Twelve Things AI Looks AtBefore It Recommends Your Business
Every AI Score is calculated from 12 measurable signals — the same ones ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews use to decide who to recommend.
Clarity
Is it instantly clear what the business does, who they serve, and where they operate? Vague jargon kills AI recommendations.
Trust Signals
Real reviews, named testimonials, photos of actual people. AI weighs human social proof heavily.
Authority & Credentials
Licenses, certifications, awards, years in business, press mentions. Proof of expertise.
Schema Markup
Structured data tells AI exactly what your business is, where, and what you do. Most local sites miss this entirely.
Technical SEO
Page speed, mobile-friendliness, clean heading structure, no broken links. The technical foundation AI requires.
Content Depth
Thoroughly explained services, supporting content, blog posts. The more you say, the more AI has to learn from.
FAQ Content
A real Q&A section is one of the highest-leverage AI signals. AI literally pattern-matches on Q&A structure.
Backlinks & Citations
Who links to your site? Industry organizations, news outlets, local directories. Authority by association.
Reddit & Forum Presence
Mentions in Reddit, Quora, and local forums. Where humans share unfiltered opinions, AI listens hardest.
Google Business Profile
Complete profile, current hours, recent photos, response to reviews. Most local searches start here.
AI Readability
Plain language with no fluff. Easy for AI to parse, summarize, and quote.
Freshness & Activity
Recent updates, active blog, current copyright year, recent reviews. Stale sites look untrustworthy.
Why These Twelve
We didn’t pick these from a textbook. We tested hundreds of local businesses across plumbing, dental, legal, and home services to figure out which signals actually correlate with getting recommended by AI systems. These twelve are the ones that consistently moved the needle.
AI search isn’t going away — it’s becoming the default. The businesses that score well now will be the businesses customers find tomorrow.