How to Get Google's AI to Recommend Your Local Business: A 90-Day Plan

Why Local Search Has Changed

Two or three years ago, a local customer searching "electrician in Oldham" would see a list of business listings and website links. Today, Google often shows an AI summary first -- a paragraph or two that tries to answer the question directly, sometimes naming businesses, sometimes just giving advice.

If Google names your competitor and not you in that summary, most customers reading it never look further. They either call the named business or use the advice and move on. The click that used to come to your website either goes to a named competitor or never happens at all.

The good news is that being named in those summaries is not random. Google names businesses it can verify and whose websites clearly answer the questions people are asking. Both of those things are fixable.

The Six-Step Plan

These steps are in order. Each one builds on the last. The first three are the most important and should be done in the first month.

1. 1
   List the 10 most important searches your customers use

   Think about how your customers would search for you. Not how you would describe your business -- how they would describe what they need. "Emergency plumber Manchester", "boiler service Salford", "new boiler fitted Trafford" -- that kind of thing. Write down 10 to 20 of these. These are the searches where you need to appear.

2. 2
   Add a plain answer to the top of each relevant page

   For each of those search types, find the page on your website that should answer it -- your boiler service page, your emergency callout page, and so on. At the very top of that page, add one or two sentences that directly answer the question a customer would have. "We offer same-day boiler servicing across Salford and surrounding areas. Call us for a booking." Short, direct, factual. This is what Google's AI reads to decide whether to name you.

3. 3
   Add LocalBusiness schema to your homepage

   This is the structured code that tells Google's systems your verified business identity -- name, address or area, phone number, type of business, and links to your Google Business Profile and any trade body listings. See the example code below. On WordPress, Yoast or Rank Math can do this for you. On other sites, a developer can add it in an hour.

4. 4
   Build a proper page for each area you serve

   If you serve three or four towns, build a page for each. The key word is "proper" -- a page that talks about actual jobs you have done in that area, the types of properties you work on there, any local quirks (older housing stock, common boiler types, etc.), and what customers in that area say about your work. Not a copy-and-paste of your main page with the town name swapped in. Google can tell the difference.

5. 5
   Back up any claims you make

   If you say "fastest response times in Manchester" or "five-star rated across Greater Manchester," add a page that shows where that claim comes from. A page showing your 47 Google reviews with an average rating, or a breakdown of your response times from last year's jobs. Google is more likely to name you if it can verify what you claim -- and customers who are comparing you with a competitor are more likely to choose you if they can check your claims.

6. 6
   Make your details identical everywhere

   Your business name, address (or service area), and phone number should be exactly the same on your website, Google Business Profile, Yell, Checkatrade, and any trade directory you are listed in. Even small differences -- "Street" vs "St", "Ltd" vs "Limited" -- confuse Google's systems. Consistent details across multiple sources is one of the strongest signals that your business is real and trustworthy.

What the LocalBusiness Code Looks Like (For Your Developer)

This is an example of the structured label that goes on your homepage. You do not need to write it yourself -- share it with whoever manages your website. If you work from home and do not want to list your address, you can use the "areaServed" section on its own instead.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Electrician",
  "name": "Harris Electrical Services",
  "telephone": "+44 161 000 0000",
  "url": "https://www.harriselectrical.co.uk",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "Stockport",
    "addressRegion": "Greater Manchester",
    "addressCountry": "GB"
  },
  "areaServed": [
    {"@type": "City", "name": "Stockport"},
    {"@type": "City", "name": "Manchester"},
    {"@type": "City", "name": "Cheadle"}
  ],
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.niceic.com/find-a-contractor/...",
    "https://www.google.com/maps?cid=..."
  ]
}

The "@type": "Electrician" part should match your actual business type. Google knows hundreds of types: Plumber, Accountant, HairSalon, Painter, Decorator, LegalService -- if you search "schema.org LocalBusiness" you will find the full list. The more specific, the better.

What to Do If You Cover Multiple Towns

Many local service businesses cover a range of towns without a fixed base in each one. The right approach here is a main service page that links to individual town pages. Think of it as a contents page that leads to each chapter.

For example: a heating engineer covering Greater Manchester might have a main "Boiler Services Manchester" page that links to dedicated pages for Salford, Oldham, Trafford, and Stockport. The main page gives Google the full picture of your coverage. The individual pages give customers the relevant local detail.

The individual pages work only if they say something genuine about that area -- the types of properties you service there, a specific job you did, what customers in that town say about your work. A page that is just your main page with "Oldham" swapped in will not perform well and Google may not include it in its index at all.

How to Know Whether It Is Working

You do not need complex analytics tools to track this. Here is what to check, and how often:

The 90-Day Timeline

Here is how the six steps spread across the three months, assuming you work on this part-time alongside running your business:

• Month 1 (weeks 1--4): Write your list of 10--20 important searches. Add plain answers to the top of your key pages. Add LocalBusiness schema to your homepage and validate it with Google's Rich Results Test.
• Month 2 (weeks 5--8): Build area pages for your two or three main service towns. Make sure your business details are identical across Google Business Profile, website, and directories.
• Month 3 (weeks 9--12): Add a proof page for your main claim (reviews, response times, qualifications). Check your progress -- search in incognito, check Search Console, review your enquiry numbers.