More and more people ask an AI when they are looking for a hairdresser, a physiotherapist or an electrician. ChatGPT and Google's AI answers then name a few businesses. You can influence whether yours is among them. Here you'll read how these searches work and what you can do right now.
How many people already search with AI
The KMU Digital Pulse 2025 study looked at this for Switzerland. It comes from localsearch and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences (press release of 28 August 2025, in German):
| Study finding | Share |
|---|---|
| Used AI to find information about SMEs in the last 12 months | 19% |
| Used AI for this, youngest age group | 26% |
| Start their search for an SME directly with an AI tool | 13% |
| Current AI users who plan to do this more often | 78% |
| Can imagine booking appointments through a voice AI | 39% |
Lucerne University of Applied Sciences expects around half the population to use AI to find SMEs in future. That is a projection, not a measurement. Still, the direction is clear.
How AI search finds its answers
The AI search tools from Google and ChatGPT base their answers on websites. Their crawlers have found and read these websites beforehand.
Google: AI Overviews and AI Mode
Google says there are no additional requirements for appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode (Google Search Central, AI features). Your page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet in normal search. So the same basics apply as for regular Google Search.
ChatGPT: OpenAI's search
For search in ChatGPT, OpenAI uses its own crawler called OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI, overview of crawlers). OpenAI recommends allowing this crawler in your robots.txt file. A second crawler, GPTBot, collects content for training AI models. You can control the two separately.
Eight steps you can take now
1. Bring your Google Business Profile up to date
Google explicitly advises keeping your Business Profile information current. Opening hours, services and contact details must be right. Our article on the Google Business Profile shows you how.
2. Don't lock out the search engines
Check your robots.txt file and your hosting settings. Google points out that a content delivery network or your hosting can also block crawlers. Allow Googlebot and OAI-SearchBot.
3. Put important information in text
Prices, opening hours and services belong in the text of the page. A picture of your price list is not suitable for this. Google recommends making important content available as text.
4. Create one page per service
If you offer several services, one page per service answers exactly one question. Link these pages to each other so search engines can find them easily. If you work in several places, one page per region helps.
5. Answer your customers' questions
Write down the questions you hear on the phone again and again. Answer them on your website, briefly and concretely. Mention your town, region and, where it makes sense, approximate prices. An AI can pick up clear answers like these directly.
6. Keep structured data honest
Structured data describes your business in a form machines can read. Google doesn't require any special data for its AI features. If you use it, though, it must match the visible text on the page.
7. Collect reviews and mentions
For local ranking, Google also looks at prominence, for example through links and reviews (Google, local ranking). Ask happy customers for a review. A link from your trade association or local council counts too.
8. Test it yourself and note the answers
Ask ChatGPT and Google who offers your service in your region. Note who is named and which sources the AI shows. Repeat the test every month. The answers change, so the trend over time is what counts.
How to tell it's working
Google Search Console counts visitors from Google's AI features as part of normal search traffic. According to Google, they appear in the performance report under the ‘Web’ search type. There is no separate filter for AI alone. So look out for these signs:
- Clicks from Google Search go up, even though you aren't running ads.
- New customers mention that ChatGPT or Google recommended you.
- Your business appears more often in your monthly test from step 8.
Ask new customers how they found you. Note their answers alongside your monthly test.
What you can skip
Lots of offers are springing up around AI search. With some, caution pays off:
- Special AI files: Google says you don't need new AI text files or special markup for its AI features.
- Guaranteed positions: Google states that indexing and serving are not guaranteed. Be careful if anyone promises you a fixed place in ChatGPT.
- Text written only for machines: Write for people. Clear, honest answers help your customers and the search engines alike.
What the work costs
You can do much of this yourself. If you'd like help, we'll take the work off your hands and also tell you what you don't need. The Visibility package has a guide price from CHF 900 one-off:
- Google profile set up and optimised
- Automatic review requests
- Pages for your services and locations
- Structured data for AI answers
We agree the fixed price with you based on effort, depending on what you need. If you'd like us to stay on it, there is the Grow care plan from CHF 790 per month, and you can cancel it any month. The free website check shows you where you stand today. Find out more under Visibility.
You don't have to do everything at once. Start with step 1. No rush.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a special AI file such as llms.txt?
Not for Google. Google says no new AI text files or special markup are needed for AI Overviews and AI Mode. What matters is an indexed website with clear content in text form.
Can anyone guarantee me a place in ChatGPT?
No. Google states explicitly that indexing and serving are not guaranteed. OpenAI, too, only names steps that help. Trustworthy providers therefore don't promise fixed positions.
Should I block AI crawlers in robots.txt?
That depends on what you want. At OpenAI, search and training are separate: OAI-SearchBot for search, GPTBot for training. You can allow search and block training.