The Website Success Show: SEO & Website Tips For Local & Online Businesses Who Want More Website Traffic & Conversions

085: Can AI Tools Find Your Business? What I Found in ChatGPT, Gemini & Perplexity

• Jules White • Season 1 • Episode 85

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In this episode of The Website Success Show, Jules White explores how AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity are starting to recommend real businesses – including local ones – in their search results. Drawing on recent examples and live walkthroughs, Jules shares what these tools are really looking for, and why you don’t need a fancy website to show up in AI-driven searches.

You’ll hear a practical breakdown of how AI search works, what data it’s using (hint: Google reviews, your website content, and local listings), and what simple updates can help position your business to be recommended — whether you’re a skin clinic, dog boarding provider, or salon.

Key Takeaways:

  • AI Tools are Replacing Traditional Search (Sometimes): ChatGPT and others are now offering curated business recommendations, sometimes showing product images, reviews and links – just like a smart local directory.
  • Why Local Businesses Still Have an Edge: Google Business Profiles, local keywords, and consistent listings are critical if you want to show up in AI search results.
  • The Role of Reviews, Copy, and Clarity: AI tools prioritise businesses with strong reviews, well-written descriptions, and clearly defined services – not just beautiful websites.
  • What to Optimise First: Foundational SEO still matters most. That includes making your website readable, linking from trusted sources, and using the language people actually search for.

If you're ready to make your website more AI-friendly without overhauling everything, this episode will help you understand where to start.

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AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT - MAY CONTAIN ERRORS

Introduction and Purpose of the Video

Hello everybody. I was gonna go live in my group, but seeing as it's done that I might sort of stay here. Okay.

Current Trends in AI and SEO

So I just thought I'd pop in and have a little chat about, I was asked this week about what the trends are and the AI or in the SEO industry.

It's a really important topic. It is something that I keep seeing and hearing time and time again about, what's happening with the change in search and with how businesses can actually get featured in AI searches. So there's now a billion web searches a week on ChatGPT every week, and people are starting to use it as a shopping assistant.

So I think it is really important for businesses to know how to get their business recommended by any AI tools, whether it's ChatGPT Perplexity, Google Gemini or whatever new AI assistant comes out next basically.

Importance of Google in SEO

So it is important to remember though that Google's global market share among search engines is still over 90%. It's a habit that's so ingrained with people that we really shouldn't be throwing Google aside and spending all of our marketing time and efforts thinking about AI search.

Optimising for AI Searches

But the good news is that the things that you need to do to rank on Google, like optimising your website so that it talks about the things that people are actually searching for.

Making sure your website is easily readable by the bots that scan it. So whether that's Google bots or AI bots, make sure that it's very readable and getting links and mentions across multiple sources online are actually the foundations that will help you to show up in AI searches as well.

So the things that you do for your basic SEO are the things that are also gonna help you to show up in those AI searches and the AI overviews and in ChatGPT chats.

Evolution of Search Engines and AI

So ever since Google was launched back in the late nineties, search search engines have evolved and adapted, and they always try and provide the, the direct answers and the, and better results. Basically, that's how every update to Google's algorithm has just tried to deliver better results, less spammy, less irrelevant results in those, in those search results pages and AI is that next step in this evolution and pe they really, it's looking to understand that real intent behind the search, the search intent.

It's so much more clever and it has so much more information there because people are using longer search queries. So it's a lot easier for it to then understand what kind of things people are actually looking for, what kind of results they're gonna be looking for, and what they're trying to achieve from that question that they're asking as well.

And then provide them more of like a conversational style of answer as well, really. And you might think that.

Local Businesses and AI

Advanced AI like ChatGPT is just for big tech or national brands. But if you're a local business, this trend is something you do need to pay attention to as well.

And it's a real opportunity for businesses who want to get ahead of the curve too. So these AI tools are already starting to act like really smart local directories, just pulling all the, all of the information together.

To recommend those businesses, but they often rely on the foundational local SEO work that you should be already doing. If you are a local business, this is the stuff that should already be there and part of your marketing plan.

And it's not about learning a whole new load of tech and learning a whole new load of complex AI rules overnight. You have to just keep going with what you're doing with your, with your, your existing SEO really, and just it's all about making your online presence, the existing online presence, AI friendly and very, very recommendable really.

So most businesses for years have just been focusing on Google business profile for local optimisation building out local listings, making sure that your information is consistent, like things like your name, address, your phone number is consistent across the internet. And then getting reviews and creating content for their website that's very location specific as well.

So mentioning local keywords and local places in their content on their website, but what the AI searches are gonna do is actually bring, bring all of that information together, pulling data from different sources, and provide a real curated answer, really.

Practical Examples and Screen Sharing

So it is something that. I wanna just share my screen and I've done a couple of searches using both Google and using ChatGPT, and Perplexity just to show the way that these are actually working and what it's showing in those results as well and how, where these opportunities are.

I think there's definitely some opportunities here where it's not necessarily delivering great answers, but what that necessarily that can then mean is that those businesses that should be the ones that should be featuring there, maybe haven't optimised their website as much as they should really.

So it is really important to make sure that we are actually our, what's on our website is actually aligning with what people want to see and what people are looking for in those searches.

So I'm gonna share my screen.

Case Study: Dog Boarding in Milton Keynes

So what I did, I went into a couple of, I've done a couple of searches just to give you a couple of sort of examples, but I went into, ChatGPTI went into a temporary chat, so it wasn't.

Influenced by what searches I've already already done or what chats I've already had with ChatGPT and I just typed in find me the best dog boarding in Milton Keynes and interestingly, I did another version of this and the temporary chat.

But the first time I did it, it came up with some images at the top. So it's not always necessarily delivering the same things and looking for those same search results in here.

But what this did was it went off and it looked at the Google search results, or probably, actually, probably because it's ChatGPT, it would be looking at the Bing search results most likely.

So it came up with a few answers here and interestingly it because what happens when it, when it actually shows these results, it has the links directly to the websites here and it has it, it's showing it twice. So this is Hunter's Lodge and it's showing Hunter's Lodge, both in this blue link here and at the end here.

But what it's done is it's actually shown Hunter's Lodge on a few of the other results as well. So this is sometimes how you can get these.

A bit of hallucination with AI search results where it doesn't quite give the right information. So this one underneath is Village Pets, which is a client of mine.

We built the website when I first started my business. We've never really done anything with their SEO since then.

And this is good that it, this is showing up here. What this is actually linking to is their Google business profile.

So I'm hovering over that and I can see that that's a Google Maps results that's showing there. So it's actually linking to their Google profile, and that's probably because we've mentioned Milton Keynes.

We've actually mentioned these keywords. Certainly looking at these results, it seems to be that those businesses are specifically mentioned, these keywords in those results.

So. we've also then got a few other things here. Pet Pals, Milton Keynes is part of a national franchise.

There's some small businesses here. There's rover.com.

That's a big business. So it's interesting how it's come up with these, these search results.

And actually, as I say, when I ran this chat the first time round it was showing some images of local businesses, and there was one from Village Pets in there as well, and the image alt text was showing as. I think it was something like Dog Borders, Milton Keynes or something like that.

Or it might have even been dog kennels, Milton Keynes. But those images, the ones that were showing there, all mentioned Milton Keynes in them.

So that's where it can be really helpful to actually get those local keywords and key phrases into things like your images on your site as well. So I then, came into, Google Gemini and I asked the same thing here.

And this can, this could be actually something that is a bit more helpful in terms of trying to work out how you can get your own business mentioned in these AI overviews. Google Gemini actually shows you.

It's thinking. So it closes that up.

This is, gives the answer, and this also had Village Pets in there as well, which is great. Showed a different one.

Dog Wiggles is the first one. Hunter's Lodge was a bit further down, so when I looked at the thinking, what this then told me is that this is using Google search and Google Maps.

To find its answers. So making sure that you've got that local map optimised.

You've got your Google business profile optimised. You are mentioning your address, and those local search terms throughout your website.

That can all be helpful to make sure that this is actually showing up here. So what I then did was, I, so it is actually showing a Google map here as well.

Um, I think I did this in another one actually. Like I know in one of them I asked it how it found those results.

So this is Perplexity, which is another, AI tool that people use. And this is another one that goes out and gathers all, all the information and comes back and delivers a curated result here.

And this one didn't actually. Bring in village pets.

it did, when I looked, it was somewhere further down the page where it brought it in. I think it might have, oh, when I went on places it crashed it.

So was it one in images? No, not in images.

So these are some of the images that were showing up. Like this one was showing up in the, the search in ChatGPT the first time I ran it.

But this is, also then showing Hunter's Lodge is the first couple dog wiggles, sitters, and pet Pals is there as well. MK Pet Care.

So with all of these, because they are mentioning that dog board in Milton Keynes, that's why this has actually come up and, and found this. So let me ask it.

How did you come up with these? So you could do this yourself.

Go into these AI tools and actually ask that question so you can then ha try and work out, okay, what do I need to do to my website to get this to show up? This is something I do with clients is actually we'll work out, try and work out exactly what we need to do to get you not only showing up in Google, but also showing up in these AI search results as well.

So this, it did research. I used my ability to search the web in real time to find official website service listings and customer reviews for both Pet Pals Milton Keynes and dog wiggle sitters.

So customer reviews is something that's across all of these searches that I've done is something that I have seen that that's a big part of this. So getting reviews in different places, and it does depend on your industry as well.

I'm gonna come onto some that I ran for more sort of salon environments and we'll see the difference there, but actually getting those reviews. So that's why it's really important.

Get reviews in different places online if you can. If you can get your business being mentioned in different places online, then that can also massively help with getting shown up in, in these AI search results as well.

So this, this was Google Gemini. How did you come up with these answers?

So we've got that here. It's, understanding your request and that is the big thing with AI search is that it's really trying to understand what you want.

It's trying to understand whether you are actually looking specifically for a business or if you're looking for, if you're looking for just general information. And then it would, it would deliver different results based on that, basically.

So in one of these, oh, there we go. It says it here.

Since best can be subjective and depend on the individual needs, then I aim to provide a variety of highly rated and well-described options rather than declaring one single best. So it's actually looking, looking at what you're asking and realising that there are nuances in terms of what the word best means as well.

So it gathered specific data. so for dedicated kennels and businesses that appeared frequently or had good descriptions in the initial search, I used a tool to query for more specific local businesses, similar to looking them up on Google Maps.

This helped me find more precise addresses, phone numbers, website addresses, Google Maps, ratings were available, and opening hours. I combined all the information from the broad searches and the specific local queries.

I decided to categorise the findings for each entry. I tried to find the most relevant, the name, the available rating, a brief description, and key features mentioned.

There we go. Interesting.

So, essentially I acted like a research assistant starting broad, then narrowing to get specifics on promising leads, and finally organising it all into a structured and hopefully helpful summary. Okay.

Case Study: Anti-Aging Facials in Milton Keynes

So let's come over to the one that I did for, find me the best anti-ageing facials in Milton Keynes.

And this is ChatGPT to begin with. And again, this was a temporary chat and what it initially came up with was just 4 results it came up with initially, which I was quite surprised at this actually.

So I obviously, I'm asking about anti-ageing facials in Milton Keynes. So it looked at those places that are actually mentioning that keyword.

This is one of the, the results that came up on the other search results as well when I looked. So these clinics offer a variety of treatments to address different skin concerns.

It's advisable to consult with a practitioner, uh, to determine the most suitable facials for your specific needs. Okay.

And then I asked it again. How did you decide on these results?

So search intent and keywords, best anti-ageing facial. This helped me find up-to-date and location specific results based on reputation service, operatings, customer reviews, relevance to anti-ageing treatments.

I chose businesses that met the following standards. They specialise in anti-ageing treatments like microneedle, needling, HydraFacials, et cetera.

High customer ratings, 4.8 stars and above where available. That's interesting.

Professional and comprehensive websites showing their credibility and transparency. Clear treatment descriptions, especially one that included proven anti-ageing methods such as collagen stimulation or skin resurfacing.

Okay, so what that, that's really interesting actually, that it's, it's looking at outside of those websites. It is looking at what it considers as proven anti-ageing methods.

So there's not a citation there. This shows how it's actually decided on what.

What those proven anti-ageing methods are. But it essentially will be looking at its database and understanding what it knows about that in terms of what it knows about anti-ageing facial methods.

So, making sure that your website is mentioning those terms and mentioning that is really, really important. And this is something I see quite a lot where people aren't actually mentioning those important things that they need to be talking about because otherwise How would people know?

How would the bots that are reading your website know that this is what you are all about and this is what you do. I had this once with a client who was a therapist, they specialised in PTSD and they'd been told that PTSD was too difficult a term to actually rank for, and so they hadn't mentioned it anywhere on their website.

And yes, they probably wouldn't be ranking for PTSD because that is a real seed keyword. There's a ton of content out there and lots of competition.

But because they hadn't mentioned it anywhere, then Google wasn't associating that search term with with their business at all. And then that doesn't then give them the chance to try and rank for those less competitive terms based around PTSD.

So it is interesting that actually, I think we can often forget about that. We can forget about those basics what those key phrases are that we need to mention throughout our website that relate to what we want to actually show up for on Google and in AI searches as well.

So it prioritised, so I highlighted clinics with bespoke medical grade or multi-step facials. These are more likely to be effective for anti-ageing.

So this, this kind of stuff is actually the things that you could then, if that applies to the treatments that you do, mentioning those kind of things on your sales pages for those treatments could potentially help to raise your authority around that. As long as you can back that up with things that actually do show that is true and that is authoritative because, AI hallucinates sometimes.

So we need to make sure that those things are actually true to, and that the information that we're sharing is actually true Clinics with multiple service options so you have flexibility depending on your skin types or goals. So that can be where it's really important to talk about the different types of treatments you, actually offer and also the different types of problems that that particular machine or that particular treatment can now can treat as well.

That would be really helpful to actually maybe have your navigation menu based on the types of problems or concerns or what actually people are trying to achieve from that as well, really. Clinics with real reviews or testimonials where I could verify quality and trust.

So I then asked it, did you look at anything beyond web searches, like forums, etc? And it said, no, for the initial sweep, I use standard web search to quickly surface top rated professional clinics based on the online visibility websites and Google reviews.

So interestingly, there are ChatGPT was using Google reviews as well there. But you're right.

If it, if you're looking for real customer experiences beyond curated websites, digging into forums, local Facebook groups, Reddit threads and beauty community discussions like on Mumsnet or skincare addiction can give you deeper insights. So that's where.

If you can get your business mentioned in different places online, then that can actually help. But interestingly, that wasn't the one of the immediate things that ChatGPT went off and checked for, but that's more likely to be the ones where people will actually then have conversations with their AI assistant.

And that can then, if you've, if you've been mentioned in those places, then that. Is where that builds that trust and makes you then more likely to be, be actually recommended in those further conversations in this chat.

So I did the same thing in Google Gemini, find the best anti-ageing facial in Milton Keynes. And again, I looked at the show thinking it was again, using Google Search and Google MapsAnd so this shows that importance of having your Google Business profile built out well.

Making the most of it, making the most of all the sections, using the updates and the features, adding your services in, adding your products in, all of the things that you have available to you in your profile. Make the most of those really.

Then interestingly, this came up with a list list of businesses here, and let's have a little look. Step one, Google search.

The search results provided a good list of places offering facials, including some specifically mentioned in anti-ageing in Milton Keynes as so. Okay.

So it was first of all, all looking for facials. Then those ones that specifically mentioned anti-ageing, some key named appeared with good ratings or relevant services.

Okay, so again, it's looking at the ratings. It's looking at the services, it's looking at related terms, so like skin topia, beauty mentions, face and neck tightening, which then it knows is an anti-ageing term, really.

So then It used maps to get more specific details like the exact addresses, and more importantly, place IDs for some of the most promising or frequently mentioned locations, so that allowed it to use maps if needed. I select a few diverse options from the list above explicitly mentioning anti-ageing facials or advanced facial treatments.

So whereas before somebody would've had to go through and do that search themselves, look through Google Maps themselves, maybe go and look at the Google business profiles, and then click through to the website and. ChatGPT and Google Gemini is actually taking all of this away.

So it's doing all that research for them. And this is good because it means that if you do actually then end up being one of those businesses that are being recommended, those people are much more likely then to convert when they come through to your website because Gemini or chat, BT has already done that, that research for them.

So it's already helped to get them a little bit further along that buyer's journey with you really. So I then looked at some of these that that had actually come up.

And I looked at Beauty Works 'cause this is one that when I worked back in the salon, this was a competitor down the road and many, many years ago they used to have a,salon on the high street and then they went to a sort of a home based salon. But interestingly,

if I come over and actually look at their website without being rude, it's a website that it doesn't look like a modern website. I think if, if a potential customer came through to this website, it wouldn't necessarily wow you and give you the impression of this business that it's maybe one that I would particularly want to visit.

And as I say, I'm not trying to be rude there, but it's just one of those things. It is worth noting that actually the way that Google Gemini has found this business is not based on a beautiful website.

It's not based on a website that's got lots of beautiful images. It's actually the words on this, this website that have,led Google Gemini and ChatGPT to actually recommend this business.

So that is really, I think, is a really good reminder that you don't have to have a beautiful website for it to then get recommended in Google and for it to get recommended in AI searches. It's gonna be the words on the page that will actually encourage that to happen.

And also it is the words on the page that will encourage people then to take the action you want them to take like a website that doesn't look particularly beautiful, can still convert and can still actually get people to take action. But if you just had pictures on here and no written information on here.

Then that website is definitely not gonna convert people. So, interesting.

Interesting looking at that, I think it's a really good reminder that the, the language that you're using on your website is the most important thing really, is just to make sure that your copy is really well written. You are mentioning those search terms in the way that people would be searching for it, whether that is through Google or through ChatGPT or Google Gemini.

I also did the same thing in Perplexity as well. Interestingly, this one did come up with some pictures in the searches as well.

So at the top there so that's where actually optimising your images, making sure you're mentioning those key phrases within your images there is also really important. If you have a little look on down at this one, this came up with a few different clinics as well.

So, McCarthy Skin Clinic, I think that's one that's, that has shown up in all of them. So they've obviously optimised their, their site quite well for, anti-ageing facials and Milton Keynes.

And it also then comes up with a comparison table so people can quickly sort of see what's going on. Interestingly, only a couple of them have like their prices on there, so that.

Is something to bear in mind of whether you would want that information on there or not. because the thing is, if people are seeing, uh, seeing this and they're not seeing the prices on there, they may be more inclined to then click through to that website rather than just seeing that and thinking, oh no, 95, 95 pounds, no, that's not in my budget.

And then not clicking through to it there really. So it's given some recommendations here as well, and then I asked it how it came up with those results.

So this is Perplexity and it's a combination of detailed clinic descriptions, treatment protocols, and client reviews from a reputable local sources in Milton Keynes. So it's looking at Treatwell, it's looking at Yelp,

and fresher as well, so this is where I was talking about getting reviews on different places does depend on that industry. So I would still recommend that you do try and get reviews on your, your own Google business profile, but also for, for salons and spas and clinics, getting those reviews on.

Other places as well where the clients potentially would be going and looking at those reviews, like Fresher and Treatwell is also worth sort of considering really. So I asked it whether it just looked at the search engine results pages or Serps, and it said no I did not rely on the search engine result pages.

Instead, I synthesized detailed information from multiple Specific sources within the search results, including client testimonials. So again, testimonials, reviews is being mentioned.

Again, there Clinic websites and review platforms related to Milton Keynes facial treatments. So I reviewed in-depth testimonials from MK Skin Clinic.

I shown real user experiences and professional care, quality, detailed descriptions and reputations of clinics, which is an award-winning Guinot Crown. Salon specialising in anti-ageing facials with science backed treatments are also considered aggregated user reviews from platforms like Fresher and what clinic.

Let's have a look Fresher. And what clinic Just wondered because sometimes you get hallucinations in here, whereas it will say it's done something in, actually, it hasn't done that so.

Additional insights came from testimonials and service descriptions by beauty, by, Regi and Bella Rosa Beauty and Aesthetics showing the range, range of anti-ageing options available locally. And that should then be, yeah, that's linking to their website there as well.

So this goes beyond simply scanning SERPs by integrating verified client feedback, clinic expertise, and treatments specific to identify the best anti-ageing facial in. Milton Keynes and then I asked it whether it used anything from Google Maps and it said it didn't.

And, but then when I was actually reading this, it does mention Google Maps here as well. So while go, Google Maps is widely used, a widely used tool for finding local businesses and can influence visibility and customer reviews the specific search results you share did not include direct Google Maps business profile data.

So in summary, Google Maps was not a source I directly referenced or extracted data from, but it did actually get data from search results, and those Google Maps will be part of what shows up in search results. So we do have to kind of take this with a little bit of just objective.

Whether, we actually fully believe that has or hasn't used Google Maps in there. And certainly optimising for Google Maps is still really important because as I say, Google is still over 90% of the search results that are done on the search engine go through Google.

Really. So that's why I would always say for a local business, make sure that you are actually.

Using that and, and making the most of it really. It's a free tool and there's no reason not to use that really as well.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

So that was just a bit of a walkthrough. I hope it might have been helpful in terms of the ways that you can then explore these AI tools and have a look and ask it those questions ask it how it's delivering its search results.

I've seen a few people talking in with the industry trends about AI overviews and how to get featured on ChatGPT. And I've seen a few people saying about the conversations that you have yourself within ChatGPT are a great way to actually get yourself recommended.

And actually, I think that would be quite easy to go down a rabbit hole with that. And that would be quite easy to kind of rely on that without necessarily thinking about what is the, the fundamentals behind it.

And ultimately the large language models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, they are trained on data and they're trained on the Internet's data basically. So what we need to do is make sure that throughout the internet we are working out what we want to be known for, working out what our business stands for, what's gonna help us to stand out, what's gonna help us to be unique, what is the story that we want ChatGPT, Google, Gemini, and all of these LLMs to actually be telling about our business, what is the story that we want to be out there?

And we can prompt chat GPT with that. But it's, it's gonna be much better to actually make sure that information is out there across the wider internet.

Get people talking about your business in those ways. So things like if you work out a description of what you want ChatGBT to say about you, and you can actually go in and ask that question and see what it comes up with.

Do it about yourself, do it about your competitors whether you do it about you, you as your personal brand or as your business. But go in and do that first and then work out what you would want it to be saying about you, and then use that description in different places online.

So use it on your website. Use it on things like your LinkedIn profile or your other social media profiles.

Use it in your Google business profile and actually that that's the way that you can then build up that, that. Repeated language of what your business stands for, the problems that you solve, how you help people, what you want to be known for, why you are different, and why you should be shown in those AI results.

And then if you can actually get other people mentioning your business and other people sharing why you are great. And this is something we would also do with SEO.

We'd be wanting to build those links, those back links coming into our websites to really make sure that we are seen as that authority in what we do. So I would recommend doing that and, and if you could, can get people mentioning you in places like forums and in industry articles.

This is all part of your digital pr, which will really help in terms of showing you as an authority in what you do. Making sure that you've got your foundational SEO in place as well, that your website is set up to so that the information is clear, it's readable by the bots, it encourages people to do what you want them to do, encourages people to take action, then that is really the key to getting these AI overviews to actually show your business and to start making the most of them really.

So I hope that's helpful and I will see you soon. Bye.

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