Three questions rose out of the data
Atlas’s largest research study to date analyzed more than a billion data points across the two platforms that represent virtually all online search: Google, including Gemini, and ChatGPT.
After we analyzed the data, three questions rose to the surface. They separate the local businesses that are crushing it on modern search from the businesses that are hardly showing up.
Check these three boxes, and you have the quickest path to becoming the local business Google and ChatGPT confidently recommend to people looking for the help you provide.
Three questions separate the businesses crushing it on modern search from those hardly showing up.
Question one: Do I understand you?
The first requirement of these AI-based algorithms is the ability to quickly identify the essential facts about your business.
Most businesses already have a lot of this information on their websites. The problem is that it is almost always presented in a way that is not compliant with the structure Google and ChatGPT prefer.
The facts AI search needs to identify
- Who you are
- Which industry you serve
- Which products and services you offer
- Who your ideal customers are
- Where you are located
- When you are and are not available
- What price range your offer falls into
Question two: Do you know what you’re doing?
These algorithms care deeply about you proving your credibility. From their perspective, they put their own reputation on the line every time they recommend a local business.
They look across your entire digital footprint. If they cannot quickly see why your expertise has earned you the right to be trusted, they will hedge their recommendation or ignore you entirely.
They want to know what you believe about your industry, what makes you different from everyone else, and why you should be recommended over your competition. That is how they define credibility.
If AI search cannot see why your expertise has earned you the right to be trusted, it will hedge or ignore you.
Question three: Does anyone else believe you?
Third-party affirmation, especially in the form of editorial citations, is a must-have if you want your business to be confidently and continually recommended by Google and ChatGPT.
Think of this as digital corroboration. It is proof that your authority extends far beyond your own platform.
Digital corroboration proves that your authority extends beyond your own platform.
A Visibility Engine bridges the gap
Google and ChatGPT need all three signals before they can understand, trust, and confidently recommend a local business on a regular basis.
The next lesson introduces a long-standing marketing system called a Visibility Engine. It bridges the massive gap between what you need AI search to do for you and what those platforms require you to do for them.