Google Business Profile for AI Search | Why It Matters More Than Ever
Three months ago I sat across from a plasterer in Hitchin who told me, completely deadpan, that he didn't have a Google Business Profile because "Google already knows where I am."
I said "does it though?"
He thought about it for a second. Then he got his phone out, searched his own business name, and found nothing. No listing. No map pin. No reviews. Just his website sitting on page two of the results behind a plasterer from Luton and a directory page that still had his old mobile number on it.
He's not unusual. That's the maddening thing. He's completely typical.
The most valuable free thing you're not using
Your Google Business Profile costs nothing. Takes maybe an hour to set up properly. And right now, in 2026, it's doing more work for local businesses than most things people spend actual money on.
But I need to explain why, because "it helps you show up on Google Maps" isn't the half of it anymore.
Gemini pulls directly from your profile. Like, directly. When someone asks Google's AI a question about local services, your Business Profile is one of the first data sources it checks. ChatGPT and Perplexity cross-reference it too. They're looking for verified, structured information about businesses, and Google Business Profile is about as verified and structured as it gets.
So when your profile says "bathrooms" and nothing else (yes, I've actually seen this, a fitter in Stevenage, one word, that was his entire description), AI has almost nothing to go on. It's the equivalent of turning up to a job interview and when they ask what you do, you just say "stuff."
What AI actually looks at on your profile
Everything. That's the honest answer.
It reads your primary category. Your secondary categories. Your full services list. Your business description. The text content of every single review. The photos you've uploaded (and yes, AI can understand what's in photos now, which still feels a bit weird to me). Your posts. Your Q&A section. When you last updated anything.
A decorator in Royston had his profile category set to "Contractor." Not painter. Not decorator. Contractor. His services section was empty. His description was two sentences of the kind of waffle that means absolutely nothing. "Quality workmanship. Competitive prices." Right. Compared to what?
We rewrote his description to actually say what he does and where. Listed every service properly. Interior painting, exterior painting, wallpapering, colour consultations, period property restoration. Added photos from his last ten jobs. Within about five weeks, Gemini started recommending him for painting queries in the Royston area. He'd never appeared in AI results before that. Not once.
Why your website on its own isn't cutting it
I had this conversation with an estate agent in St Albans last year who'd spent fifteen grand on a new website and was genuinely offended when I told him it wasn't enough on its own.
Not that the website doesn't matter. It does. It absolutely does. But the way people find businesses is changing fast, and if you're only thinking about your website, you're thinking about one channel while ignoring several others.
People are asking AI directly now. Not all people. Not even most people yet. But a growing number of them, and it's accelerating. They say "who should I call for X in Y?" and they get a name. Not ten links. A name. And if that name isn't yours because AI couldn't find enough reliable information about you, then it's someone else's name. Probably your competitor who happens to have a complete Google profile, forty reviews, and a properly structured website.
Actually filling the thing out (the boring but important bit)
Categories first.
Pick the most specific primary category that genuinely fits. If you're a plumber who specialises in bathroom installations, your primary category should be "Bathroom Remodeler" or similar, not just "Plumber." AI uses categories to understand what you do. Vague category, vague understanding.
Then services. This is where most profiles fall apart. People either leave it blank or write something uselessly general like "plumbing services." No. List everything. Every single service you offer.
- Emergency leak repairs
- Bathroom installations
- Boiler servicing and replacement
- Radiator installation
- Unvented cylinder installation (yes, even the niche stuff, that's exactly the kind of specific query AI gets asked)
- Power flushing
- Tap and toilet repairs
Every service you list is another question you can potentially be the answer to.
Description. Write it properly. Not the corporate waffle that every other business uses. Say who you are, where you're based, what you specialise in, which towns you cover. "Family-run plumbing business based in Hitchin, covering North Hertfordshire including Letchworth, Baldock, Stevenage, and Royston. Specialising in bathroom installations and boiler replacements since 2012." See? Not poetry. Just information.
Photos. Upload real ones. Finished jobs. Before and after. Your van. Your team. AI analyses these images and draws conclusions from them. Thirty photos of completed bathrooms tells AI you're an active, experienced bathroom fitter. One blurry logo uploaded in 2019 tells it almost nothing.
The review thing
I talk about reviews a lot. I know. But bloody hell, people still aren't doing this.
It's not just about the star rating. It's about what the reviews actually say. When a customer writes "replaced all the guttering on our house in Baldock, really neat finish and cleaned up after themselves," that's teaching AI three things: you do guttering, you work in Baldock, and you're professional. Your website might not even mention guttering specifically, but that review just added it to your profile.
Every review is a piece of information that AI can use when someone asks a relevant question.
Ask after every single job. Send a text with a direct link. Make it easy. Most people will do it if the link is right there and it takes them thirty seconds. The ones who don't, fine, move on to the next.
And respond to them all. Positive ones. Negative ones. The weird ones where someone gives you five stars but the written review sounds like they're complaining (we've all had those). Responding shows AI you're active and engaged. It shows potential customers the same thing.
Monthly maintenance, not weekly stress
You don't need to treat your Google Business Profile like social media. You don't need to post every day or even every week.
Once a month. That's enough.
Upload a photo from a recent job. Write a two-sentence post about what you've been working on. "Just finished a full bathroom refit in Letchworth, really pleased with how the tiling came out." That's it. Five minutes. Maybe ten if you're picky about the photo.
But do it consistently. A profile that was last updated eight months ago looks dormant. AI doesn't know if you're still trading. It gets cautious. A profile that was updated last week looks active and current. AI feels confident recommending you.
Where this sits in the bigger picture
Think of your Google Business Profile as the foundation. Your website, your directory listings, your FAQ pages, your case studies, they all build on top of it. But without the foundation, the rest of it is less effective.
For local businesses in Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Royston, Stevenage, and across North Hertfordshire, this is usually the first thing I look at when someone asks me why they're not showing up in AI search. Nine times out of ten the profile is either incomplete, inconsistent, or hasn't been touched in years.
If you want us to have a look at yours and tell you what needs fixing, get in touch. It's usually the quickest conversation we have because the gaps are obvious once you know what to look for. And if you want to understand the broader picture, have a read about AEO across North Hertfordshire and what it involves.