If you’re a small business owner, you are probably wondering how to utilize AI for your
business. In addition to being a tool for research, analysis and more, we believe that AI is
going to become one of the best tools for generating new customers for local
businesses.
Everyone knows that THE major development for society over the last three years is
ChatGPT and other AI tools. It might be the biggest technological innovation since the
Internet. While it’s impossible to know the future, one thing is for sure – AI is growing rapidly
and it is here to stay.
A bold prediction from Fresh Look is that ChatGPT and other AI tools overtakes Google as
the dominant way people find information on the internet.
If that happens, you can bet that ChatGPT will have something in place similar to Google that
targets local businesses. Right now, Google’s review system is the dominant way to find out
what the local community thinks about a business. It’s possible that ChatGPT develops their
own similar system.
Regardless of how it shapes out exactly, there is already some evidence that customers are
starting to use AI for local search. An article by Consumer Search Behavior in 2025 said that
40% of consumers use AI when searching online. While only 4% use AI for local search
specifically, this number is bound to grow over time.
Anecdotally, we received our first lead from ChatGPT just last month in July of 2026. One of
the things that ChatGPT liked about us that seemed to generate their recommendation is our
strong Google Reviews. We also had a page on our website dedicated to the Newport News
Grant Program, which is what this particular customer was searching about.
The answer is Yes! You absolutely can get leads for your business through AI like ChatGPT.
We don’t see it being a huge factor right now, but it will grow over time.
You may be saying, “Yea we knew that already!” Fair enough. The question now is what do
you do?
There are 4 important things to work on right now to improve your standing with AI in order to
generate leads for your local service business:
1. Build a strong Google Business Profile. Get lots of 5 star reviews, respond to all your
reviews, make sure your contact information is accurate and consistent across all platforms.
Right now, AI aggregates information on the internet and compiles it. Your Google Business
Profile is a big part of that.
2. Write strong content on your website. If you have a tiny 5 page website with very little
information on it, you’re not going to get noticed by AI. Many of the principles we’ve taught for
SEO apply to AI optimization also. Their crawlers are different from Google, but it’s like
they’ve always said for decades now “Content is King”
3. Create cross linking partners. If you can get other industry related, respected websites to
write articles on your business, link to your website, and recommend you, that is huge.
Remember, AI quickly scans the internet to see what everyone says.
