The AI Visibility Gap
86% of New York roofers are structurally invisible to AI recommendation engines. That's approximately 3,043 of 3,539 tracked contractors operating without JSON-LD structured data, the foundational markup that AI assistants use to parse and surface business information.
The numbers are direct: only 14% of NY roofers have implemented JSON-LD. Every contractor in the state has a website, so this isn't a presence problem. It's a readability problem.
AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews don't browse websites the way humans do. They depend on structured signals: consistent NAP data (name, address, phone), verified credentials, and machine-readable markup. Without those signals, a contractor's website is noise. The AI Trust Score measures exactly this across three weighted categories:
- Identity (25 points): business name, address, and phone consistency across sources
- Legitimacy (35 points): reviews, ratings, and license/insurance verification
- Readability (40 points): website quality, JSON-LD structured data, and mobile-friendliness
New York roofers average 36.4/100 on that scale. The median sits at 37.0/100. No contractor in the state has reached the 90-100 tier. Only 0.6% score in the 80-89 range (Excellent). Meanwhile, 16.7% score below 40, meaning their AI visibility is functionally nonexistent.
The review picture reinforces the problem. The median review count across all 3,539 tracked roofers is 0.0. Legitimacy accounts for 35 points of the total score, and without reviews, that entire category is at risk.
Score distribution tells the full story:
| Score Range | Contractors | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 90-100 | 0 | 0% |
| 80-89 | ~21 | 0.6% |
| 60-79 | ~570 | 16.1% |
| 40-59 | ~1,143 | 66.6% |
| Below 40 | ~591 | 16.7% |
New York's 36.4 average is not the worst in the tracked dataset. Ontario averages 38.5, Alberta 38.5, and British Columbia 38.3, all ahead of New York. California sits at 21.5 and Florida at 19.8, both considerably lower. But being above California is not a competitive position worth holding. Ontario and Alberta roofers are outperforming New York contractors while operating in different markets.
The gap between top performers and the rest is substantial. The top 10% of NY roofers average 66.8/100 and carry an average of 391 reviews. The bottom 50% average 24.7/100 with just 9 reviews. That's a 43.1x review gap, and it compounds directly into AI recommendation frequency.
If you don't know where you stand, the state directory lists all 3,539 tracked contractors. You can also check your own AI Trust Score directly at /find.
What AI Models Check
Three scoring categories determine whether an AI assistant recommends your business. Understanding the weight of each explains exactly where New York roofers are losing ground.
Identity (25 points) covers business name, address, and phone consistency across directories and your Google Business Profile. Inconsistencies, a slightly different address format here, a missing suite number there, erode this score directly. It's the baseline signal AI systems use to confirm a business exists and operates where it claims to.
Legitimacy (35 points) draws from review volume, star ratings, and license and insurance verification. NY roofers average 4.44 stars, which is a strong rating signal. The problem is volume. The average review count across all 3,539 tracked contractors is 104.0, but the median is 0.0. That median is the real number: more than half of all NY roofers have no review signal whatsoever. A zero-review profile hands back most of those 35 points before any other factor is evaluated.
Readability (40 points) is the heaviest category and the most neglected. It covers website quality, mobile-friendliness, and JSON-LD structured data. Every NY roofer in the dataset has a website, so the baseline is met. But having a website and having a readable website are different things. Only 14% of NY roofers have implemented JSON-LD, the machine-readable markup that lets AI systems extract business details, service areas, credentials, and hours without having to guess. The other 86% have websites that are, from an AI's perspective, largely uninterpretable.
Readability carries the most points. It has the worst adoption. That combination is where most scores collapse.
Within the contractor landscape in New York, roofers rank 4th out of the tracked verticals with an average score of 38.8. Plumbers lead at 41.5, followed by foundation contractors and electricians tied at 40.8, then HVAC at 39.8. Roofers trail plumbers by 2.7 points on average, which reflects a measurable gap in structured data adoption: roofers are at 20% JSON-LD adoption within their vertical, while plumbers sit at 17% statewide. The difference compounds across review consistency and identity signals.
The scoring structure produces a clear priority list:
| Category | Points | NY Roofer Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Readability | 40 | 86% missing JSON-LD |
| Legitimacy | 35 | Median review count: 0.0 |
| Identity | 25 | NAP inconsistencies across directories |
Website presence at 100% gives every NY roofer a starting point. Nothing else is close to universal. Readability fixes, specifically JSON-LD implementation, represent the highest-leverage move available because that category carries 40 points and has the worst current adoption across the state.
Check where your score currently sits at /find before addressing any specific category.
Score Distribution: Where 3,539 NY Roofers Actually Stand
The full score distribution across New York's roofers removes any ambiguity about where the market sits.
| Score Range | Contractors | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 90-100 | 0 | 0% |
| 80-89 | 22 | 1% |
| 70-79 | 35 | 1% |
| 60-69 | 277 | 8% |
| 50-59 | 307 | 9% |
| 40-49 | 836 | 24% |
| 30-39 | 1,252 | 35% |
| 20-29 | 425 | 12% |
| 10-19 | 8 | 0% |
| 0-9 | 377 | 11% |
The 30-39 band is the most crowded in the state: 1,252 contractors, or 35% of the market, sit there. That range is the structural floor for a contractor with a website, a Google Business Profile, and a handful of reviews but no structured data and no meaningful legitimacy signal. It's what the baseline looks like without deliberate optimization.
The 0-9 band is the other number worth examining. 377 contractors, 11% of the state, score in single digits. At that level, AI systems have no reliable signal to work with. These aren't contractors with weak profiles. They're contractors who are functionally absent from AI-generated results.
The Top-to-Bottom Gap
The separation between top performers and the rest is not marginal.
The top 10% of NY roofers average 66.8/100. The bottom 50% average 24.7/100. That's a 42.1-point gap on a 100-point scale. The review data amplifies it further: top performers carry an average of 391 reviews. The bottom 50% average 9 reviews. That's a 43.1x review gap, and review volume feeds directly into the Legitimacy category worth 35 points.
Only 22 contractors in the entire state score in the 80-89 range. Zero score 90 or above. The Excellent tier (80-100) represents 0.6% of the market. The Fair tier (40-59) captures 66.6% of it. That clustering in the middle reflects a market where most contractors have done enough to exist online but not enough to be readable to AI systems.
Readability: The Highest-Weight Category With the Worst Adoption
Roofers in New York have a 20% JSON-LD adoption rate within their vertical, above the national average of 8.6% across all tracked businesses. That comparison looks favorable until you reverse it: 80% of NY roofers still lack structured data in the category that carries 40 points.
The national average being lower doesn't represent a competitive ceiling. It represents how far behind the overall market is. NY roofers outperforming a low benchmark is not the same as being well-positioned.
City-Level Disparity
The geographic spread within New York is 39.2 points wide at the extremes.
Ransomville leads all tracked cities at 51.2/100. Astoria follows at 45.6/100, then Depew at 43.3/100, Tonawanda at 42.7/100, and Clarence at 42.4/100.
At the bottom: Queens Village averages 12.0/100. New York City averages 15.6/100. Bayside sits at 16.0/100. Jamaica at 18.0/100. Glendale at 21.8/100.
The lowest-performing cities are concentrated in the New York City metro area, where contractor density is high and the market for AI-driven referrals is correspondingly competitive. Lower scores in higher-volume markets means the contractors most likely to benefit from AI visibility are the ones least prepared for it.
Full state-level data is available at the New York AI Readiness report. Check your individual score at /find.
Action Steps: Fixing Your Score by Category
The three categories are weighted differently. Address them in order of point value.
Readability: 40 Points at Stake
JSON-LD structured data is the single highest-leverage fix available to any NY roofer right now. Only 20% of contractors in the vertical have implemented it. That means 80% are leaving up to 40 points partially or entirely unclaimed.
JSON-LD tells AI systems exactly what your business does, where it operates, what credentials it holds, and when it's available. Without it, AI models have to infer those details from unstructured text, and inference produces unreliable results. Unreliable results mean you don't get recommended.
Two other Readability factors follow JSON-LD in priority:
- Mobile responsiveness: AI crawlers treat mobile-unfriendly pages as low-quality signals. If your site doesn't render cleanly on a phone, your Readability score reflects it.
- Page load speed: Slow pages suppress crawl quality. A site that loads in under two seconds scores materially better than one that takes five.
JSON-LD is not optional if you want AI visibility. The 8.6% national JSON-LD adoption rate across all 74,620 tracked businesses confirms how widely this gap is being ignored. NY roofers at 20% are ahead of that benchmark. Being the tallest person in a short room is still a solvable problem.
Legitimacy: 35 Points at Stake
The median review count across all 3,539 tracked NY roofers is 0.0. The average is 104.0. That gap tells you the distribution is heavily skewed by a small number of contractors who have built real review volume while the majority have none.
The top 10% of NY roofers average 391 reviews. The bottom 50% average 9. That 43.1x gap feeds directly into Legitimacy, which carries 35 points. A contractor with zero reviews cannot score well in this category regardless of what else they do.
Two actions move this score:
- Solicit reviews systematically: after every completed job, send a direct review link. The state average of 4.44 stars confirms that NY roofers do quality work. The problem is that work isn't being documented at scale.
- Verify license and insurance credentials on your profile: unverified credentials leave Legitimacy points on the table regardless of your actual licensing status.
Identity: 25 Points at Stake
NAP consistency (name, address, phone) across Google Business Profile, Yelp, Angi, and your own website is the baseline Identity requirement. A single digit difference in a phone number or an abbreviated street name that doesn't match your Google listing registers as an inconsistency. Inconsistencies erode trust signals.
Audit your listings on every major directory. Confirm the exact same business name, address format, and phone number appear on each one.
Where to Start If You're in a Low-Scoring City
Contractors in Queens Village (12.0/100), New York City (15.6/100), and Bayside (16.0/100) are operating in the most competitive market in the state with the weakest AI visibility signals. The gap between those scores and the state average of 36.4 represents recoverable ground, but only with deliberate action on all three categories.
No contractor in New York has reached the 90-100 tier. The Excellent tier (80-100) currently holds just 0.6% of the market. The ceiling is wide open.
Check your current AI Trust Score at /find and see how you compare against the full New York roofer directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI Trust Score for roofers?
The AI Trust Score is a 0-100 rating that measures how readable and credible your business profile is to AI recommendation engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. It breaks into three weighted categories: Identity (25 points, covering NAP consistency), Legitimacy (35 points, covering reviews and credential verification), and Readability (40 points, covering website quality, JSON-LD structured data, and mobile-friendliness). New York roofers average 36.4/100 on that scale, and only 0.6% of the 3,539 tracked contractors have reached the Excellent tier (80+). Check where you stand at /find.
How do roofers get found by AI assistants?
AI assistants surface contractors by parsing structured signals: consistent business identity, verified credentials, review volume, and machine-readable markup. Contractors without those signals don't get recommended, they get skipped. In New York, the top 10% of roofers average 66.8/100 and carry 391 reviews on average, while the bottom 50% average 24.7/100 with just 9 reviews. That 43.1x review gap translates directly into recommendation frequency.
What is JSON-LD and why do roofers need it?
JSON-LD is structured data markup that tells AI systems exactly what your business does, where it operates, and what credentials it holds. Without it, AI models infer your business details from unstructured text, and inference is unreliable. Only 20% of New York roofers in the vertical have implemented JSON-LD, meaning 80% are competing for AI recommendations without the foundational signal that makes Readability scores possible. Readability carries 40 points: the heaviest single category in the scoring model.
How does my review count affect AI visibility?
Reviews feed the Legitimacy category, which is worth 35 points. The median review count across all 3,539 tracked NY roofers is 0.0, meaning more than half have no review signal at all. A zero-review profile concedes most of those 35 points before any other factor is evaluated. The state average rating of 4.44 stars confirms quality work is being done. It's not being documented at scale.
How do New York roofers compare to other states on AI readiness?
New York's 36.4 average sits above California (21.5) and Florida (19.8), but trails Ontario (38.5) and Alberta (38.5). Nationally, JSON-LD adoption averages 8.6% across 74,620 tracked businesses in 65 markets. New York roofers at 20% vertical adoption are ahead of that benchmark, but 80% of the vertical still lacks structured data. See full state comparisons in the New York AI Readiness report.