What is an AI Snapshot?

A free, plain-English check showing how your business is understood in modern AI-powered discovery. You get a basic grade and next-step guidance—without dumping technical details.

What is the Mind Your Bizness™ Audit?

A $199 audit that produces a prioritized action plan and call agenda. The technical deep-dive and raw evidence stay internal—we review it with you on the call.

What do AEO, GEO, and DEO mean?

AEO helps your business become the answer AI gives. GEO helps AI summarize your business correctly. DEO strengthens discovery and entity validation so your facts stay consistent across trusted sources.

What areas do you serve?

South Texas: Corpus Christi, Portland, Taft, Rockport, Beeville, and surrounding areas.

← Back to RDS Blog

AI Impact Score: 10/10

How AI Picks Local Businesses (And How to Get Chosen)

When someone asks an AI assistant for the “best” in town, how does it pick a winner? From hefty review scores to behind-the-scenes data, we break down how AI recommends local businesses — and what you can do to ensure you’re the one it recommends.

Corpus Christi · Local SEO · 6 min read

Ask ChatGPT, “Who is the best plumber in my city?”

You’ll likely see it name a couple of plumbing companies and why they stand out. It might mention things like “5-star rated”, “24/7 service”, or “over 20 years of experience”. Ever wonder how it arrived at those names and details? This is the crux of how AI picks local businesses to recommend.

The AI isn’t sentient; it doesn’t have personal favorites. It’s digesting data — lots of it — to make an educated suggestion. It considers things like online reviews, business descriptions, location, credibility indicators, and content from the businesses’ own websites. In a sense, it’s doing in seconds what a human might do in an hour of research (scanning reviews, checking websites, looking at who’s been around).

Let’s pull back the curtain on these AI decision-making factors. More importantly, let’s see what you can do to stack the deck in your favor so that when AI gets asked for “the best,” it confidently says you.

Before You Dive Into the Full Guide…

Take this 47-second AI Visibility Check. You’ll see how often AI recommends you vs your competitors — and it unlocks the complete guide on this page for 24 hours.

Start the 47-Second AI Check →

No spam. Quiz unlocks all RDS blog content for 24 hours.

The Key Factors AI Looks At

When an AI like ChatGPT or Bard is asked for the “best” local business (whether it’s the best realtor, best pizza, best mechanic, etc.), it’s essentially crunching a bunch of factors to come up with a recommendation. Here are some of the heavy hitters it considers:

Reviews and Ratings: Volume and quality of reviews are front and center. A business with 200 reviews averaging 4.8 stars is going to look more “best” than one with 5 reviews at 5 stars or 50 reviews at 4.0. AI will often mention these (“highly rated” or “hundreds of positive reviews”) as justification.
Business Details and Longevity: How long you’ve been in business, whether you’re licensed or certified (if applicable), any notable awards or recognition. These often get picked up from your website or business listings and can end up in an AI’s response: e.g., “Serving the community for 25 years” or “AAA-certified”.
Proximity & Service Area: If the question implies a location (“in my city” or the AI knows the user’s location), it will favor businesses that are actually in that area or serve that area. Keeping your Google Business Profile service areas and addresses updated plays a role here.
Online Presence & Content: The AI often scans the business’s website (or has been trained on its content). If your site clearly states what you do and highlights what makes you great (and factual info like “voted best of the city in 2025”), that can influence the AI’s choice. Conversely, if your site is thin on info or outdated, you might get passed over.
Structured Data and Citations: AI models also draw from structured databases (think Wikipedia, Google’s Knowledge Graph). If your business has entries or mentions in such sources, those add to your credibility. For example, a Wikipedia mention of your business winning a local award might be why an AI says “award-winning”.

In short, the AI is doing a mini audit of your online reputation and content, then picking whoever checks the most boxes for quality, trust, and relevance.

How to Influence the AI (Ethically, of Course!)

Now the big question: what can you do so that all these factors tip in your favor? Let’s tackle them one by one:

1. Supercharge Your Reviews

There’s no getting around it — you need great reviews, and lots of them. This isn’t news for traditional SEO or customer acquisition, but it’s worth doubling down on. Develop a strategy to consistently gather reviews. Ask your happy customers, use follow-up texts or emails, make it easy with QR code links at your checkout or reception. And don’t just focus on Google; Facebook and Yelp matter too, since AI might pull data from multiple sources.

Also, encourage detail in reviews. An AI might pick up on specific praises. A review that says “They fixed my AC in 2 hours on a Sunday — lifesavers!” could lead the AI to highlight your speedy, off-hours service.

2. Highlight Your Credentials and Experience

If you’ve been in business for decades, say it loud and proud on your website (and your Facts Page). If you have proper licensing or won local awards, make sure that’s mentioned in your site’s copy and perhaps in a few directory listings or press releases. These factoids often bubble up in AI answers. You want the AI to have plenty of “evidence” to choose you, like “25 years experience, licensed, family-owned” etc. It won’t know those things unless they’re well documented online.

One tip: local news or industry blogs. If you can get a feature or interview where these points are mentioned, those third-party validations can carry weight. AI loves citing third-party sources to bolster credibility.

3. Keep Your Web Content Fresh and Informative

Regularly update your website with useful content. This could be a blog, FAQ section, or just keeping your main pages current. If an AI is pulling info, you want it pulling the latest and greatest. For example, if you’re a realtor and the AI got info that you sold 50 homes in 2022, but in 2023 you sold 100 homes, update your content to reflect that. Don’t let stale info undersell you.

Also, structure your content well. Use clear headings and bullet points for key info (AI can grab those snippets more easily). Think about the questions a user might ask (“Who’s a reliable plumber that offers 24/7 service?”) and make sure the answer is easily findable on your site (“Yes, we offer 24/7 emergency plumbing — it’s in bold on your homepage or services page”).

4. Fill Out Your Online Profiles Completely

Your Google Business Profile, Facebook page, Yelp listing — fill in every field you can. Hours, services, description (use those 750 characters on Google to mention your key selling points!), service areas, etc. The more complete and consistent your info, the better. If AI is cross-referencing multiple sources, seeing the same phone number, hours, and service descriptions everywhere builds confidence that you’re the real deal.

And obviously, make sure all that info is accurate. If your hours changed for winter or you added a new location, update it everywhere. Inconsistent data not only confuses customers, it can confuse AI (which might then omit mentioning hours or other details entirely if it’s not sure).

Where RDS Comes In

Understanding how AI picks businesses is one thing — acting on it is another. That’s why our approach covers all these bases in a systematic way:

AI Visibility Audits: We put ourselves in the AI’s shoes. We’ll actually ask tools like ChatGPT or Bing, “Who’s the best [your service] in [your city]?” to see what comes up. This helps us identify gaps and opportunities for your specific case.
Review Generation & Management: We help you implement processes to get more reviews and showcase them. Plus, we keep an eye on what people are saying — if there’s a negative trend, we alert you so it can be fixed (and not become the reason an AI leaves you out).
Content and Profile Optimization: We’ll beef up your website’s content, ensure your credentials and strengths are front-and-center, and sprinkle all the right facts throughout your online presence. From updating your site copy to aligning your Google profile description with SEO and AI-friendly keywords, we handle the nitty gritty.
Structured Data & Technical SEO: Behind the scenes, we add the schema markup and technical SEO elements that make it effortless for search engines and AI to digest your info. We essentially speak to the AI in its language, pointing it to your best selling points.

Bottom Line

AI picks local businesses by looking at who shines on paper — or rather, on screen. By boosting your reviews, highlighting your strengths, and keeping your online info sharp, you make it an easy decision for the algorithms to choose you. It’s not about gaming the system; it’s about genuinely being the best option and making sure that fact is crystal clear in the digital world. Do that, and whether it’s a human or an AI doing the looking, you’ll come out on top.

Check My AI Visibility →