The AI Visibility Gap
Of Ohio's 388 tracked plumbers, the average AI Trust Score is 37.2/100. The median is lower: 35.0/100. That gap between mean and median signals a small group of well-optimized contractors pulling the average up while the majority cluster near the bottom.
The score distribution tells the story clearly:
| Score Tier | Range | Share of Ohio Plumbers |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 80-100 | 0.5% |
| Good | 60-79 | 12.9% |
| Fair | 40-59 | 74.2% |
| Below 40 | Under 40 | 12.4% |
Only 2 contractors in the entire state score above 80. None scores above 90. The ceiling is technically reachable: the top 10% average 65.5/100. But the bottom 50% average just 28.8/100, a 36.7-point gap that translates directly into which businesses AI assistants surface and which they skip.
The core problem is structured data. JSON-LD adoption among Ohio plumbers sits at 11%, meaning roughly 43 of 388 contractors have implemented the markup that allows AI tools and search engines to parse business identity with confidence. The other 345 contractors have websites that humans can read but machines largely cannot.
That 11% figure still beats the national baseline. Across 494,118 businesses in 66 tracked states and regions, average JSON-LD adoption is just 1.2%. Ohio outperforms California (0% JSON-LD, 20.2/100 avg score) and Florida (0% JSON-LD, 15.2/100 avg score) by a significant margin. But compared to peer states with mature contractor markets, Ohio's position is middling: New York averages 40.1/100 with 14% JSON-LD adoption, Pennsylvania averages 38.6/100 also at 14%, and Illinois matches Ohio exactly at 37.2/100 and 11% JSON-LD. Ohio is running with the pack, not ahead of it.
Website presence is 100% across the state, which sounds like a strong foundation. It isn't enough. Having a website and being readable to AI are different things. The AI Trust Score weights Readability at 40 points, the largest single category, covering website quality, JSON-LD structured data, and mobile-friendliness. Identity (business name, address, and phone consistency) accounts for 25 points. Legitimacy (reviews, ratings, and license or insurance verification) accounts for the remaining 35 points.
A contractor with a functional website but no structured data, inconsistent NAP information, and thin review volume can still score in the 20s. That is where most of Ohio's plumbers currently sit.
You can see exactly where you stand in the full Ohio plumber directory or pull your individual score at /find. The Ohio state market report breaks down performance by city and score tier if you want to benchmark against competitors in your area.
The gap is specific, measurable, and closeable. The contractors already scoring in the 60s and above have proven that.
What AI Models Check
AI assistants do not browse websites the way a homeowner does. They pull structured signals from multiple sources, reconcile them, and decide whether a business is trustworthy enough to recommend. The scoring methodology breaks that process into three categories, each with a fixed weight.
Identity: 25 points. This covers business name, address, and phone number consistency across sources. If your NAP information conflicts between your website, Google Business Profile, and directory listings, AI models treat that inconsistency as a credibility problem. Ohio's 100% website presence means every tracked plumber clears the baseline here. But having a website does not mean your identity signals are clean or consistent. Identity is the floor, not the ceiling.
Legitimacy: 35 points. This category covers reviews, ratings, and license or insurance verification. Ohio plumbers average 4.6 stars, which is solid. The review count picture is less flattering. The average is 59.0 reviews, but the median is 0.0. That median tells you most contractors in this dataset have no reviews attached to their tracked profile at all.
The volume gap between performers is measurable. The top 10% of Ohio plumbers average 77.0 reviews. The bottom 50% average 29.0. That is a 2.6x difference, and review volume is one of the signals AI models weight most heavily when ranking local service providers.
Readability: 40 points. This is the largest single category and the one where Ohio plumbers lose the most ground. It covers website quality, JSON-LD structured data, and mobile-friendliness. JSON-LD is the technical markup that allows AI tools to parse your business name, service area, hours, and license information without ambiguity.
Only 11% of Ohio plumbers have implemented it.
That means roughly 345 of 388 contractors have websites a human can read but a machine largely cannot. The consequence shows up directly in scores. Compare Ohio plumbers (37.2/100, 11% JSON-LD) to Ohio roofers, the leading vertical in the state: roofers average 47.2/100 with 20% JSON-LD adoption. General contractors sit at the other end with a 36.5/100 average and 0% JSON-LD adoption. The correlation between structured data presence and score is not subtle.
The three categories interact. A contractor with strong reviews but no JSON-LD will lose Readability points that cap their total. A contractor with JSON-LD but inconsistent NAP data will bleed Identity points. High scores require all three categories performing together.
The scoring breakdown by category:
| Category | Weight | Key Signals |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | 25 pts | Business name, address, phone consistency |
| Legitimacy | 35 pts | Reviews, ratings, license and insurance verification |
| Readability | 40 pts | Website quality, JSON-LD structured data, mobile-friendliness |
Check your current score across all three categories at /find. The breakdown will show exactly which category is pulling your number down.
Scoring Deep-Dive
Ohio's 37.2/100 average breaks down unevenly across the score range. The histogram shows a state clustered in the low-to-mid 30s, with very little representation at either extreme:
| Score Range | Contractors | Share of State |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | 0% |
| 10-19 | 3 | 1% |
| 20-29 | 84 | 22% |
| 30-39 | 184 | 47% |
| 40-49 | 64 | 16% |
| 50-59 | 23 | 6% |
| 60-69 | 23 | 6% |
| 70-79 | 5 | 1% |
| 80-89 | 2 | 1% |
| 90-100 | 0 | 0% |
Nearly 70% of Ohio plumbers score below 40. Only 7 contractors score above 70. The distribution is not a bell curve: it is a stack concentrated between 30 and 39, with a long thin tail trailing upward.
How Ohio Compares to Peer States
Ohio's 37.2/100 matches Illinois exactly. Both states sit below a cluster of higher-performing markets: Alberta (41.7/100), British Columbia (41.4/100), New York (40.1/100), Ontario (39.6/100), and Pennsylvania (38.6/100). Ohio is not at the bottom of the peer group, but the states outperforming it are not outliers. They share a common pattern: higher JSON-LD adoption rates.
New York and Pennsylvania both reach 14% JSON-LD adoption. Ohio sits at 11%. Illinois, Ohio's nearest score twin, also sits at 11%. The gap in structured data adoption tracks directly with the gap in average scores.
Ohio's 11% figure does clear the global baseline. Across all 494,118 businesses tracked nationally, average JSON-LD adoption is 1.2%. Ohio plumbers are ahead of California (0%), Florida (0%), and Texas (6%). But leading the bottom is not the same as competing at the top.
The Readability Problem
Readability carries 40 points, the largest single category in the scoring methodology. It covers website quality, JSON-LD structured data, and mobile-friendliness.
Every Ohio plumber in this dataset has a website. That covers the baseline. But 89% of those websites contain no JSON-LD markup. That means AI tools parsing business identity, service area, hours, and license data have no structured signal to work with. They are left to infer, and they frequently do not.
The consequence is visible in the vertical comparison. Ohio roofers average 47.2/100 with 20% JSON-LD adoption. Ohio plumbers average 37.2/100 at 11%. General contractors average 36.5/100 with 0% JSON-LD adoption. The pattern holds consistently: higher structured data adoption, higher average score.
The Legitimacy Floor
The Legitimacy category (35 points) covers reviews, ratings, and license or insurance verification. Ohio plumbers average 4.6 stars, a strong signal. The review count data undercuts it.
The average review count is 59.0. The median is 0.0. More than half of Ohio's tracked plumbers have no reviews attached to their profile. That is not a rounding issue: it is a hard floor on Legitimacy scores that no amount of website optimization can compensate for.
City-Level Spread
Performance varies meaningfully across Ohio's major markets:
| City | Avg Score |
|---|---|
| Hilliard | 40.4/100 |
| New Albany | 38.3/100 |
| Columbus | 37.2/100 |
| Dublin | 37.0/100 |
| Westerville | 34.8/100 |
Hilliard leads the state's top cities by a visible margin. Westerville sits nearly 6 points below it. That spread across a single metro area reflects how much individual contractor choices, not just market conditions, drive scores.
Browse the full Ohio plumber directory to see where your city ranks, or pull your individual breakdown at /find.
Action Steps: Where to Start
The scoring methodology has three categories with fixed weights. Fixing them in order of point value is the highest-leverage approach.
1. Readability: 40 points at stake
This is the largest category and the one with the most uncaptured ground in Ohio. JSON-LD structured data is the single highest-leverage fix available to you right now.
89% of Ohio plumbers have no JSON-LD on their websites. That means AI tools cannot reliably parse your business name, service area, hours, or license status. They have nothing structured to work with. Adding JSON-LD schema markup to your site addresses this directly, and it is a one-time technical implementation.
The benchmark to target is Ohio roofers: 20% JSON-LD adoption, 47.2/100 average score. Ohio plumbers sit at 11% JSON-LD adoption and 37.2/100. That 10-point difference in structured data adoption corresponds to a 10-point gap in average scores. The relationship is not coincidental.
Beyond JSON-LD, Readability covers mobile-friendliness and overall website quality. Run your site against Google's mobile usability tools if you have not recently. Both signals feed into the same 40-point bucket.
2. Legitimacy: 35 points at stake
The review data in Ohio is stark. The median review count across 388 tracked plumbers is 0.0. The top 10% of performers average 77.0 reviews. The bottom 50% average 29.0 reviews. That 2.6x gap in review volume is a direct Legitimacy score driver.
If your review count is at or near zero, closing that gap is your second priority after structured data. A systematic post-job follow-up process, asking customers directly for a Google review, is the most reliable method. License and insurance verification status also feeds this category. Confirm that your credentials are current and attached to your profile where possible.
The top 10% of Ohio plumbers average 65.5/100. That is the score tier available to contractors who optimize both Readability and Legitimacy consistently. Only 0.5% of Ohio plumbers currently score above 80, which means 2 contractors in the entire state have reached that tier. The ceiling is achievable, but only with all three categories performing.
3. Identity: 25 points at stake
Every Ohio plumber in this dataset has a website, which covers the baseline. But Identity points depend on consistency across sources: your business name, address, and phone number must match exactly on your website, Google Business Profile, Yelp, and every directory where you are listed.
Mismatches between sources flag as credibility problems for AI models. Audit your NAP information across all platforms and correct any discrepancies. This is often the fastest fix available because it requires no technical implementation, only attention to detail.
The full picture of where you stand across all three categories is available at /find. The Ohio plumber directory shows how your score compares to the 388 contractors currently tracked in the state. Hilliard leads Ohio cities at 40.4/100 and that is still below where optimized signals can take you.
Check your score. The gap is specific and closeable.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI Trust Score?
The AI Trust Score is a 0-100 rating that measures how confidently AI assistants can identify, verify, and recommend your business. It breaks into three weighted categories: Identity (25 points, covering name, address, and phone consistency), Legitimacy (35 points, covering reviews, ratings, and license verification), and Readability (40 points, covering website quality, JSON-LD structured data, and mobile-friendliness). Among Ohio's 388 tracked plumbers, the state average is 37.2/100. Only 0.5% score above 80.
How do contractors get found by AI assistants?
AI tools pull structured signals from multiple sources and reconcile them before surfacing a recommendation. Contractors with consistent identity signals, verified credentials, and machine-readable websites score higher and appear more often. The top 10% of Ohio plumbers average 65.5/100 and carry 77.0 reviews on average. The bottom 50% average 28.8/100 with 29.0 reviews. That 36.7-point gap reflects directly in which contractors AI recommends and which it skips. Check where you fall at /find.
What is JSON-LD, and why does it matter for plumbers?
JSON-LD is structured markup added to your website that allows AI tools and search engines to parse your business name, service area, hours, and license status without ambiguity. Without it, machines are left to infer, and they frequently do not. Only 11% of Ohio plumbers have implemented JSON-LD, meaning roughly 345 of 388 contractors have websites humans can read but machines largely cannot. For context, the national average across 494,118 tracked businesses is 1.2%, so Ohio leads the baseline but still leaves significant ground on the table.
Why is the median review count 0.0 if the average is 59.0?
Because more than half of Ohio's 388 tracked plumbers have no reviews attached to their profile at all. A smaller group of well-reviewed contractors pulls the average up, while the majority sits at zero. Review volume is one of the heaviest signals in the Legitimacy category (35 points). The top 10% average 77.0 reviews. If your count is near zero, that category is capped regardless of how well your website performs.
How do I improve my AI visibility score?
Start with Readability (40 points): add JSON-LD structured data to your website. Then address Legitimacy (35 points): build review volume systematically and verify your license credentials. Finally, audit Identity (25 points): confirm your business name, address, and phone number match exactly across every directory and platform. Pull your current breakdown at /find to see which category is holding your number down.