How to Get Your Business Recommended by AI Search

For twenty years the answer to "how do customers find me?" was simple: rank on Google. That answer is breaking. More and more people skip the search bar entirely and ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity a single question — who's the best company for this? — and then hire whoever the AI names.

Bryan Fikes sat down with Stacey Chillemi on The Authority Business Show (released October 22, 2026) to talk about what that shift means for a local business owner, and what to do about it this week. You can watch the full episode on YouTube or listen to the audiocast on Spotify. Here is the playbook from that conversation.

"If you're not the answer to that question, I'm sorry, you're losing business."

The shift is already in the lead data

Bryan started in digital marketing around 1998, back in the AltaVista and Netscape days, and he calls this the biggest change he has seen since then. It isn't a forecast. Across his own client base he watched AI-referred leads go from the occasional ChatGPT inquiry for a roofer or a Claude referral for an auto shop to, by his count, roughly 30 to 35 percent of incoming leads over a three-month stretch.

His favorite sign of how far it has spread: a table of women in their mid-80s at Sunday breakfast, comparing notes on their ChatGPT. When that is happening, your customers are already asking AI who to hire.

How AI decides which business to recommend

Bryan's approach is hyper-local. Rather than trying to be the universal answer, he works from the zip code out — help the auto repair shop own its own zip code first, then expand. What gets a business there is a combination of signals:

• How the website is built — clean, fast, and structured so a machine can read what you do, where, and for whom.
• Outbound signals — active social profiles that show a real business run by real people.
• Preferred sources — listings on sites AI already treats as verified, like your chamber of commerce. "Chamber websites are relevant again," Bryan says.

He describes it as a wall of safe dials. Some only need to be close; others have to be set exactly. How many dials you have to work depends on how competitive your category is and how large your service area is.

A cautionary example from the North Bay: a 30-year home services company that dominates traditional Google results across several counties barely showed up in AI answers. The owner had never told his story in a way AI could pick up. The good news, Bryan says, is that fixing it moves faster than the years-long grind of traditional search rankings.

The "so what?" factor

Most businesses describe themselves the same way: 15 years in business, 2,000 clients served. Bryan's response is the question every owner should run on their own website copy: so what? So has the next guy.

"Stop doing the 'I've been in business for 35 years.' That does not mean anything in today's world. You got to go deeper."

Going deeper means specifics a large language model can attach to a real need. Instead of "2,000 clients," it's 2,000 periodontal implant procedures for patients aged 45 to 65 with a specific condition — from a board-certified dentist who sits on the local chamber, has fresh reviews, and has social signals showing a real person behind the practice. That depth of context is what lets AI match you to the person asking.

What still works from traditional SEO — and what doesn't

The fundamentals haven't gone away: telling your story clearly, solid content, a good user experience, relevance. Keyword stuffing and old spammy tactics are done. Bryan's warning is that being good at SEO doesn't automatically make someone good at AI search optimization (GEO, AEO, AISO — pick your acronym). He regularly takes on clients whose previous provider was running "the playbook from about three years ago."

The website still matters, but its job changed. It may not be the front door anymore — people increasingly call or click straight from ChatGPT or Claude — but it is the hub and the repository for your story. As Stacey put it on the show, people find you through AI and then visit your site to confirm you look professional. A slow, dated site undoes the recommendation.

And don't overdo it. Bryan expects a backlash against businesses that make everything AI-generated: "There is a fine dance right now."

Three things to do this week

Stacey asked what a business owner should do if they could only do two or three things starting now. Bryan's answer:

1. Wake up your Yelp

"Yelp is back in the picture," Bryan says, pointing to its tie-in with OpenAI. If your Yelp profile has been sitting untouched for two years, go get a few fresh reviews.

2. Feed your Google Business Profile

Google is a trusted, preferred source in its own right, and what you feed it shows up elsewhere — in Gemini and beyond. Add photos and video, keep review volume growing, and make asking for reviews a habit. (See the Google Business Profile optimization guide and the review generation system.)

Bryan also has advice for customers: write effective reviews, not just five stars. When his favorite local Mexican restaurant was struggling, he wrote a review naming their carne asada burrito specifically and added a photo — which helps them come up when someone asks for the best carne asada burrito nearby.

3. Put real FAQs on every service page

Not five generic questions in one accordion on the homepage. "If I'm on your new roof section, or your gutter section, or your metal roof section, I better have Q&As on those particular areas." Ask yourself the most important question in AI search: what do people ask to find you, and are you the answer? A well-written press release is another fast, low-cost lever.

Fix the plumbing before adding more leads

Visibility is only half of it. Bryan starts every engagement with what he calls a foundation assessment rather than a cosmetic pre-website audit: when a lead comes in, where does it go, who calls it back, and how does information flow from the job back to the office? "If you don't fix the core plumbing of a business, it doesn't matter how many new customers you put into that thing."

That same thinking led him to ScribeCam, where he recently joined as chief marketing officer. It lets a roofing, HVAC or field technician walk a job and talk while AI builds the field report and materials list, with no handwritten notes and no forgotten parts.

Bonsai Brain: one operator, many models

Bryan also talked about how he delivers all of this as a solo operator. His operating system, Bonsai Brain, is built on multiple LLMs — Bodhi (OpenAI) as strategist, Kai (Anthropic's Claude) as executor, and a team of specialized agents including Sage, Echo and Pulse. "I am not just Claude. I am not just OpenAI. Me as an agency, I am all of them." Bodhi even cut in on the show before Bryan asked him to stop hogging the mic. (Meet the full roster in Meet the Team.)

The payoff: a seven-figure agency that once took 15 to 16 people and three years to build, rebuilt in about six months this year. In one example, a new roofing client had a website and paid campaigns ready by the next morning after a single conversation.

Why he's giving it back

The conversation also covered Bryan's personal turnaround. He has been open about getting sober after a medical crisis in June 2025 — and how the clarity that followed, plus AI, rebuilt his energy, his focus and his business. That is part of why he now offers his time freely: "I don't mind being a steward for those that are just like, what the heck am I supposed to do?" If you have questions about AI search, or about something harder, he invites listeners to reach out on LinkedIn.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?

Tell a specific, verifiable story everywhere AI looks. Make your website clean, fast and specific about what you do and where. Keep your Google Business Profile and Yelp active with fresh reviews, photos and video. Get listed on preferred sources like your local chamber of commerce. Add real FAQs to every service page.

Does traditional SEO still matter for AI search?

The fundamentals do: clear storytelling, quality content, a fast site and a good user experience. Keyword stuffing and spammy tactics don't. Strong SEO alone doesn't guarantee AI visibility; generative engine optimization adds its own requirements.

Why do Google Business Profile and Yelp matter for AI recommendations?

Both are trusted sources that AI assistants draw from. Google feeds what you give it into Gemini and other surfaces. Yelp's relationship with OpenAI makes an active, well-reviewed profile matter again.

What are "preferred sources" in AI search?

Sites AI systems treat as verified records that a business exists, like chamber of commerce directories. A listing there is one of the dials that raises your credibility with AI.

How fast can a business improve its AI visibility?

In Bryan's experience, faster than climbing traditional search rankings. Owners who start working on the fundamentals often see AI-referred leads appear within a few months.

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Want to know whether AI recommends your business? Bryan Fikes and Bonsai Marketing Company help local businesses become the answer AI gives. Schedule a strategy session with Bryan to get started.