Homeowners are asking ChatGPT who to call. Will it say your name?

Picture a homeowner standing in a wet basement at 8 PM. A few years ago, they'd search Google. Today, more and more of them open ChatGPT or Gemini and type, "Who should I call about water in my crawl space?"

Our founder AK makes this point hard. When something breaks in your house, where do you go? You don't open Facebook. You search, and more and more people search by asking an AI. His advice: "you have to be where your customers are."

The research backs him up. BrightLocal, which studies how people find local businesses, titled its March 2026 report "Nearly Half of Consumers are Asking AI for Business Recommendations," and found AI is now the third most used tool for finding local businesses.

AI answers name only a few businesses

Here's what makes this different from a Google search. A search results page shows you a long list. An AI assistant tends to give a short answer with just a few names.

If you're on that short list, you're in the conversation. If you're not, the homeowner may never scroll far enough to find you.

How to check where you stand

This is the exact check we run for every business on our Growth Ladder. You can do a version of it tonight.

1. 1Write down ten questions a homeowner in your city would ask. Who to call for your service. The best company for it. How much it costs. What to look for in a contractor.
2. 2Ask each one in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode.
3. 3Record three things every time: whether your business is named, which competitors are named and which websites the answer cites.
4. 4Screenshot every answer with the date.
5. 5Repeat the same questions every quarter.

That last step is the important one. It turns a scary unknown into a number you can watch move.

What helps AI tools find and trust you

AI assistants pull from the same places homeowners do, plus a few they lean on heavily. Here's what moves the needle.

Be the same everywhere. Same business name, address, phone and description on your Google profile, Bing, Apple, Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor and your website. When the machines see conflicting information, they trust you less.

Answer real questions on your website, plainly. Write the answers to what homeowners actually ask, in plain language, as if you were talking in the driveway. As our playbook puts it, "AI tools cite pages that answer plainly."

Publish a real price page. A page that answers "how much does this cost in my city" with honest ranges is exactly the kind of page AI assistants quote.

Keep your Google profile alive. New photos, weekly posts, every review answered. Recent activity signals a real, working business.

Keep the reviews coming. Fresh, specific reviews from real customers help you everywhere, including in AI answers.

Don't panic, and don't chase tricks

You'll see people selling secret formulas to "rank in ChatGPT." Be careful. The honest version isn't a trick. It's being accurate, consistent, active and genuinely helpful in all the places people and machines look.

That's the good news. The same work that makes homeowners trust you makes AI tools trust you too.

How it feels

It's strange to think a machine might be deciding whether a homeowner hears your name. It can feel out of your control.

But it isn't magic. These tools read what's out there about you. When you make sure what's out there is true, current and helpful, you're not gaming a system. You're just making it easy to recommend a business that deserves it.

Want to see whether AI tools mention your business today? Our free Growth Ladder assessment takes about four minutes and shows you where to start.

Written by AKFounder of Momentum. Former Executive Sales Coach Lead at Google.