Will AI Recommend Your Business? Start With Your Google Business Profile

So On Brand, Episode 5

TL;DR

• AI tools only name a few local businesses per answer.
• A complete Google Business Profile is the best place to start.
• Photo file names, alt text and detailed reviews give AI more to work with.

Not long ago, my book club got so far off topic that I couldn’t tell you how our conversation about the actual book ended. Somebody asked how people are finding businesses now, and whether everyone just asks AI who to hire. I went home and started building tools to help. This episode covers four free steps, and the first is your Google Business Profile for AI search. (Fair warning: it’s the least glamorous thing I’ll ever ask you to do.)

In this episode

• [00:08] The book club question
• [01:51] How people find a business now
• [03:45] What the Local Visibility Index found
• [06:26] Step 1: Fill out your Google Business Profile
• [10:49] Step 2: Your photos are data
• [13:53] Step 3: Get reviews that actually say something
• [17:29] Step 4: Go ask AI about your own business
• [21:24] Two things not to do
• [23:17] Why AI matters when you run a business mostly solo
• [25:41] Good Company: Rivet Coffee

How people find a business now

Say a business owner needs a brand photographer in Carmel, Indiana. Two years ago, she would have Googled it and opened four or five tabs. Now she asks ChatGPT (or Google), “Who’s a good brand photographer in Carmel?” and books one of the three or four names it gives her, often before she sees a website.

I search this way more these days too, and I know I’m probably missing great small businesses that never made the list.

What the Local Visibility Index found

SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index tracked how often AI assistants recommended nearly 350,000 business locations. ChatGPT recommended about 1.2%, and Gemini about 11%, partly because it’s grounded in Google Maps.

Those are multi-location brands, so your odds will look different, and the list is really short either way. And that can work in your favor! For now, these tools favor businesses that clearly explain what they do, who they serve and where, so a northside Indy solopreneur has a real shot.

My free AI search checklist has eight ways to get found by AI, and the episode covers the four I think matter most. (I also wrote about getting recommended by AI back in July.)

1. Fill out your Google Business Profile (all of it)

That Gemini number is why this comes first. Your profile is one of the biggest things these tools pull from for local questions, and every box you fill in is one more question AI can answer about you. Google’s help page says complete, accurate profiles are more likely to show up in local results.

• Services: Use your clients’ words. Nobody searches for “Signature Package in Indianapolis.” They search for “brand photos in Indianapolis.”
• Service area: Add every community you want clients from.
• Description: Write it the way you’d explain your business to a friend: what you do, who you do it for and where. Save the pretty copywriting for captions and emails.
• Ownership: Search for your business. If Google built one on its own, I’d rather you find it than a client.

Earlier this year, I started spending 20 to 30 minutes a month tweaking mine. It’s the business version of cleaning out the junk drawer, and it might be your highest-return hour this month.

2. Your photos are data

This one is my fav, obviously. A lot of what AI search reads is the file names and descriptions attached to your images.

A photo saved as image1577.jpeg tells a machine nothing. It could be a headshot or a sandwich. Save it as carmel-brand-photography-headshot-session.jpg, and now it knows the service and the location.

Before your next upload, rename each file with your keywords. From what I’ve read, lowercase with hyphens works best (Google’s own example uses that style). Then fill in the alt text, the short image description on your website. A blank one is a free spot you’re skipping.

I deliver my brand photography clients’ photos named this way. If someone else shoots for you, just ask.

3. Get reviews that actually say something

The words in your reviews become the words in your recommendation. A review that says “she’s great” is lovely, and it gives AI nothing to repeat. One that says what a client came to you for, what she was nervous about and what she walked out with gives AI real language.

Give clients a little guidance (without writing it for them):

• What made you reach out in the first place?
• What surprised you about the experience?
• What would you tell a friend about working with me?

If asking makes you want to throw up a little, I get it. Add one line with your Google link to your delivery email, so you ask while clients are still on that high. Google is where reviews count most, then your website.

4. Go ask AI about your own business

This is the fun one! Everything above is a guess until you check.

1. Open an incognito window and turn off the memory setting in ChatGPT or Claude. Otherwise the tool knows you and flatters you.
2. Ask the question your ideal client would ask, without your business name. For me, that’s “Who’s a great brand photographer in Carmel, Indiana?”
3. Ask a few times, in a few tools and a few different ways.
4. Read what it says about you like a stranger would, and fix what doesn’t match.
5. Check the Google profiles of the businesses it names.

I ran this check right before recording and found something on my own website to fix (that story is around 19:35).

Two things not to do

Don’t rebuild everything. Make one page on your website really clear about what you do, who you serve and where.

Don’t sand yourself down into a quotable robot. Put one plain sentence on that page, then sound like yourself everywhere else.

Why AI matters when you run a business mostly solo

I have two kids and my husband travels a lot, so my business hours are often school hours. AI helps with the routine stuff while I keep the creative side mine, and getting found by AI works for you while you’re at soccer practice.

Want to know exactly where you stand? My AI audit [LINK: AI audit page] has no calls or meetings. You buy it, fill out a form, and I send you a custom video with a step-by-step game plan.

Good Company: Rivet Coffee

One of my favorite places in Westfield is Rivet Coffee Bar & Roastery, in a converted older house on Jersey Street downtown (so cute). Allie Commons owns it, and her daughter-in-law, Caroline, manages it.

In a Towne Post article, Allie called opening Rivet “the culmination of a 30-year dream and a prayer to serve people coffee.” I love that she held onto it that long and went for it! The roastery got going in 2020, and the café opened in 2021.

We moved here from Atlanta about 10 years ago and missed our little community coffee shops, so we were so happy when Rivet opened! Now there’s also a Rivet in the Westfield library and one in Zionsville at GR Brands Plaza, where you can look at race cars and luxury vehicles.

My favorite detail is the windowed garage door on the roastery, where you can watch them roast the beans. Ask people about Rivet and you’ll hear about the little house, that window and the patio, and you can tell those were intentional decisions. This week, think about what people repeat about your business, because those words end up describing you everywhere, including in an AI answer.

Visit: Rivet Coffee Bar & Roastery, 337 Jersey Street, Westfield, IN | rivetcoffee.com

Where to start with your Google Business Profile for AI search

This week, run the AI check, then fill in one section of your Google Business Profile you’ve been skipping. Grab the free AI search checklist for the other four steps, and message me on Instagram at @kelliwhitecreative to tell me what AI said. I’d love to hear whether you showed up!

Frequently asked questions

How is AI search different from regular SEO?
Regular search gives you a page of links. AI tools sum up a few recommendations in one answer. Clear service descriptions and Google reviews help with both.

How do I claim my Google Business Profile?
Go to business.google.com and follow the steps to claim or create your profile. Google will ask you to verify the business is yours.

What is So On Brand?
It’s Kelli White’s podcast about what makes brands and businesses stand out. Find every episode at SoonBrand.com.

When do new episodes come out?
New episodes drop every Tuesday.

Places and resources mentioned

• Free AI search checklist
• [LINK: AI audit page]
• SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index
• Rivet Coffee Bar & Roastery

Listen and subscribe

Catch every episode of So On Brand on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Acast, and come say hi on Instagram at @kelliwhitecreative.

Want help making your business easier for clients (and AI) to find? Let’s plan your content.

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Kelli White is an Indianapolis-based strategic content partner for women-owned businesses across the northside, including Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, Noblesville and Zionsville. She creates photo, video and content strategy that helps businesses show up consistently, and So On Brand is her podcast about brands and the businesses behind them.