Local SEO in the Age of AI Search: How Indianapolis Businesses Get Found on Google and ChatGPT
When someone in Indianapolis needs a plumber, a caterer or a dentist, they might search Google, open Maps, or simply ask an AI assistant like ChatGPT, “Who’s the best ___ near me?” That shift has a lot of owners wondering whether local SEO still works. The good news: local SEO in the age of AI search still rests on the same basics. The businesses that show up are the ones that are easy to find, easy to understand and easy to trust.
Here’s what the platforms themselves say, and a practical checklist you can work through this month.
How people find local businesses now: Google, Maps and AI assistants
Search used to mean ten blue links. Now a single question can return a map pack, an AI-written summary at the top of Google, or a chat answer with a few cited sources. Your customers move between all three, often in the same afternoon.
That sounds like three jobs. In practice it’s one. Each of these tools pulls from the same places: your website, your Google Business Profile, and what other sites and customers say about you. Get those right and you improve your odds everywhere at once. If you’re still sorting out where AI fits in your business more broadly, our AI strategy work starts there.
What Google says about AI Overviews and your site
There’s a lot of noise about “AI optimization” tricks. Google’s own guidance is calmer. On its AI features and your website page, Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimizations needed. A page just has to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet.
Google also says you don’t need new AI text files or special schema markup. What it does recommend will sound familiar:
- Let search engines crawl your site
- Link your important pages to each other
- Keep key content in real text, not only in images
- Support your text with relevant photos and video
- Make sure any structured data matches what’s on the page
- Keep your Business Profile information current
ChatGPT works in a similar spirit. OpenAI’s publishers and developers FAQ says any public website can appear in ChatGPT search, as long as its crawler, OAI-SearchBot, isn’t blocked. Its search help article notes that ChatGPT may use third-party search providers such as Bing. So a site that’s blocked, thin or out of date is at a disadvantage in both places.
Your Google Business Profile still does the heavy lifting
For “near me” searches, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing people see. Google’s guide on how to improve your local ranking names three factors: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher) and prominence (how well known you are, including reviews and links from other sites).
You can’t move your building, but you can control a lot of the rest. Google says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local results. It also says plainly that there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. That’s the point: the work is the advantage.
Start with the basics:
- Verify your profile
- Pick the most accurate primary category, plus any secondary ones that truly fit
- Keep regular and holiday hours up to date
- Add real photos and short videos of your work, team and location
- Post updates so the profile looks active
Make your website easy for people and AI to understand
When an AI tool summarizes your business, it’s reading your website. If your site says “solutions for your needs” instead of what you actually do and where, it’s hard for any system, human or machine, to recommend you. Strong local SEO in the age of AI search depends on clear, specific pages.
A few things make a big difference:
- One page per core service. A page for “kitchen remodeling” and another for “bathroom remodeling” beats one page that lists everything.
- Say where you work. Name your city and the neighborhoods or counties you serve, in plain sentences.
- Answer real questions. A short FAQ with the questions customers actually ask on the phone gives search engines and AI tools clear answers to quote.
- Keep your name, address and phone consistent. Use the exact same details on your site, your Business Profile and every directory listing.
This is the kind of groundwork Market★TING’s SEO and paid media team handles for Indianapolis businesses, from service pages to technical checks.
Reviews, mentions and local citations
Prominence is Google’s word for reputation, and AI tools look for the same signals. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, and that replying to reviews shows you value customer feedback.
Make asking for reviews part of your routine, not a once-a-year push. Reply to every review, good or bad, in a calm and helpful tone. Then look beyond Google: Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, your chamber of commerce and industry directories all help confirm that your business is real and active. Local press and community mentions count too.
Local SEO in the age of AI search: a 30-day checklist
Work through this list over the next 30 days:
- Claim and verify your Google Business Profile, and check every field for accuracy.
- Confirm your primary category and hours, including upcoming holiday hours.
- Add at least five recent photos of your real work, team or location.
- Claim your Bing Places listing so Bing-powered tools see the same details.
- Check that your robots.txt isn’t blocking Googlebot or OAI-SearchBot.
- Make sure each core service has its own page that names your city.
- Add a short FAQ answering the five questions customers ask most.
- Match your business name, address and phone everywhere they appear.
- Set up a simple routine to ask happy customers for reviews, and reply to every one.
- Ask ChatGPT and Google, “Who’s the best [your service] in Indianapolis?” and note what comes up. Repeat monthly.
Next step: a free discovery call
AI search is changing how people ask questions, but the businesses that get recommended still win the same way: clear information, consistent details and a real reputation. Market★TING has helped Indianapolis organizations get found since 2009, and we can help you build an AI strategy that fits your business, not just your search results.
Want to know how your business shows up today on Google, Maps and AI assistants? Book a free discovery call and we’ll walk through it together.
