognitive Audit: the three layers that decide whether AI knows, understands and recommends your client.
Measure it for your own client
A free scan shows where your client ranks in Google Maps, street by street. With an account you also measure every day what AI recommends.