We asked AI who to hire 446 times. 145 of 147 local businesses never came up.
Here's something that surprised even us. We looked at 147 local businesses around Billerica, Somerville and Andover and asked an AI assistant who people should hire, 446 times. Just 2 of those 147 businesses ever came up. Every other answer went to a national brand or a big regional company.
Why we tried this
Think about the last time you needed an electrician or a plumber. A few years ago you'd have Googled it and scrolled. Now a lot of people just ask their phone, "Who's the best electrician in Billerica?", and take whichever two or three names come back.
We work with local service businesses, so we wanted to know: when a neighbor asks AI that question, does the local shop down the street get a mention? We checked painters, electricians, HVAC companies, roofers, plumbers, auto shops, exterminators, garage door companies, movers, landscapers, chiropractors and dentists, and asked the kind of questions a real customer would ask.
What we found: the big names win
Out of 446 answers, a local business from our list was named only 4 times. That's less than 1%.
So who did get recommended? Mostly names you'd recognize from TV ads and truck wraps:
| Company AI recommended | Times named |
|---|---|
| CertaPro Painters | 37 |
| Colonial Pest Control | 30 |
| Orkin | 24 |
| Terminix | 24 |
| Gentle Giant Moving Company | 21 |
| Two Men and a Truck | 21 |
If you own a painting company or a pest control business around here, that stings. Someone a mile away asks for help, and the answer sends them to a franchise, even when you've got great reviews and you're closer.
So why are local businesses getting skipped?
It's not that AI has something against small businesses. It just recommends the ones it can find clear, consistent information about, and the big brands leave that information everywhere: complete Google profiles, thousands of reviews, matching listings, mentions in "best of" articles.
When we looked at the local businesses' websites and listings, the same gaps kept showing up:
| What was missing | How many businesses |
|---|---|
| LocalBusiness schema (a bit of code that tells Google and AI your name, phone, hours and area) | 58 of 60 (97%) |
| The same name, address and phone on their website and directories | 105 of 114 (92%) |
| Simple answers to common customer questions | 103 of 127 (81%) |
| A page title that says what they do and where | 90 of 121 (74%) |
| A working website at all | 25 of 130 (19%), plus 11 that barely worked |
The good news: none of this is complicated. It's mostly stuff that never got set up, or got set up years ago and drifted.
Five things you can do this week
You don't need to hire anyone to start. Here's where we'd begin:
- Get your Google Business Profile in shape. Claim it if you haven't, pick the most specific category ("Electrician", not "Contractor"), list every service, set the towns you cover and your hours, and add a few real photos from recent jobs.
- Make your details match everywhere. Look yourself up on Google, Yelp, Facebook, BBB and Nextdoor. Same business name, same phone number, same address on every one. If there's an old listing with your previous number, fix it or get rid of it.
- Ask every customer for a review. After each job, text them your Google review link. Ask everyone, not just the ones you know were happy, and don't offer anything for it. A few new reviews every month beats a big pile once.
- Say what you do and where. The title of your homepage should read something like "Licensed Electrician in Billerica, MA", not just your company name. It's one of the first things AI reads.
- Answer the questions people actually ask you. Add a short FAQ to your site: roughly what common jobs cost, how quickly you can come out, which towns you serve, whether you're licensed and insured. Short, honest answers are exactly what AI likes to quote.
Fair warning: this takes a little while
We'd love to tell you it's instant, but it isn't. Profile and listing fixes usually show up within a few weeks. AI answers are slower to catch up, usually several weeks to a couple of months. Reviews keep building for as long as you keep asking. Give it a full season and check back.
How we did it
We want to be upfront about what this is and isn't.
The 147 businesses came from our own scans of local service companies in October 2026: 108 in Billerica, 26 in Somerville, 12 in Andover and one in Derry, NH. Most are smaller, owner-run shops, so it's not a random sample of every business in town.
For each business, we asked one AI assistant (Claude) about three customer-style questions, like "Who are the best movers in Billerica, MA?". That's 446 answers. AI answers change from day to day and from one assistant to another, so we're planning to run the same test with ChatGPT and Gemini next.
We also checked each business's website and public listings. The percentages above only count businesses where we could actually check that item. And we've only named the companies the AI recommended; we're not going to call out the local shops that got left out.
Questions we get from owners
- "Are my customers really asking AI for a contractor?"
- More every month. And even people who still Google it now see an AI answer at the top of the page, which picks businesses the same way.
- "Is this just SEO with a new name?"
- Pretty much, honestly. You'll hear it called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), and Google treats it as part of regular SEO. The basics are the same: a complete profile, steady reviews, matching listings and a website that says clearly what you do.
- "Do I need a new website?"
- Not necessarily. A lot of businesses get most of the way there with their Google profile, listings and reviews. A website helps when it's clear and AI can actually read it, and if you need one, we build them.
- "Can you guarantee AI will recommend me?"
- No. Nobody can, and we'd be careful with anyone who says they can. What we can do is fix what's clearly missing and show you what AI says about you every month.