We’re all still trying to get a grip on local SEO for AI chatbots (Grok, Gemini, ChatGPT, etc.). Everything’s subject to change in about 5 minutes. For all I know, maybe my advice here will have the shelf life of gas station sushi. But one thing I’ve noticed so far is that what seems to work in the AI results is basically what’s worked for the last 78 “internet years” in Google and beyond: a your-website-first strategy. Most of my clients are in the catbird seat in the “local” AI results because of it. Your business can ride high in the AI results, too. Don’t start overthinking everything. Simple, practical stuff still works. Start with that and build on it.
Of course, as the AI tools themselves are quick to tell you, there are many other factors besides your site. Your online reviews (on all kinds of sites) are critical. So is your location and your service area. Your backlinks profile and social media presence probably also factor in, too. But your website is the biggie. It’s also your best starting point – the best way you can gain a foothold in the local AI results on the sooner side. As Mike Blumenthal showed in his “web equity” graphic many years ago, your website isn’t the only part of your house, but it’s the foundation that everything else rests on.
Your first task should be to help the AI tools draw conclusions easily. Feed them the info they seem to care about. There’s no way to guarantee any of them will deem your business the “best” choice, or even a choice at all. But give them the info they’re looking for on a silver platter and you’ll have the best chances.
How? If you do nothing else today, put together a mean “Why Choose Us?” page. It is exactly what it sounds like: all the specific reasons someone might pick your business over your competitors’. It can be a standalone page on your site, one that you blast with internal links, or it can be a detailed (and prominent) section of your homepage or even of a “location” page.
What should go on your “Why Choose Us” page? Cover at least some of the following points on your business (or on this location if you’re a multi-location outfit), in no particular order:
- What you offer: services, products, treatments, practice areas, etc.
- Degree of focus (i.e. do you offer just about everything, or are you a specialist?).
- Reviews, preferably with links to the sites where someone can read your online reviews.
- Your uniqueness or your main strengths in in your customers’ words (quote their reviews directly).
- Availability or turnaround time (e.g. same-day service, open 24/7, walk-ins welcome, etc.).
- Years of experience.
- Prices or rates.
- Policy on estimates or quotes (e.g. free, on-site, etc.).
- Service area or places where you have a bricks-and-mortar location.
- Languages spoken.
- Ownership (e.g. family-owned, minority-owned, 4th-generation, etc.).
- Awards won.
- Publications cited in.
- Licensure & certifications.
- Discounts offered.
- And so on.
When in doubt, type a couple of search terms you care about into an AI chatbot or two and check out what’s under the “Key considerations” sections (as in Grok and Gemini) or similar sections that explain the results that the AI chatbot coughed up.
They’ll tell you what matters to them, generally. Those justifications tend to be more prominent in (and let’s assume more important to) “best [thing] in [city]” search terms than in the AI search results for broader terms.
By the way, you’re probably better off trying to rank for “best roofer in East Tree Stump” than for “roofers in East Tree Stump,” even though you can and must try to scoop up both. When in doubt, focus on the superlatives. That’s for a few reasons, but I’ll leave it at one very simple reason for now: most people who use an AI chatbot want the results curated for them – for the giant AI brain to do most of the thinking for them. If they want a whole pile of local results to pick through, they’ll just stick to Google.
How do you put meat on the bones, though? How do you explain what makes your business special? Once you have at least a rough idea of which points are strengths of your business (rather than weak spots that you’d rather gloss over or avoid), start with what your customers say in their reviews of you. While you’re at it, see what your competitors’ customers complain about in their reviews of your competitors. Mine your reviews and your competitors’ reviews. Either or both will tell you specifically why people already chose you. The consensus from my clients, for instance, is that I offer practical suggestions, help execute them, and produce noticeable before-and-after results. Meanwhile, in the words of my older son, I “fix Google clogs” for a living. Somewhere in there is a pithy description of what makes you different, special, or the best.
Here are a few examples of great “Why Choose Us?” pages:
houstonfaces.com/why-choose-dr-siegel/
creativeconcreteinc.com/why-choose-us/
gmrodriguezlaw.com/why-giselle/
icedamremovalguys.com/best-ice-dam-removal/
waltsautoservice.com/why-choose-us
A detailed “Why Choose Us” is a great first step, but no single tactic is likely to help you in all of the AI chatbots, at least at once. Even if your local SEO is rippin’ along on all cylinders, you’ll probably be in bad shape in at least one of the AI tools. There’s always one that got away. Only time will tell how much that matters. Time will also tell which AI chatbot(s) local customers actually use. Keep in mind that if the results are total garbage or very hit-or-miss, either people won’t use that chatbot for local searches (exclusively or at all), or it will need to change its modeling to produce better results. Even if the AI results on (let’s say) ChatGPT or Grok seem more thorough and helpful, if people get burned by bad businesses, they won’t trust the AI results as much next time. The end results need to be better than what they could have found the old-fashioned way.
What seems to have helped your business in the local AI results so far? What’s a great example of a “Why Choose Us?” page (yours or someone else’s)? Leave a comment!
