A customer looking for a local business once might have searched “plumber Manchester”. Now, they can ask “Who can fix a leaking boiler in South Manchester this weekend, and what should I expect to pay?” 35% of UK consumers surveyed by Adobe had already used generative AI to help them shop in 2025, while 44% of AI-search users surveyed by McKinsey called it their primary or preferred source of insight, ahead of traditional search at 31%.
A customer looking for a local business once might have searched “plumber Manchester”. Now, they can ask “Who can fix a leaking boiler in South Manchester this weekend, and what should I expect to pay?” 35% of UK consumers surveyed by Adobe1 had already used generative AI to help them shop in 2025, while 44% of AI-search users surveyed by McKinsey2 called it their primary or preferred source of insight, ahead of traditional search at 31%.
So, Google still matters, but small business SEO now has another discovery route to account for. This Large Language Models (LLMs) guide for small businesses shows you how to optimise your business for LLMs alongside traditional search, helping AI tools find accurate information about your business, understand what you offer and connect you with relevant customer searches.
- Small business LLM discoverability matters because customers increasingly use AI search to find, compare and choose businesses that match specific needs.
- Optimise your business for LLMs by keeping important website pages accessible to search engines and AI search crawlers.
- Help LLMs understand your business with clear details about what you offer, who you serve and where you operate.
- Keep business information consistent across your website, Google Business Profile and other online listings so LLMs pull the same accurate facts from every source.
- Strengthen AI search visibility with genuine customer reviews, relevant directory listings, media coverage and mentions on trusted websites.
Check how discoverable your business is in LLMs today
Before changing anything, find out what AI tools already know about your business. This 5-minute baseline check gives you something concrete to work from and compare against later.
Search for your business directly
First, check whether LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and others can identify your business and get the basics right. Try:
- What is [business name] in [location]?
- What does [business name] offer?
- Where is [business name] located?
Check whether the answers are accurate, current and specific, particularly your location and products or services.
Test a customer-style query
Next, remove your business name. This shows whether an LLM can connect what you offer with the needs of someone who isn’t aware of your business yet. Try:
- Which [business type] in [location] offers [specific requirement]?
- Where can I find [product/service] in [location] for [specific need]?
Keep the requirement realistic and specific. A bakery might test vegan birthday cakes in Leeds, for example.
Record what you find
Use the results to identify where to focus your attention later on.
| Result | What it means | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Missing | AI isn’t finding enough about you | Website, profiles and external sites |
| Incorrect | Information is conflicting or outdated | Website, Google Business Profile and listings |
| Incomplete | Important details aren’t being picked up | Where and how those details appear online |
| Accurate | Your core information comes through correctly | Keep business information updated and monitor it |
Record ChatGPT and Gemini separately as their answers may differ. For now, don’t fix anything. The next steps will help you work through the sources behind these results.
The AI-ready business framework
Whatever your baseline check revealed, improving your AI visibility comes down to these five areas:
- Be findable → Make sure search engines and AI tools can access your website and find your business profiles.
- Be clear → State what you sell, who it’s for, where you operate and how customers can buy or book.
- Be consistent → Use the same business name, address, phone number, opening hours and other key details everywhere you appear online.
- Be credible → Build reviews, relevant directory listings and mentions on websites customers already use and trust.
- Stay current → Update information and regularly retest how your business appears in search and AI answers.
Make it easy for LLMs to find your business
LLMs can’t use information they can’t access. So, before worrying about what your website says, make sure search engines and AI tools can actually find and read it. This helps your business show up in both traditional search results and AI-powered answers.
Check whether your important pages can be found on Google
You don’t need to check every page on your website. Focus on the pages that tell customers what they need to know: your homepage and your product/service, costings and location pages.
[IMG: Annotated Google site: search screenshot
Alt text: Google site search showing a small business homepage and service pages indexed in search results]
Here’s a quick way to check:
- Go to Google and search site:yourwebsite.co.uk: Look specifically for your homepage, products or services, costings and location pages.
- For a more reliable answer, use Google Search Console: Paste an important page address into the URL Inspection tool. It’ll tell you whether Google can include that page in search results.
- If an important page is missing, check the reason shown: It may be an easy fix, or something to send to whoever manages your website.
[IMG: Google Search Console URL Inspection screenshot
Alt text: Google Search Console URL Inspection showing that a business service page is indexed by Google]
Check for access problems after major website changes
Just launched a new site, switched platforms or had a website redesign? Check important pages again. Website changes can accidentally make pages that were previously easy to find disappear from search.
- Open your key pages and make sure they still work.
- If any page addresses changed, check that the old URLs redirect visitors to the new URLs.
- Run important pages through Google Search Console again.
If a page has vanished, ask your website provider or developer to investigate. A missing service page means one less useful source for AI tools to learn what your business offers.
[IMG: Simple before/after diagram rather than a screenshot
Alt text: Diagram comparing a working page redirect with a broken URL after a website redesign]
Check access for AI search crawlers
Being visible to Google doesn’t automatically mean every AI search tool can access your website. Some use their own automated systems to find and read public pages.
If the company that hosts your website manages it, ask them:
- Can major search engines, user bots, and AI search tools access my public pages?
- Are any website settings accidentally blocking web pages?
- Can we allow AI search and user bot access separately from access used to train AI models?
That last question matters because ChatGPT uses different tools for different jobs. OAI-SearchBot is the crawler that visits public webpages so they can appear in ChatGPT search results. GPTBot is a separate crawler used to collect content that may help train OpenAI’s AI models. Finally, user bots (like ChatGPT-User) are used when someone specifically asks an AI to read a link they provide. You can allow OAI-SearchBot to access your website while blocking GPTBot, so the two don’t have to go hand in hand.
How to help LLMs understand your business
Being accessible isn’t enough. An LLM also needs enough clear information to connect your business with a customer question. If someone asks for “a florist in Bristol that delivers wedding bouquets on Saturdays,” the useful information isn’t just florist and Bristol. The AI also needs to find information about the service, location, delivery options and availability.
Answer the essential questions about your business
Start with the facts an LLM needs to understand what your business is and when to recommend it.
| Question | What to make clear | How it helps LLMs |
|---|---|---|
| What do you do? | Specific products or services | Connects you with relevant searches |
| Who do you serve? | Customers, needs or use cases | Shows when your offering is suitable |
| Where do you operate? | Location or service area | Connects you with local searches |
| What does it cost? | Prices, ranges or quote process | Helps with price and budget questions |
Check your website against all four questions. If you can’t answer one from the information published online, an LLM may struggle too.
Which information to put on which page
LLMs understand your business better when related information is grouped together in a clear context. A dedicated page about wedding floristry in Bristol, for example, gives AI stronger evidence about that specific service and location than a passing mention buried on a homepage.
Give the most important aspects of the business a clear online home:
- Homepage: What you do, who you serve and your main location or service area
- Product/service pages: One specific offering, who it’s for, relevant details and prices where applicable
- Location pages: What you offer in each location or service area
- About page: Your business background, story, expertise and team
- Contact page: Address or service area, contact details and opening hours
- Pricing page: Prices, ranges or packages and how to request a quote
Source: The Bowler
Make important business information available as webpage text
AI systems can work with many types of online content, but important business information is easiest to read when formatted clearly as normal webpage text.
If your opening hours appear inside a JPEG, for example, write the hours on the page too. Do the same for:
- prices
- locations and service areas
- contact details
- products and services
- delivery and collection
- availability and booking information
This gives AI search systems explicit information to retrieve rather than hiding an important detail inside an image or downloadable graphic.
Use descriptive page titles and headings
Clear page titles and headings provide useful context for the information underneath them. Make headings descriptive enough that the topic is obvious even when a section is viewed on its own.
For example…
| Instead of… | Try… |
|---|---|
| Our services | Wedding and event floristry in Bristol |
| Delivery | Wedding flower delivery across Bristol and Bath |
And while keywords are important, there’s no need to cram them into every heading. Simply name the product, service, location or topic clearly.
Add details that help LLMs match you to specific requests
Specific facts help an LLM establish that you’re a florist in Bristol, helping it decide whether your business is relevant to a more specific customer request.
Depending on your business, state details such as:
- delivery and collection options
- opening days and availability
- appointment or booking requirements
- product or service options
- geographical areas you cover
- accessibility
- specialisms
- business policies
- relevant qualifications or credentials
For example, clearly stating that you deliver wedding flowers across Bristol on Saturdays gives an LLM useful evidence for a question such as “Which Bristol florist offers Saturday wedding flower delivery?”
Think about the qualifiers a customer might add after searching for your basic product or service. Those are often the details that turn a broad AI search into a good business match.
Answer the questions customers ask LLMs about businesses like yours
Look through emails, contact forms, calls, reviews and social messages for common questions, and ask your team what they explain to customers repeatedly. Pay particular attention to questions about price, suitability, location, availability, delivery, booking, policies and comparisons.
Answer common questions on the most relevant page using the simple structure: Direct answer → useful detail → next step
For example:
Do you deliver wedding flowers outside Bristol?
Yes. We deliver across Bristol, Bath and surrounding areas. Delivery fees depend on the venue location. Send us your postcode for a quote.
Clear answers like this closely match the detailed questions people ask AI assistants. They also give an LLM an explicit answer to work with instead of requiring it to infer one from scattered clues across your website.
Keep your business information consistent so LLMs can verify it
Your website gives LLMs information about your business. Now check whether other sources back it up. When several reliable sources agree on important facts, AI systems have clearer evidence to work with.
Keep your Google Business Profile complete and up to date
For a local business, your Google Business Profile is one of the key sources customers find in Google Search and Maps. Make sure it matches the information currently published on your website.
Pay particular attention to:
- opening hours, including holiday hours
- address or service area
- business category
- products and services
- phone number and website
Update your profile whenever these details change rather than waiting until a customer spots the mistake.
Update the profiles and listings LLMs encounter about your business
Now, look beyond Google. Review the profiles and listings customers are likely to encounter, including:
- social media profiles
- review platforms, e.g. Trustpilot
- UK and local directories. e.g. Yell.com
- relevant industry directories
Check that they accurately describe where you are, what you do and how customers can reach you. These independent sources give LLMs additional evidence about your business beyond what you publish yourself.
More listings aren’t automatically better. Prioritise well-known, relevant sources over lots of business directories nobody uses.
Resolve conflicting information about your business
Not every mention of your business needs to be word-for-word identical. Willow & Rose Florist versus Willow and Rose Florist is unlikely to be a major issue.
Instead, focus on differences that could change the answer an LLM gives a customer, such as:
- old addresses or phone numbers
- incorrect opening hours
- outdated website links
- discontinued products or services
- incorrect service areas
- outdated prices
- duplicate or obsolete business profiles
For example, if your website says you’re open until 6pm but Google says 5pm, an AI system has conflicting evidence about whether a customer can visit at 5:30pm.
The aim is simple: keep the important facts current and cohesive across the sources customers and AI systems are likely to find.
Build third-party signals that support your business’s credibility
Consistency helps LLMs verify basic facts. But they can also encounter your business on sources you can’t control. Reviews, media coverage and other independent mentions contribute evidence about what you do and what customers experience.
Generate genuine customer reviews
Reviews provide current, customer-generated information about your business. Make requesting customer reviews part of your normal routine:
- Send a review request after a purchase or completed service.
- Link directly to your preferred review platform.
- Request reviews via follow-up emails, receipts or QR-code print materials.
- Ask for honest feedback without telling customers what to write.
A steady flow of genuine reviews is more useful than a sudden burst followed by months of silence.
Turn business activity into relevant external mentions
Look for natural opportunities to earn relevant mentions beyond review platforms:
- Pitch to local media about launches, events, awards or community projects.
- Offer expert commentary to local or industry publications.
- Ask partners and stockists to include you on their supplier or stockist pages.
- Join relevant trade or professional associations that publish member profiles.
Contribute expertise where customers ask questions
Relevant discussions can provide another source of information about your business and expertise. So, look for questions you can genuinely help answer on Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn and specialist communities.
Contribute useful answers, mention your business only when relevant and be clear about your connection to it. Avoid planting recommendations or disguising promotional posts as customer opinions. Aside from being a poor way to build trust, it creates questionable evidence for AI systems to encounter.
Your LLM discoverability action plan
Use this checklist to optimise your business for LLMs, prioritising what to fix now, what to improve next and how to maintain your small business LLM discoverability over time.
Step 1: Review and fix any issues
- Review your baseline LLM check and correct information that was missing, incorrect or incomplete.
- Make sure important website pages can be crawled, indexed and found in search.
- Clearly state what you offer, who you serve, where you operate and what the pricing is.
- Make important prices, locations, hours and service details available as webpage text.
- Fix major conflicts in addresses, hours, contact details, services and other business facts.
Step 2: Strengthen your LLM discoverability
- Add details customers include in specific queries, such as availability, delivery, service areas, prices and policies.
- Answer genuine customer questions on the relevant product, service, location or pricing pages.
- Update important social profiles, review platforms and relevant directory listings.
- Build a consistent process for gathering genuine customer reviews.
- Earn relevant third-party mentions through local and industry media, partnerships, professional associations and expert contributions.
Step 3: Maintain your LLM discoverability
- Update hours, prices, services, locations and availability when they change.
- Keep your website, Google Business Profile and other important profiles aligned.
- Continue requesting and responding to customer reviews.
- Repeat customer-style LLM queries to test the results.
- If an AI answer is inaccurate, trace the information back to your website, profiles or prominent third-party sources and correct outdated information where possible.
Ready to make your business visible to LLMs?
LLM discoverability is something you can improve one practical fix at a time. Start with your biggest gaps, work through the action plan and revisit your AI searches as your business information changes.
And remember that your online and offline presence can work together. A clear, well-structured website gives search and AI systems useful information about your business, while QR codes on business cards, flyers and other print materials can send customers directly to those pages, your booking page or review profile.
The goal is simple: wherever customers look, make your business easy to find and to understand.
Small business LLM discoverability FAQs
How long does it take to improve LLM discoverability?
There’s no fixed timeline. Changes may only surface after search engines and AI systems revisit your pages and other online sources, so expect progress to be gradual rather than instant.
Can I see how often my business appears in AI search?
Not reliably in one place (yet). You can track a fixed set of customer-style prompts across tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini, then record whether your business appears, how it’s described and which sources are cited.
Do I need special tools to optimise my business for LLMs?
No. Small businesses can handle most of the basics with their website, Google Business Profile, Search Console and regular checks in major AI tools; specialist software becomes useful when you want to track many different prompts at scale.
What should I do if an AI tool gives incorrect information about my business?
Check whether the incorrect detail appears on your website, business profiles or third-party listings and correct it at the source. AI answers may take time to reflect the update, so retest the same query later on.
