A homeowner in Hastings used to google “plumber hastings” and scroll the results. Now a growing number of them type “who’s a good plumber in Hastings?” into ChatGPT, or read the AI answer Google puts above the normal results, and ring whoever the machine names. No scrolling, no comparing ten websites. One answer, one or two businesses mentioned, done.
If your business is one of the names AI mentions, that’s a lead you never had to bid for. If it isn’t, you’re invisible in a channel that’s only getting bigger. The good news: getting recommended by AI is not magic, and most of your competitors haven’t even thought about it. This guide covers how AI search actually picks businesses, and the seven things a NZ tradie can do about it.
What AI search actually is
“AI search” covers a few different tools that all do the same job: answer the question directly instead of showing a list of links.
- Google AI Overviews and AI Mode. The AI-written answer that now sits above the normal results on many searches. Same Google, new front door.
- ChatGPT. When you ask it something local or current, it searches the web and answers with sources.
- Others. Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini. Different brands, same pattern: they read web pages, then write an answer that names and links a handful of sources.
You’ll also see marketing people throw around new acronyms: GEO (generative engine optimisation) and AEO (answer engine optimisation). Both mean the same thing: making your business the one AI answers cite and recommend. Don’t let the jargon intimidate you. It’s a new name for a familiar job: being the obvious, credible answer to “who should I hire?”
How AI decides which tradie to recommend
None of these tools have opinions of their own. When someone asks for a sparky in Napier, the AI goes looking at the same sources a careful customer would:
- Search indexes. AI tools run web searches behind the scenes and read the top results. If you rank well in normal Google and Bing searches, you’re in the pool of pages the AI reads. If you don’t, you’re mostly not.
- Your Google Business Profile and reviews. For “near me” questions, AI answers lean heavily on maps data: who’s nearby, who’s open, who has strong recent reviews.
- Your website. The AI reads your pages looking for plain statements it can lift: what you do, where you work, whether you handle the specific job being asked about.
- What others say about you. Directory listings, supplier pages, local news, trade association memberships. Independent mentions make you look like an established business rather than a website making claims about itself.
Notice what that list is: local SEO. AI search doesn’t replace the fundamentals, it sits on top of them. A tradie with a fast website, clear service pages, a well-kept Google Business Profile and a steady stream of reviews is already most of the way to being AI-recommendable. That’s also why you should be wary of anyone selling “GEO packages” as if it’s a separate dark art (more on that below).
The reality check
Straight up: AI search is still a small slice of how tradies get found in New Zealand today. Google’s classic results and the map pack still drive most enquiries, and paid Google Ads still puts you in front of people the day you turn it on. We run marketing for dozens of NZ trade businesses and that’s what the numbers say right now.
But the trend line only points one way. Google is putting AI answers on more searches every month, and ChatGPT-style tools are becoming the default way a chunk of people research anything, including who to hire. The tradies who tidy this up now are building a lead source their competitors don’t know exists yet. The work below is cheap, mostly one-off, and doubles as ordinary good SEO, so nothing is wasted even if AI search grows slower than expected.
The seven-step plan
1. Get your Google Business Profile match fit
For local “who should I call” questions, your Google Business Profile does more work than your website. Make sure it’s claimed, and then fill in everything: exact services, service areas, hours, photos of real jobs, and a description written in plain English. Then keep reviews coming. Recent, detailed reviews that mention the job and the suburb (“replaced our hot water cylinder in Havelock North, same week”) are exactly the kind of evidence AI answers repeat. If asking for reviews feels awkward, use our copy-paste review templates to make it a habit.
2. Make your business details identical everywhere
AI cross-references. If your website says “Smith Plumbing Ltd”, your Facebook says “Smith Plumbing & Gas” and an old Yellow listing has your previous phone number, you look uncertain, and uncertain businesses don’t get recommended. Pick one exact business name, address and phone number, and sweep every listing you can find until they match: Google, Facebook, directories, your email signature, the lot.
3. Have a page for each service you want to be found for
AI can only recommend you for drain unblocking if something it reads says you do drain unblocking. A homepage that says “quality plumbing services” tells the machine almost nothing. What works is a simple page per main service and per main area, with plain first-sentence answers: what the job is, where you do it, roughly how it works. This is the same structure that wins normal Google rankings, which is exactly the point. If your current site can’t do this, that’s the first thing to fix, and it’s the core of how lead generation works for tradies whether AI is involved or not.
4. Answer real customer questions on your pages
AI answers are built by extraction: the tool grabs clear question-and-answer passages from pages it trusts. So give it some. Add a short FAQ to each service page answering the questions customers actually ask you: “How much does it cost to reroof a 3-bedroom house?”, “Do you charge a call-out fee?”, “Are you licensed for gasfitting?” One question, one direct answer in the first sentence, a bit of detail after. Vague answers written to hide your prices get skipped; specific ranges get quoted.
5. Get mentioned in places AI reads
Independent mentions are votes. The easy wins for a tradie: your trade association listing (Master Plumbers, Master Electricians, Certified Builders and the like), the main NZ directories, supplier or manufacturer “find an installer” pages, local business awards, and any local news or community coverage you can get. You don’t need hundreds of these. A handful of legitimate, consistent mentions separates you from the competitor whose only web presence is their own website.
6. Don’t accidentally block the AI
This one bites people silently. AI tools send crawlers (with names like GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot) to read your website, and it’s now common for websites to block them without the owner ever knowing. Cloudflare, which sits in front of a huge share of NZ websites, offers a “block AI bots” setting that does exactly what it says: tick it and ChatGPT can no longer read your site. We’ve seen it switched on by default on new setups. Ask whoever manages your website to check your robots.txt file and any “AI bot” settings, and make sure the crawlers you want (the ones attached to AI search tools) are allowed. While they’re in there, they can add an llms.txt file, a small plain-text summary of your business written for AI tools. It’s optional and new, but it costs ten minutes.
7. Test it, then fix what you find
The best audit is free: open ChatGPT and ask it what a customer would. “Who’s a good roofer in Tauranga?” “Is [your business name] any good?” “Who should I call for a heat pump install in Christchurch?” Try Google’s AI results and Perplexity too. Three things can happen: you’re recommended (great, note why: usually reviews or a specific page), you’re missing (work through steps 1 to 6), or the AI says something wrong about you, like an old address or a service you don’t offer (find the page it got that from and correct it at the source). Re-test every month or two. It’s the closest thing AI search has to a rank tracker.
What not to bother with
A new channel always attracts snake oil, so, disclosure first: we’re a marketing agency that sells this kind of work, and even we think you should skip most of what’s being sold under the AI-search banner right now.
- Don’t pay for a separate “GEO retainer” on top of SEO. If the deliverables list looks like relabelled SEO (it usually does), it should be part of your existing SEO work, not a second invoice.
- Don’t stuff pages with “best plumber” self-praise. AI tools weigh what others say about you far more than what you say about yourself. Chest-beating copy reads as noise to humans and machines alike.
- Don’t buy fake reviews or directory spam. The platforms filter it, and a profile with 40 five-star reviews and no photos of real work convinces no one, silicon or otherwise.
- Don’t drop Google Ads or SEO to chase AI. Today they bring the leads; AI search is the channel you set up alongside them. If you’re weighing those up, start with Google Ads vs SEO for tradies.
Frequently asked questions
Is GEO different from SEO?
Mostly no. Generative engine optimisation and answer engine optimisation both boil down to being crawlable, clearly written, well reviewed and independently mentioned, which is what good local SEO already does. The extra AI-specific work (allowing AI crawlers, adding an llms.txt file, testing what AI tools say about you) is real but small.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It’s a nice-to-have, not a must. It’s a simple text file that gives AI tools a clean summary of your business and services. Cheap insurance, minor factor. Fix your Google Business Profile and service pages first.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?
There’s no queue to join and no guaranteed timeline. AI tools re-read the web constantly, so a fixed profile, new reviews or a corrected page can show up in answers within weeks, but nobody can promise a date. Anyone who guarantees “you’ll be in ChatGPT in 30 days” is guessing at best.
How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?
Ask it, the same way a customer would: “who’s a good [your trade] in [your town]?” and “is [your business] any good?” Check Google’s AI results and Perplexity while you’re at it. Do it monthly and keep a note of what changes.
Is AI search actually sending tradies leads in NZ yet?
Some, and growing. It’s still small next to Google search and the map pack, and those same fundamentals feed both. That’s the practical takeaway: nothing on this list is wasted, because it strengthens the channels bringing your leads today and positions you for the one arriving next.
Want this sorted without doing it yourself?
Everything above is doable in a few evenings if you like this stuff. If you’d rather be on the tools, it’s the kind of thing we set up as part of a lead generation system: website, Google Ads, local SEO and now AI visibility, built to bring in jobs you can price properly. Get my free game plan and we’ll show you exactly where you’re visible, where you’re not, and what it’s worth fixing first.