How AI Sees Your Business
AI assistants need to verify facts before recommending a business. Here's exactly how we measure whether your business is visible to them.
Why This Matters Now
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google's AI "who's the best plumber near me?"—the AI doesn't show a list of 10 links. It gives one answer.
To give that answer confidently, the AI needs to verify your business information from multiple sources. If it can't confirm your phone number, address, or services with certainty, it skips you entirely. It's not personal—AI is programmed to avoid mistakes.
Our audit measures exactly what AI systems look for when deciding which businesses to recommend.
The AI Trust Index
We score businesses from 0-100 across three categories. Each point is earned by meeting specific, measurable criteria.
Identity
25 PTSCan AI find you? We check if your business exists on Google Maps, has a physical address, phone number, and website. These are the basic signals that prove you're a real, operating business.
Legitimacy
35 PTSCan AI trust you? We analyze your reviews, verify your information is consistent across sources, and check if you have your own professional website. These signals show you're established and reliable.
Readability
40 PTSCan AI understand you? We scan your website for structured data—special code that tells AI exactly what services you offer, your hours, service area, and credentials. Without it, AI has to guess.
How Points Are Earned
Every point in our scoring system maps to a specific, verifiable signal. Here's the complete breakdown.
Identity Signals
25 pts maxGoogle Maps Listing
Your business appears on Google Maps with a verified location
Physical Address
A real street address is listed (not just a service area)
Phone Number
A contact phone number is publicly listed
Website URL
A website is linked (own domain earns full points; template sites like Wix earn 1 pt)
Legitimacy Signals
35 pts maxGoogle Rating
4.5+ stars with 50+ reviews = 7 pts · 4.0+ stars = 5 pts · 3.0+ stars = 3 pts
Requires at least 3 reviews to count
Review Volume
100+ reviews = 7 pts · 10+ reviews = 5 pts · 5+ reviews = 3 pts
Data Consistency
We cross-check your website against Google Maps: matching phone (+3), business name (+3), and location (+2)
Professional Website
Your own domain (e.g., yourbusiness.com) vs. a template site (e.g., yourbusiness.wixsite.com)
License Verification
Active license confirmed with state licensing board
Coming soon for verified members
Readability Signals
40 pts maxStructured Data (JSON-LD)
Your website includes machine-readable code that defines your business name, phone, address, services, hours, and service area
High quality (complete info) = 20 pts · Partial = 10 pts
LocalBusiness Schema
Your structured data uses specific business types (Plumber, Electrician, HVAC, etc.) that AI recognizes
With complete data = 15 pts · Partial = 7 pts
Social Metadata (OpenGraph)
Your website has proper sharing tags so it displays correctly when shared on social media and in AI summaries
Note: Template website builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy Sites, etc.) typically don't include proper structured data. Businesses using these platforms score 0 in Readability unless they manually add the code.
What We Look For in Structured Data
When we scan your website, we extract specific fields that AI systems use to understand and recommend your business.
Business Identity
- Business name
- Phone number
- Email address
- Street address
- GPS coordinates
- Website URL
Services & Expertise
- Service catalog / offerings
- Areas of expertise
- Service area / cities served
- Price range
- Payment methods accepted
- Languages spoken
Trust & Credentials
- Licenses & certifications
- Professional memberships (BBB, trade associations)
- Year founded
- Number of employees
- Customer reviews & ratings
- Social media profiles
Rich Content
- Business description
- Logo image
- Photos
- Operating hours
- Individual customer reviews
- Aggregate rating
The more of these fields your website includes in structured data, the higher your Readability score—and the more confidently AI can recommend you.
Where We Get Our Data
Google Maps
We pull your business listing, address, phone number, website, reviews, and rating directly from Google Maps—the same source AI assistants use.
Your Website
We scan your website's source code to find structured data (JSON-LD), verify information consistency, and check for AI-readable markup. We don't store your content—just analyze what AI can see.
State Licensing Boards
For verified members, we check active license status with state regulatory databases. This is the gold standard for contractor verification and will soon contribute to your Legitimacy score.
What This Score Measures
The AI Trust Index measures how verifiable and readable your business data is—not the quality of your work. A contractor with 30 years of experience and zero online presence will score lower than a new business with complete structured data.
A low score means AI systems can't confidently recommend you, not that you're a bad contractor. Our goal is to help you fix that.
Get Verified Today
Join the network of trusted contractors who are visible to the next generation of AI search.
No contract. Cancel anytime. Verified in 24-48 hours.