Ask ChatGPT for "the best plumber in Richmond" — or dentist, or web designer — and it hands back a short list of names. Your customers are already doing this. If your business isn't in the answer, you're losing work you never even saw. Here's how AI search decides who to recommend, and how to get your Richmond business into the conversation.
Why AI engines don't recommend most local businesses
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews, and Gemini don't rank ten blue links — they synthesize an answer from sources they trust. To recommend you, an engine has to read your site, understand what you do and where, and trust that other sources agree. Most local sites fail on all three: bloated templates that load slow and bury the content, no structured data, and thin presence elsewhere on the web.
What actually gets you recommended (GEO / AEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — also called Answer Engine Optimization — is the practice of making your site legible and credible to AI. The levers that move the needle:
- A clean, fast, crawlable site. Custom-coded pages, not bloated page-builder templates, that an AI crawler can read top to bottom in plain HTML.
- Answer-first content. Say what you do, where, and what it costs in the first sentence — then a real FAQ that answers the exact questions people ask.
- Structured data (schema). LocalBusiness, Service, and FAQPage markup spell out your name, area, services, and answers in a format machines parse directly.
- An llms.txt file and open AI crawlers. Let GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended reach your site, and give them a plain-text summary of who you are.
- Third-party corroboration. AI trusts what multiple sources agree on — consistent name, address, and phone; reviews; directory listings; and mentions across the web. This is the piece most businesses skip.
Try it right now: open ChatGPT or Perplexity and ask for "the best [your service] in Richmond, VA." If your name doesn't come up, that's your gap — and it's fixable.
How to test where you stand
Run the same query in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI results. Note who gets named and which sources the AI cites. Those cited sources — directories, review sites, local roundups — are exactly where you need a strong, consistent presence. If competitors show up and you don't, the difference is almost never the business; it's how the website and web presence are built.
The bottom line for Richmond businesses
Google isn't the only search that matters anymore. Getting recommended by AI comes down to a site machines can read and trust, backed by a consistent presence across the web — the same foundation as strong local SEO, done with AI in mind. Here's how my AI Search Optimization service works, and if you're still fighting to rank the old-fashioned way, start with why your website isn't showing up on Google.