Your competitor came up in ChatGPT. You didn’t. Here’s why that matters.
Imagine one of your potential customers asking ChatGPT for a recommendation.
Perhaps they're looking for an accountant, a website designer, a photographer, a business coach or someone to help with their marketing. They explain what they need, where they're based and perhaps even the sort of person or business they would prefer to work with.
ChatGPT gives them a handful of suggestions. Your competitor is one of them, and you aren't. Therefore...
Your competitor came up in ChatGPT. You didn’t. Here’s why that matters.
It doesn't necessarily mean your competitor is better than you. It doesn't mean they have a better business. It doesn't even mean they have a better website.
It simply means that, based on the information available to the AI, their business was easier to identify as a relevant answer to that particular question, and that is something businesses need to start paying attention to.
Getting found online used to be fairly straightforward
For a long time, the basic idea was simple. Someone needed something, they went to Google, typed in a few words, looked through the results and clicked on the websites that looked promising.
If you ranked well for the right searches, you had a good chance of being found.
That still matters. Google isn't disappearing, and I'm certainly not suggesting that businesses stop thinking about SEO.
What has changed is what happens before someone gets to that point.
People are increasingly asking AI tools questions that they would previously have put into Google. And those questions are often much more detailed and conversational than a traditional search.
Instead of typing “accountant Norfolk”, someone might ask:
Can you recommend an accountant in Norfolk who works with small businesses and can help with both accounts and business advice?”
Instead of searching “marketing consultant Norfolk”, they might ask:
Who could help a small service-based business improve its marketing without making everything complicated?”
Those are very different searches.
The second isn't simply looking for a webpage containing the words “marketing consultant” and “Norfolk”. It's looking for a business that appears to fit a particular situation.
That means the information you have online needs to do more than simply tell Google what keywords you want to rank for. It needs to make your business understandable.
Your customers are doing more research before they buy
The customer journey has never really been as simple as “Google, website, buy”, but it has become considerably more complicated.
Someone might now ask AI for recommendations, look at the businesses it suggests, read their reviews, visit a couple of websites, check LinkedIn or Facebook, search Google for the business name, look at what other people have said about them and then, finally, get in touch.
There might be several different touchpoints before you ever know that person is considering working with you.
That's important because your website isn't necessarily where someone first encounters your business anymore.
They might encounter your business through a review.
They might see you mentioned on another website.
They might come across one of your blog posts.
They might see you recommended in a Facebook group.
They might find your Google Business Profile.
Or they might ask AI a question and see your business in the answer.
By the time they reach your website, they may already have formed an opinion.
This is why I think the conversation around “AI search” is actually much bigger than ChatGPT.
It's really about how people discover, research and decide which businesses they want to talk to.
So what is AI actually looking for?
There is a tendency to make AI search sound like some mysterious new discipline that requires an entirely new marketing strategy.
I don't think it does.
AI needs information. It needs to understand what your business is, what you offer, who you help, where you work and whether there is enough evidence to suggest that you're a useful and trustworthy recommendation.
That information comes from lots of places.
Your website is obviously one of them, but it isn't the only one. Your Google Business Profile, reviews, directories, social media profiles, other websites that mention you, and the content you publish can all contribute to the picture.
Think of it as a collection of signals.
Your website might say that you are a marketing consultant who works with small service-based businesses.
Your Google Business Profile might confirm where you're based.
Your reviews might explain that you helped a client understand why their marketing wasn't working.
A blog might demonstrate that you understand SEO, visibility and customer behaviour.
Another website might mention your business or recommend your services.
None of those things is necessarily going to make you suddenly appear in ChatGPT.
But together they create a much clearer picture of your business, and clarity matters.
This is why your website still matters
There's a lot of talk about AI meaning people won't visit websites anymore.
I don't think we're there yet, and I wouldn't build a marketing strategy around the assumption that people won't want to check you out for themselves.
If anything, I think your website needs to work harder.
If AI recommends your business, what happens when the person then clicks through to find out more?
Can they immediately understand what you do?
Can they see who you work with?
Can they tell whether you're relevant to them?
Can they understand what makes you different?
Can they find evidence that you're good at what you do?
Can they work out what to do next?
This is where I see so many small business websites falling down.
The business owner knows exactly what they offer because they've been doing it for years. Their website, however, assumes the visitor already understands it.
There are vague statements about “empowering businesses”, a list of services, a few lovely photographs and a button saying “Get Started”, but the potential customer is still thinking: Yes, but can you actually help someone like me?
That's a marketing problem, not an AI problem.
Your reviews are part of your marketing too
Reviews have always been important, but I think businesses sometimes underestimate just how much useful information sits inside them.
Of course, having lots of positive reviews is helpful. But the words people use can be even more valuable.
If your reviews repeatedly mention that you're knowledgeable, responsive, easy to work with, good at explaining complicated things or particularly good with small businesses, that's telling prospective customers something about the experience they can expect.
It also gives search engines and AI more context about what you actually do well.
So when you're asking customers for reviews, don't just think about getting another five-star rating.
Think about whether you're giving people the opportunity to explain what you helped them with and what difference you made.
Those details can be far more useful than “great service, highly recommend”.
Your Google Business Profile is not something to set and forget
The same applies to your Google Business Profile.
It is very easy to create one, tick the box and then completely forget about it.
Your business changes. Your services change. Your opening hours change. You get new photographs. You get new reviews. You might start working with different types of customers or covering a wider area.
All of that should be reflected in your profile.
It's one of the places Google can get information about your business, and it's also one of the first things a potential customer might look at when they're considering contacting you.
So make sure it actually represents the business you're running today rather than the business you were running three years ago.
And then there is content
This is where I think businesses can easily go down the wrong path.
The answer to AI search isn't to start churning out endless blog posts because you've heard that “content is king”.
Please don't.
If you already struggle to find time to market your business, creating three blog posts a week that nobody wants to read isn't going to make your life better.
Instead, look at the questions your customers are actually asking.
What do they worry about before they buy?
What do they misunderstand?
What do they repeatedly ask you to explain?
What are they comparing?
What would they Google if they didn't know your business existed?
Those questions are incredibly useful.
A good article answering one genuinely useful question can do far more for your visibility than five generic posts about “five ways to improve your business”, and it gives both people and search engines something useful to work with.
You don't need a separate marketing strategy just because AI exists
This is probably the biggest point I would make.
I don't think small businesses need to suddenly have an “AI marketing strategy” sitting alongside their existing marketing strategy.
They need to get the fundamentals right.
Have a website that clearly explains what you do.
Make sure your Google Business Profile is complete and current.
Build genuine reviews.
Make sure your business details are consistent across the web.
Create useful content around the things your customers actually want to know.
Get mentioned in relevant places.
Make sure your social profiles reinforce rather than contradict what your website says.
And, perhaps most importantly, make sure there is a clear connection between what you think your business is known for and what your online presence actually communicates.
Those things were important before ChatGPT existed, and they're still important now.
Google isn't dead. Your marketing just has more places to show up.
I really don't like the constant “SEO is dead” and “Google is finished” headlines that appear every time something new comes along.
Google still has an enormous role to play in how people find businesses.
But it is no longer the only place people go when they're researching something.
Someone might discover you through AI and then Google you.
They might find you through Google and then check your reviews.
They might see you on LinkedIn and then look at your website.
They might hear your name from someone else and search for you afterwards.
The lines between all of these things are becoming much more blurred.
That's why I prefer to think about **visibility** rather than simply rankings.
Wherever someone is looking, are you giving them enough information to find you, understand you and decide that you're worth talking to?
Think about your online presence as one big picture
Your website is one piece.
Your Google profile is another.
Your reviews are another.
Your social media is another.
Your content is another.
Your directory listings are another.
The mentions you get on other websites are another.
Individually, they might not seem particularly significant. Together, they tell a story about your business.
And if all those different places are saying roughly the same thing, it becomes much easier for both people and technology to understand what you're about.
The opposite is also true.
If your website says you work with small businesses, your LinkedIn profile talks about corporate marketing, your Google profile lists completely different services, and your directory listings have an old phone number, you've created a rather confusing picture.
You might know that all of those things are connected.
A potential customer doesn't.
And AI certainly can't ask you to explain what you meant.
So what should you actually do?
I'd start by doing something very simple.
Search for yourself.
Then search for the things you want to be found for.
Ask ChatGPT questions that a potential customer might ask.
For example:
"Who are some good marketing consultants for small businesses in Norfolk?”
Or make it much more specific to your own business.
See what comes up.
Look at the businesses being recommended.
Then look at why they appear to be a good answer.
Do they have lots of reviews?
Is their website particularly clear?
Are they mentioned elsewhere?
Do they have useful content?
Is their Google profile well maintained?
Are they very specific about who they he
Then do the same with your own business.
You may find that you're doing a lot right already, and you may also find some fairly obvious gaps.
That's useful information.
You don't have to fix everything at once.
The businesses that will benefit aren't necessarily the ones doing the most
I think this is the bit that gets lost in all the noise around AI.
You don't need to be everywhere.
You don't need to post every day.
You don't need complicated funnels.
You don't need to spend your evenings trying to reverse-engineer an algorithm.
And you certainly don't need to create content just because someone told you that you should.
You need to make it easier for the right people to find you and understand why you're relevant to them.
That means looking at your marketing through "your customer's eyes", rather than simply looking at what you're putting out there.
Can they find you?
Can they understand you?
Can they see themselves in what you're saying?
Can they trust you?
Can they see why you're different?
And when they're ready to do something, is the next step obvious?
Those questions were important before AI search became a thing, and they're even more important now.
Marketing without the waffle
For me, this is what the whole AI conversation comes back to.
AI hasn't suddenly changed the fact that good marketing needs to connect with people.
It has simply added another way for people to discover businesses.
So rather than chasing the latest AI trick, I'd be looking at the bigger picture.
Is your business easy to find?
Is it easy to understand?
Is it obvious who you help?
Is there enough evidence to trust you?
Does your online presence all tell the same story?
If the answer is yes, you're giving yourself a much better chance of being found, whether someone starts their search on Google, ChatGPT, social media, a directory or simply asks someone they know.
And if the answer is no, that's actually good news too, because you don't need to reinvent your business. You just need to work out what isn't connecting and fix it.
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