TL;DR
- Your next customer may ask ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews for a plumber, HVAC tech, or contractor... not type a keyword into a search box. If your site is not easy to crawl, verify, and summarize, you may never make the short list.
- Step 1–2: Classic SEO still wins (crawlable pages, clear headings, speed, mobile). Add OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot allowance in robots.txt and track referrals with utm_source=chatgpt.com.
- Step 3–5: One page per service + city, local business structured data, and a fully optimized Google Business Profile aligned with your site.
- Step 6–7: Earn third-party mentions (directories, news, vendor links, local "best of" lists) and publish answer-style Q&A content on site and social.
- Step 8: Every Monday, search your services in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Log who gets recommended and reverse-engineer the winners.
I had a lead come in for a client last Thursday. Source: a ChatGPT conversation. I know because the click carried a tracking parameter on the URL. That is not theory anymore for some local service businesses.
Jackson's line on the episode is the right frame: even if your customer still "searches Google," that is AI now (AI Overviews, Gemini, etc.). The playbook is the same: make your business easy to crawl, easy to verify, and easy to summarize. Here are the eight steps we walked through on Infacto Daily, pulled from Google's search documentation and OpenAI's publisher guidance for search.
1. Nail normal SEO first (LLMs use the same signals)
Google is explicit: there is no separate secret checklist for showing up in AI Overviews or Gemini. Follow Search Essentials and standard SEO:
- Pages crawlable and indexable (no accidental noindex, no blocking key URLs in robots.txt)
- Clear titles and headings with useful body content
- Fast, accessible, mobile-friendly pages (Core Web Vitals and usability still matter)
If you have ignored SEO for five years, fixing AI discoverability without fixing the base site is backwards. ChatGPT and Google both need to trust that your pages answer a real query.
2. Let OpenAI crawl you (and track ChatGPT leads)
OpenAI documents the OAI-SearchBot user agent. Allowing it in your robots.txt tells their crawler it may index your site for search/recommendation features.
Jackson's summary: robots.txt is the rule sheet for bots visiting your site. This tag is specifically "OpenAI's agent may view us."
I have clients ranking in ChatGPT without adding the tag yet... but in competitive national markets, implementing technical SEO signals is how platforms sort who gets prioritized. You are signaling you are playing the game.
OpenAI also documents that publishers who allow crawling can see referrals tagged with utm_source=chatgpt.com. Wire that into analytics so you know which leads actually came from AI chat, not guesswork.
3. One page per service and city
AI systems need clear facts, not a generic "we serve the Midwest" page.
Name and build pages like:
- Emergency plumber in Indianapolis
- Water heater installation in Carmel, Indiana
- Drain cleaning in Fishers, Indiana
A locations index page is fine as a hub. The landing experience must scream the service and city above the fold. If someone searches "plumber Oklahoma City" and lands on a page where they scroll forever to see if you serve them, you lose on conversion... and platforms learn to stop recommending you.
Multi-city operators: multiple pages, not one vague catch-all.
4. Add local business structured data
Google's local business structured data gives crawlers machine-readable facts: hours, departments, reviews, service areas. Google reads schema first, then uses page copy to verify.
Practical path:
- Search "local business structured data" and send the spec to your developer (or use a CMS plugin).
- Follow Google's structured data guidelines.
- Test URLs in the Rich Results Test and Search Console URL Inspection tool.
Fix what the reports flag. Thin location pages are a common failure.
5. Optimize your Google Business Profile
Most AI tools that "call the internet" still lean heavily on Google's map of local reality. If you are a local service business, your GBP is not optional.
Align profile and website:
- Exact services and service areas
- Phone, hours, website, booking link
- Real photos from the shop or job site (not stock)
- A steady review process (invoicing follow-up, post-job texts)
- Reply to reviews like a human owner
- Post to the profile feed occasionally (activity signal)
Jackson nailed why photos matter: customers feel like they have already been to your shop before they walk in.
6. Get mentioned by people who are not you
AI recommendation engines weight third-party trust like search always has.
- Claim listings: Yelp, BBB, Chamber of Commerce, industry directories (Angi, etc.). Those sites spend marketing dollars; piggyback the traffic.
- Local news: offer expert segments (summer HVAC scams, tune-up myths) as education, not a sales pitch.
- Vendor / partner pages: your equipment supplier linking to you as a trusted installer passes authority.
- Local creators: the "Fort Wayne foodie" style account doing "best HVAC in town" roundups. Pitch a fair list (include competitors, make your case with reviews and specifics). Those pages compound for years.
You saying you are the best HVAC tech in town is weak. Three independent mentions is a different story.
7. Publish answer-style content (the new blog post)
LLMs ingest forums, social video, and Q&A-shaped pages. Deals with Reddit, TikTok surfacing in Google... the pattern is more surface area describing what you do.
Five question templates to answer on site, social, and video:
- How much does [service] cost in [city]?
- Who is the best [service] for [problem] in [city]?
- What should I do when [urgent problem] happens?
- [Service A] vs [Service B] for [situation]
- What should I call a professional for [issue]?
Have ChatGPT interview you, record the answers, publish as posts or short reels. That is low-friction content SEO.
For client stories and "about us" narratives without staring at a blank page, use the Content Creation Hub. It walks through situation → investigation → fix → verification and outputs a story you can reuse on site or social.
For weekly marketing copy in your voice (not generic AI slop), the AI Prompt Library includes a Marketing & Content flow: paste writing samples, list words you hate, open ChatGPT pre-filled, then generate a week of reel scripts with on-screen text and captions. We demoed HVAC near Indianapolis on the show... five reel ideas from one real Google review.
8. Track where you show up (every Monday)
Search your money keywords in:
- ChatGPT
- Google / Gemini
- Perplexity (or similar)
Example: "HVAC near Indianapolis." Log:
- Whether you appear
- Which competitors get named
- Which websites get cited on informational queries ("how to know if an HVAC tune-up is worth it")
Reverse-engineer the winners. Improve pages and content to close gaps. Do it weekly so you see movement.
Conclusion
AI discovery is not a separate religion from SEO. It is SEO plus clarity, local proof, third-party trust, and Q&A content in the places models actually read.
Make the crawl easy. Make verification easy (schema, GBP, reviews). Make summarization easy (service+city pages, answer posts). Then measure Monday by Monday.
Paste this article into ChatGPT and ask for a prioritized to-do list for your site and GBP if you want a head start.
Your name in the chat may be the first impression. Make it earn the click.