I Tested 50 Small Business Websites on ChatGPT. Most Were Completely Invisible.
"What is the best plumber in Austin?" I typed into ChatGPT. It gave me three names. Not one of them had a website that scored above 15 on AEO. The businesses that should have been recommended were invisible.
Over three weeks in March 2025, I ran a quiet experiment. I took 50 small business websites across 10 industries — plumbers, dentists, restaurants, accountants, personal trainers, lawyers, florists, electricians, real estate agents, and web designers — and asked ChatGPT and Google Gemini to recommend them using the exact phrases their potential customers would type.
The results were alarming. 74% of the websites I tested did not appear in a single AI-generated recommendation, despite many of them ranking on page 1 of Google. Their Google rankings meant nothing inside an AI answer.
What I Actually Tested
For each business I asked both ChatGPT and Gemini a set of natural-language queries that real customers use:
I then checked whether the business's domain appeared in the AI response — either as a direct citation, a named recommendation, or a referenced source. A business either showed up or it did not.
The Results by Industry
| Industry | Sites Tested | Visible on AI | Avg AEO Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 5 | 2 (40%) | 31/100 |
| Dentists | 5 | 1 (20%) | 18/100 |
| Plumbers | 5 | 0 (0%) | 12/100 |
| Lawyers | 5 | 2 (40%) | 28/100 |
| Accountants | 5 | 1 (20%) | 15/100 |
| Personal Trainers | 5 | 0 (0%) | 9/100 |
| Real Estate Agents | 5 | 3 (60%) | 42/100 |
| Electricians | 5 | 0 (0%) | 11/100 |
| Florists | 5 | 1 (20%) | 17/100 |
| Web Designers | 5 | 3 (60%) | 44/100 |
The pattern was clear. Industries that naturally produce more written content — real estate agents with property descriptions, web designers with case studies — scored higher. Industries that rely on word-of-mouth and have minimal website content — plumbers, electricians, personal trainers — were almost universally invisible.
What the Invisible Websites Had in Common
Every website that scored zero on AI visibility shared the same five problems. None of them are technical. All of them are fixable in a weekend.
No FAQ section
AI engines learn what a business does by reading questions and answers. Without a FAQ section, there is nothing for the AI to extract and cite. This was missing on 46 of the 50 websites tested.
No FAQ schema markup
Even the 4 websites that had a FAQ section had not added the JSON-LD code that tells Google and AI engines the content is structured Q&A. Without the schema, the FAQ is invisible to machines even if humans can read it.
No LocalBusiness schema
AI engines use LocalBusiness schema to confirm a business is real, local, and trustworthy. Without it, a plumber in Austin looks the same as a plumber anywhere — or nowhere.
Thin or vague headings
Headings like 'Our Services' and 'About Us' tell AI engines nothing. Headings like 'Emergency Plumbing Repair in Austin, TX' and 'How Much Does a Plumber Cost in 2025?' are what AI engines scan for citation-worthy content.
No E-E-A-T signals
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. AI engines look for an About page with a real person's name, credentials, years of experience, and contact details. Generic 'We are a team of experts' copy scores zero.
What the Visible Websites Did Differently
The 13 websites that did appear in AI recommendations shared these characteristics:
The Revenue Calculation Nobody Is Talking About
Here is the number that should make every business owner stop scrolling. According to Statista and Google's own data, AI-driven searches now account for over 40% of all informational queries in the US. For local service businesses, the number is even higher because people ask AI engines for recommendations before they ask Google.
Example: A plumber in a city of 500,000 people
Monthly AI queries for "plumber in [city]": ~4,500
Conversion rate for a recommended business: ~5%
Average job value: $280
Monthly revenue missed if invisible: $4,500 × 5% × $280 = $63,000
This is a modelled estimate. Your actual figure depends on your city, industry, and competition. Our audit calculates a personalised estimate for your specific business.
Even at a fraction of this figure — say 10% of the modelled opportunity — that is $6,300 per month a plumber is leaving on the table because their website has no FAQ schema and no LocalBusiness markup. The fix takes about two hours.
What You Should Do Right Now
The first step is to find out where you actually stand. Most business owners assume their website is fine because it looks good. Looking good has nothing to do with AI visibility. The checks that matter are invisible to the human eye — they live in the page source code and the content structure.
Our free audit checks all 12 AEO signals and 12 SEO signals, runs a live test on Gemini and ChatGPT using real queries about your business, and calculates your specific revenue opportunity. It takes 30 seconds to submit and the full report arrives in your inbox shortly after the audit completes.