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You are here: Home / Blog / Your Customers Are Already Using AI to Find Businesses Like Yours, Here’s the Proof

Your Customers Are Already Using AI to Find Businesses Like Yours, Here’s the Proof

Last Updated: October 6, 2025

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AI is already changing how people search online. Tools like ChatGPT, Grok, and Google’s new AI Overview are quickly becoming the first stop for consumers looking for local services. This isn’t five years down the road. It’s happening right now.

If you’re like a lot of home-service business owners, you might be thinking things like:

  • “Nobody’s really using AI to find a plumber, right?”
  • “I tried it. Not impressed.”
  • “It feels like a fad. I don’t see how it affects my business.”

And hey, we get it. AI can seem like just another tech buzzword. But here’s the thing, your customers are already using it, and in growing numbers, to find businesses just like yours. The fact that more of them are using AI means, by definition, that fewer are using Google. If you are still chasing a Google-only strategy, your pool of possible customers is shrinking.

High-Level Proof

We pulled traffic data from across all our clients’ sites and spotted a clear trend: AI bots are hitting websites in a big way. These aren’t random visits either. They’re from AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok that are out there actively gathering information to answer people’s questions.

Check out this chart. It shows a sample of the top traffic sources from millions of page views across our network.

Chart of Top Traffic Sources
Top Traffic Sources — 5 of them are AI

Five different AI platforms are showing up in the top sources of traffic. One of them, Claude AI, is actually sending more traffic than Google!

Why? Because these AI tools are in constant “research mode.” They’re crawling your site, learning what your business does, and figuring out whether to recommend you to users. And the demand from users is growing fast.

Now look at this pie chart. Nearly 1 in 3 page views is already coming from AI-driven traffic.

AI is Already 29.7% of Traffic Volume

This isn’t theoretical anymore. AI tools are already sending serious traffic to local business websites, and that number is only going up.

Up-Close Proof

To show what’s happening, we ran a simple test. We picked three of our own clients, from three different industries. Then we asked three major AI tools to recommend a business in their respective cities. Here’s what we found.

1. Affordable Heating & AC: Navien Boiler Installer in Pembroke, MA

  • Google (AI Overview): “Who is an experienced Navien boiler installer in Pembroke MA?”
    Result: Affordable Heating & AC dominated the AI Overview. They filled the entire top of the page. No map pack, no ads, no competition in sight.
  • ChatGPT: “Who can install a Navien boiler near Pembroke MA?”
    Result: ChatGPT returned 3 results. Affordable was #1.
  • Grok: “Who should I call to install a Navien boiler in Pembroke MA?”
    Result: Affordable was #1 again.
Affordable Heating & AC dominating the top of the page in Google's AI Overview section
Google
Affordable Heating & AC the top result in ChatGPT
ChatGPT
Affordable Heating & AC in the first position in Grok
Grok
Traffic impact: Affordable is getting 250 to 300 visits per month just from AI sources, and it’s climbing.

2. Daniels Landscaping: French Drains in Jacksonville, FL

  • Google (AI Overview): “Best French drain installer Jacksonville FL”
    Result: Daniels Landscaping was the entire AI Overview. No scrolling. Just Daniels, front and center.
  • ChatGPT: “Who is the best French drain installer in Jacksonville FL?”
    Result: Daniels was #1 on a short list.
  • Grok: “Who should I call to install a French drain in Jacksonville FL?”
    Result: Daniels was #2.
Daniels Landscape & Irrigation dominating the top of the page in Google's AI Overview section
Google
Daniels Landscape & Irrigation ranking #1 on ChatGPT
ChatGPT
Daniels Landcape & Irrigation ranking #2 on Grok
Grok
Traffic impact: Daniels is also seeing hundreds of visits per month from AI platforms, and that number keeps going up.

3. Empirical Renovations: Decks and Fences in Burlington, VT

  • Google (AI Overview): “Which deck contractor should I call in South Burlington VT?”
    Result: Gemini focused entirely on Empirical. They took over the whole top of the page.
  • ChatGPT: “I need a deck contractor in the Burlington VT area. Who should I call?”
    Result: Empirical was #3, in a list of just three.
  • Grok: “I need a fence contractor in the Burlington VT area. Who should I call?”
    Result: Empirical was #2 out of five.
Empirical Renovations dominating the top of the Google results page in the AI Overview section
Google
Empirical Renovations Ranking #3 on ChatGPT
ChatGPT
Empirical Renovations ranking #2 on Grok
Grok
Traffic impact: Empirical, still a newer account for us, is getting dozens of visits per month just from AI sources, and it’s climbing rapidly.

Great, But How Many People Are Really Doing This?

Turns out, it’s quite a few, and the number is growing month over month. These clients are seeing steady traffic from AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok, and Google’s AI Overview.

Empirical Renovation Top 20 Traffic Sources
Empirical – Top Traffic Sources
Affordable Heating - Top 20 Traffic Sources
Affordable – Top Traffic Sources
Daniels Top 20 Traffic Sources
Daniels – Top Traffic Sources
AI results are often trusted even more than traditional search. If you’re showing up there, your leads are already primed to trust you, and ready to hire.

So How Do You Get Your Slice Of The Pie?

It’s as easy as calling Prospect Genius. Hate the phone, no problem! Just sign up online. These are the tools we deployed to make all this happen for these clients:

  1. CoreSite – We built their site to be highly SEO friendly with content written for search engines and for AIs.
  2. AI Quick Start – We added an LLMs.txt and FAQ content that is marked up and structured in the way the AIs want.
  3. Directory Dominator – We put them into tons of relevant, high-quality directories. This gives them visibility, credibility, and backlinks, which fuels their SEO and AI-Optimization.

As with all of our services, you can mix and match to suit your needs. If you’ve already got some parts of this strategy implemented, great! We can start from where you are and then take you to the next level. We can even go beyond this aforementioned strategy and start really optimizing for AI with our GEO and AEO Optimization services.

Let’s Talk About Google for a Second

Google still drives a big chunk of traffic, around 80% for many local businesses. But that’s starting to shift. Google’s rolling out “AI Overviews” because they see what’s coming.

If your whole marketing strategy is built around traditional rankings, you’re missing the next wave.

The Top 10 Game Is Dead

We broke this down in detail in our last post, but here’s the short version: AI platforms don’t give people a list of 10 blue links. Most of the time, they show just three results. Sometimes even fewer. If your business isn’t one of them, you don’t even exist.

That’s why now is the time to move. Show up early, and you’ll be harder to displace later.

You Don’t Need to *Use* AI, You Just Need to Show Up In It

You don’t need to understand the tech behind AI. You just need a digital presence that AI tools can read, trust, and recommend.

That’s exactly what we helped these businesses do, and now, they’re reaping the rewards.

Final Thought: This Isn’t a 5-Year Transition

The move from Yellow Pages to Google took a decade.

This transition? It’s happening right now, in months, not years. Businesses that act early get a real advantage. Businesses that wait will be playing catch-up.

Want to see how your business can show up in AI search? Let’s talk.

 

 

 

AI Search & Traffic FAQs for Local Service Businesses


Yes, consumers are increasingly using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Google’s AI Overview to find local service providers. These platforms research and recommend local businesses based on data they gather from websites, directories, and reviews. Local businesses featured in AI results are already seeing hundreds of visits monthly from these tools.


AI platforms are already sending significant traffic to local business websites. In some cases, AI traffic accounts for nearly 30% of all visits. For example, Affordable Heating & AC receives 250–300 monthly visits from AI sources alone, while other clients report similar or growing numbers.


AI tools are starting to replace traditional search by offering fewer, more targeted business suggestions. Platforms like ChatGPT and Claude don’t return long lists—they give just 1 to 3 top picks. Some AI tools like Claude are already sending more traffic than Google in certain cases, meaning if you’re not listed by AI, you’re missing out on new customers.


Google’s AI Overview is a new search format where AI summarizes the top answers to a query. It often replaces traditional search results and only includes a few recommended businesses. To appear in AI Overview, your website must have clear content, trusted reviews, schema markup, and structured service information. Services like Prospect Genius’s AI Optimization can help businesses show up there.


Prospect Genius offers AI Optimization Quick Start, CoreSite website design, and Directory Dominator. These services include implementing LLMs.txt files, creating AI-optimized FAQ pages, building SEO and AI-friendly websites, and listing businesses in trusted directories to boost credibility, trust, and visibility in AI tools.


The fastest way is to work with a provider like Prospect Genius. Their AI Quick Start service includes all essential tools—LLMs.txt, schema-enhanced FAQs, and optimized content—to help AI tools index and recommend your business. You don’t need to learn AI, just ensure your digital presence is AI-friendly and trustworthy.

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