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We’re Not Playing The “Top 10” Game Anymore, Thanks To AI

Last Updated: June 13, 2025

Imagine Mrs. Johnson’s basement was flooding. She grabbed her phone and said, “Hey ChatGPT, find me a plumber.” She didn’t get a list of ten plumbers or a page of links. She got one name. The AI decided who was “best” and that’s what it delivered. Was it you? If not, you’re missing jobs you used to land, because the way customers find you is changing fast.

For 20 years we’ve been playing the “Top 10 Game” where being on Google’s first page was the goal. It meant calls, customers, and cash flow. But now, AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, and smart home devices are taking over. They don’t show ten options and let you pick. They might show you a few options, or they might just give you one single option. If you’re not at the very top, you’re out of the picture. Here’s why this matters and how to make sure you’re the one customers find.

The Future Is Closer Than You Think

In less than 2 years, asking your device for recommendations (like Mrs. Johnson did) will be the norm. It won’t just be your phone either. These questions will be asked of home assistants like Alexa, sure, but you’ll start seeing AI infused into everything. You might soon be asking your smart fridge, “Who’s the best plumber in town?” or “Find me an electrician.” These devices are already here, and they’re getting smarter every day. They don’t give long lists of options. Instead, they give you between 1 and 5 names, based on reviews, relevance, and trust signals.

Want To See The Future Present?

We asked ChatGPT and Grok to provide a plumber for a leaking toilet. The MOST we got was 5 options. Sometimes we got just one single option.

“Hey ChatGPT, find me a plumber in St Louis MO to fix a leaking toilet”

need a plumber prompt 1 - chatgpt
ChatGPT – 3 Results
need a plumber prompt 1 - grok
Grok – 5 Results

“Help, I have a leaking toilet. Who should I call to fix it? I’m in St Louis MO.”

need a plumber prompt 2 - chatgpt
ChatGPT – 3 Results
need a plumber prompt 2 - grok
Grok – 5 Results

“Help! I need a plumber to fix this leaking toilet NOW! Give me the number to the best plumber in St Louis MO.”

need a plumber prompt 3 - chatgpt
ChatGPT – 2.5 Results
need a plumber prompt 3 - grok
Grok – 2 Results

But that’s just the beginning. Within the next 2–5 years, talking to robots in your home will be totally normal. Seriously! We already have robo-taxis cruising around cities, and soon we’ll see compact, task-specific robots doing real household chores like folding laundry, scrubbing bathrooms, and tidying up. These won’t just be cleaning machines; they’ll be smart, connected, AI-powered assistants roaming from room to room. And with an AI in every corner of the house, traditional search engines? Yeah… those days are numbered.

Still skeptical? This isn’t sci-fi. It’s already happening:

  • TidyBot is a robot that can pick up items, sort laundry, and clean up based on voice commands. Watch it work
  • Neo by Redwood AI is a humanoid robot that can do housework without human control. See it in action

 

How AI Is Changing the Game

AI isn’t just replacing Google, it’s making the game tougher. As we explained in our blog on AI vs. Google, Google has spent decades figuring out what makes a business trustworthy and helpful. AI uses that same info (reviews, website quality, local listings, etc.) but narrows it down to the absolute best. When someone asks, “Who’s the best plumber in town?” AI doesn’t list every decent option. It picks the cream of the crop based on:

  • Customer reviews and ratings
  • A clear, mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, up-to-date website
  • Local signals like your Google Business Profile and directory listings

If you haven’t updated your online presence in a couple of years, you’re likely slipping out of that top spot. And as more people turn to AI for recommendations, being “good enough” won’t cut it anymore.

Don’t Get Left Behind

The shift to AI is already happening, and waiting to act could mean losing customers to the handful of pros who get it. The “top 10” game is dead. The “top 3” game is here, and the “top 1” game is right around the corner. You don’t need to be a tech wizard to stay ahead… just take a few smart steps now.

The fastest, easiest way to get started is our AI Quick Start product. It’s turnkey, efficient, simple, and affordable. It’s designed specifically for busy pros like you. We handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on what you do best: fixing problems and keeping customers happy.

Want more details? Check out our simple guide to getting AI-ready for additional steps you can take today, all on your own.

Act Now. It’s Your Business on the Line

When Mrs. Johnson’s basement floods or Mr. Brown’s AC quits, their phones, fridges, or even their home robots will pick one pro to call. Make sure it’s you. Don’t wait! Jump over to our AI Quick Start and take the first step today to keep those jobs coming.

Inexpensive vs. Cheap: The 1-Cent Mistake That Can Cost You Hundreds

Last Updated: June 11, 2025

Leer en español

Let’s talk about a word mix-up that costs small business owners a ton of money: inexpensive vs. cheap.

They sound similar, right? But they are wildly different.

  • Cheap means low price and low quality.
  • Inexpensive means low price but good quality.

That one little difference? It can mean the difference between smooth sailing and an expensive headache later on.

Illustrating The Point With Car Parts

Imagine you’ve got a 20-year-old rust-bucket car you’re trying to squeeze one more year out of. In this case, when your goal is just getting that one extra year of use, buying the cheapest replacement part almost certainly makes sense.

But if it’s a vehicle you rely on to get to work every day? Cheap parts just lead to more repairs, more downtime, and more money wasted. You’re far better off investing a few extra dollars in the correct, OEM quality part because it will last, and you’ll only pay for the part and the labor one time, not 3.

It’s the same with your digital presence. Don’t throw bargain-bin parts at a tool you depend on every single day. If you miss out on just ONE sale, you will almost certainly blow away all your “savings” and then some.

Why This Matters: Our Most-Common (and Most-Ridiculous) Example

One of the most common places we see this mistake? Domain registration. It’s not flashy. It’s not exciting. But it’s foundational. And it’s where the “cheap” vs. “inexpensive” trap gets a lot of people.

We see folks picking a domain registrar that’s $3 cheaper per year. That’s 25 cents per month. Less than 1 cent per day.

But here’s the thing: at some point, nearly everyone needs to do something more advanced than just pointing a domain at a basic website. When that time comes, those ultra-budget registrars fall apart.

Suddenly, you’re:

  • Paying someone (often us) an hourly rate to figure out a workaround, or
  • Forced to move the domain to a decent registrar before you can even solve the problem.

Both options? Way more expensive than just spending the extra 6 cents a day upfront.

We’ve been there. We used to use GoDaddy for our registrations. Once upon a time, they were great. Now? Not so much. Their support is a shadow of what it used to be. The upsells are endless. And they can’t even handle basic HTTPS redirects on domain forwards. That’s basic stuff. They just don’t offer it.

And that’s still better than many of the cut-rate providers out there. The really cheap ones? They’re often missing key features, have clunky user interfaces, and are prone to technical bugs that bring your site down. We had a client on Turbify whose domain was broken due to an issue on their end. Their response? “Yep, we know. No idea when we’ll fix it.”

Meanwhile, the client’s website stayed down.

The Math Doesn’t Lie

If you save $3 per year but have to pay someone just once to fix a problem for $50… congrats! You’ve just wiped out 16.5 years of savings. For a single issue.

That’s not a deal. That’s a terrible investment.

We use Porkbun now and have been really happy. There are other great providers out there too. We have no affiliation with them, we’re just sharing what’s worked. The point is: spending a few dollars more for a reliable, full-featured, well-supported registrar is 100% worth it.

Another “Cheap” Trap: Websites

Another place we see people going down the “cheap” path: website builds.

We get it. A local web company quotes you $1,800. Someone overseas offers to do it for $1,500. You save $300. Great deal, right?

Unfortunately, 90% of the time, that $300 savings turns into thousands of dollars in problems later on.

We regularly see sites that:

  • Are hard to update or customize
  • Use bloated templates or drag-and-drop builders (because the dev didn’t know how to code)
  • Crash often or conflict with plugins
  • Load slowly and hurt your user experience
  • Have zero keyword strategy in the content
  • Have spelling and grammar errors

That means you need to hire someone else (often us again!) to clean it up, optimize it, and basically rebuild what you thought you were getting. That $300 almost never covers the time we have to invest in fixing all the problems.

Worse, basic changes (the things that should take 5 minutes and we would therefore do for free) now take an hour or more. And you’re getting charged for every one of those hours. That “cheap” website? Not so cheap anymore. In fact, it’s not unusual for those sites to cost you more than DOUBLE their purchase price within just a couple years.

Expertise Is Not a Commodity

There’s this myth that everything online should be free or dirt-cheap. But when it comes to things like websites, ads, SEO, and branding, you’re not buying a product, you’re buying labor and expertise.

Would you trust a guy with zero plumbing experience to fix a pipe in your customer’s house? Of course not.

Well, the same goes for building and managing your online presence. We clean up cheap work every single week. And sure, we get paid to do it, but we’d much rather see you do it right the first time.

Final Thought

If you take just one thing away from this, let it be this: inexpensive is great, cheap is a money-pit.

When you’re running a business, every dollar counts, but that doesn’t mean every dollar should be pinched. Think longer-term. This is one of the ways the rich get richer. By thinking of the total cost outlay on a 5 year timeline, instead of a 5 day timeline, they spend less overall, keeping more in their pocket. Invest wisely. And don’t let 6 cents a day become a bottomless pit of expenses.

Using ScamWatch GPT to Fact-Check Fanntastic Media LLC’s Google “Check-In” Pitch

Last Updated: June 5, 2025

One of our readers recently pointed us to an interesting blog post from a marketing agency:
This One Google Maps Trick Can Get You More Calls—Fast

The pitch? That doing “check-ins” on your Google Business Profile (GBP) at job sites can help you get more calls.

So, we decided to put that claim to the test using ScamWatch GPT, our favorite AI tool for sniffing out sketchy marketing tactics.

Step 1: Take a Screenshot

We grabbed a screenshot of the blog post (you can also copy and paste the text if that’s easier).

Screenshot of the article

Step 2: Upload it to ScamWatch GPT

Once uploaded, we hit “enter” and waited for the AI to do its thing.

Here’s what came back:

ScamWatch GPT Output 1

Pretty interesting, right?

Step 3: Keep the Conversation Going

ScamWatch GPT lets you keep chatting, so we asked a few follow-up questions.

Here’s another snippet we thought was worth sharing:

ScamWatch GPT Output 2

Check the Sources

One great thing about this tool? You can click the little “Sources” button to see exactly where the information came from.

Arrow pointing to the sources button

Here’s a peek at the source list:

Sources list

This helps you verify the information on your own (and we highly recommend that you do.) After all, even AI gets things wrong sometimes. (They call it “hallucinating,” which is just a polite way of saying, it might make stuff up.)

Pro Tip

Use one AI to fact-check the other. For example, you can take the output from ScamWatch GPT (ChatGPT) and copy and paste it into Grok or Gemini, asking it to fact-check the information. It’s unlikely both will “hallucinate” in the same way, so it can be a helpful sanity check.

The best way to get comfortable with AI is to dive in and start playing around. Hopefully, this little tutorial gave you some ideas for using AI in your own research. It’s a great way to test marketing claims before spending your hard-earned dollars.

Got questions? Curious about other tools? Just reach out!

 

 

AI-Powered Marketing Claim Verification FAQs


ScamWatch GPT is an AI-powered tool developed by Prospect Genius to analyze and fact-check marketing claims. Users can input marketing content, and the tool evaluates the information, providing insights and sources to verify the legitimacy of the claims.


According to Prospect Genius’s analysis using ScamWatch GPT, the claim that performing check-ins on your Google Business Profile at job sites significantly increases call volume is questionable. It’s recommended to verify such marketing tactics before implementation.


You can use AI tools like ScamWatch GPT by inputting marketing content to receive an analysis of the claims made. These tools often provide sources and further explanations, helping you assess the validity of various marketing strategies.


Using AI for evaluating marketing tactics allows for quick analysis, identification of dubious claims, and access to source-backed information. This helps businesses make informed decisions and avoid falling for ineffective or misleading marketing strategies.


You can learn more about Prospect Genius’s AI tools, including ScamWatch GPT, by visiting their official website at https://www.prospectgenius.com or contacting them directly at (800) 689-1273.

A Simple Analogy: The Main Difference Between How AI and Google Behave When Visiting Your Site

Last Updated: June 6, 2025

Leer en español

If you’re a small business owner, you’ve probably heard a lot lately about how AI is changing everything, especially when it comes to search engines, online content, and how customers find you. And let’s be honest: most of it sounds like techno-babble. You’re busy, so the last thing you need is jargon. You just need to know what’s actually changing, and what you should do about it.

Here’s why this matters:

  • If you understand how AI and search bots function differently, you can spot B.S. from a mile away, especially from marketers or “AI experts” who are just trying to sell you something.

  • And more importantly, you can start making smart, focused improvements to your website, so you’re not just guessing or stabbing in the dark.

In short, this is about playing the new game with your eyes wide open.

So, let’s break it down with a simple analogy that shows exactly how search bots (like Google) and AI bots behave when they visit your site, and how that changes the way your business shows up online.

Imagine:

  • The houses in your town are like websites, each containing interesting documents, books, etc.
  • Your town’s network of streets is just like the internet itself.
  • The “bots” from Google and ChatGPT and others, are mail-carriers.

Search Bots: The Mail Carrier with a Giant Bag

Like mail-carriers, search bots walk down the street, knock on every door, and take a copy of whatever documents are inside each house. They toss those pages into a giant mailbag and move on to the next house.

Later, when someone types a question into a search engine, like “how to fix a leaky faucet,” the search engine digs into that bag and pulls out the 10 pieces of paper it believes are the best answer to that question. Then it hands those over to the person who asked.

From there, it’s up to the searcher to read through the results, decide what’s helpful, and choose what to click on.

AI Bots: The Quiet Visitor Who Just Reads

AI bots go door to door too, but they work differently. Instead of taking copies of the documents, they just go inside, read the information, and leave. They don’t keep a physical copy; they just remember what they read.

So when someone asks an AI a question, it doesn’t go dig up 10 links. It says: “Oh yeah, I remember reading about that. Here’s what I think.” The response is a unique, personalized answer, based on everything the AI has read and learned over time, not a list of search results.

⚠️ Quick note: Yes, we’re oversimplifying a bit here. AI bots don’t literally remember things like people do, and they don’t “read” in the human sense. But this analogy helps explain the key difference: Search bots collect and return copies. AI bots process and create something new.

SEO Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Growing Up

Search engines like Google have spent the last 20+ years figuring out what makes a web page trustworthy and useful. That’s how they decide what to show people.

And AI tools aren’t tossing that playbook in the trash. They’re using that same information (things like authority, helpfulness, and relevance) but layering on their own way of understanding content.

In other words, if your site is already well-optimized for search, you’re in a great spot. But now, you also need to start thinking about how your content “reads” to an AI bot that’s trying to explain things in its own words.

This isn’t a replacement, it’s an add-on. You still need SEO, but you also need to speak AI. That’s a very important shift to understand.

What This Means for Your Business

Before, you needed to be one of the top 10 results to show up in search. Now, you might need to be the one best answer…or one of just a few.

The internet is changing fast. For customers, it’s becoming easier than ever to find help. But for businesses, it’s becoming more competitive and difficult to stand out.

Now is not the time to pause, wait, or hope for the best. Now is the time to double down on strong content, helpful information, and new strategies that help both search bots and AI bots understand and trust what you’re offering.

Remember, the businesses that adapt fastest are the ones who’ll stay ahead, while the others get left behind.

A good first step toward playing the AI game is our AI Optimization Quick Start package. It gives you the baseline of optimization you need to start competing in the AI arena, while still being incredibly affordable and approachable. You can always build on top of it later as cash-flow allows but it at least gets you in the game!

Quickly Decode All These Crazy AI Ads, Claims, and Sales Pitches

Last Updated: June 5, 2025

Leer en español

If it feels like you’ve been seeing more fishy ads lately (especially ones promising AI miracles that sound too good to be true) you’re not imagining things. The internet is buzzing with bold claims, from “automated fortune-building bots” to tools that supposedly do your marketing, taxes, and grocery shopping all in one click. And honestly, it’s getting hard to tell what’s real anymore.

The Problem: Most Claims Sound Legit

The trouble is, many of these pitches are dressed up in slick design and impressive-sounding language. Words like “machine learning,” “generative neural networks,” and “autonomous content pipelines” get thrown around like confetti, but under the hood, many of these products are either overhyped or downright fake.

For busy small business owners, who’s got time to dissect all that jargon?

Let’s take a real example that was dumped into our Facebook feed:

Facebook ad claiming to get your business indexed by ChatGPTComment from ad that claims to get you indexed by ChatGPT which makes more false claims


A Facebook ad from a company promises they can “Get You Indexed by ChatGPT” for just $30 a month. Sounds like a dream, right? Like SEO for AI?

Dig a little deeper though, and it unravels fast. In the comments, they admit that it’s not really “indexing” like Google does. Instead, they claim to “stream your URL into ChatGPT’s training data” by creating something called JSON-LD schema and “dynamic prompts.” They even say they’re “building a data pipeline into the model.”

That all sounds very technical… but here’s the truth: It’s pure techno-babble trash.

Large language models like ChatGPT are retrained every few months at best, and that process costs millions of dollars. No third party can “stream” anything into the training data or build a magical pipeline into the model. That’s simply not how any of this works.

They’re taking real-sounding concepts and wrapping them in snake oil, hoping business owners won’t know the difference.

Using AI to Decode AI Claims

Here’s the irony: one of the best tools for cutting through bogus AI claims… is AI itself.

If you’re staring at an ad that makes wild promises or a sales pitch that sounds a little too slick, you can now get a second opinion instantly by feeding it to an AI assistant like ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini. Just upload a screenshot or explain what the ad said, and ask, “Is this for real?” You’ll get a breakdown that’s clear, honest, and (usually) way less biased than a sales call.

IMPORTANT: You have to be wary of “hallucinations” in these AI models. That means they’ll confidently lie to your face sometimes, inventing facts and sources out of thin air. If you treat the AI’s output like a Wikipedia article, you’re on the right track. It’s a powerful tool that can help you get started down a path, but it’s not to be blindly trusted.

PRO TIP: One neat trick is to use two models. For example, you can ask ChatGPT about a topic and then copy/paste the question you asked it, and the answer it gave, into Grok or Gemini. Just prompt it with something like “Below is a question I asked ChatGPT and the answer it gave me. Please review it and tell me if any of it is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading.” You are unlikely to get the same hallucination in both models so you can be reasonably sure, at that  point, that your information is pretty reliable.

A Shortcut to the Truth: ScamWatch GPT

Until you’ve used AI for a while and gotten used to how best to prompt it, it can be a little frustrating. You’ll get overly verbose answers and wandering responses that you have to read through. As you get better at it, you’ll get better outputs.

In order to help you get the most out of your queries (and to save you a bunch of time and keystrokes) we built this (totally free) custom GPT helper: ScamWatch GPT by Prospect Genius

It’s a custom GPT we created that saves you from having to type long prompts to get to the answers you need. Instead of typing out your whole situation or trying to figure out what to say, just drop in the ad (or describe the claim), and it’ll walk you through the red flags, sketchy logic, or flat-out lies… fast.

Think of it like a time-saver for checking too-good-to-be-true offers before you waste a dime or a minute on them.

For example, we uploaded the screenshot of that ad we referenced above into ScamWatch GPT and hit enter (no typing required.) This is what we got back.

In case you can’t see what’s at the link, here’s a screenshot of what’s there.

output from ScamWatch GPT for an ad claiming to get you indexed by ChatGPT

⚠️Update: See another example of how to make use of this tool here.

You’ve Got Backup

Whether you use our custom GPT, your own AI assistant, or reach out to us the old-fashioned way, we want you to have the tools to cut through the noise. AI is opening a lot of doors, but it’s also opening the floodgates to scammers, shady marketers, and half-baked tech products.

We’ve spent nearly two decades helping folks make sense of marketing pitches. Now, with AI in your corner, it’s easier than ever to get a second opinion before you sign up, subscribe, or spend.

Need a second opinion?
Upload that ad. Paste that pitch. Run it through an AI. Or just ask us. Either way, you’ve got options, and that makes you a much harder target for scams.

AI Marketing Claims FAQs


No, third-party services cannot get your business indexed by ChatGPT. Claims suggesting they can ‘stream your URL into ChatGPT’s training data’ are misleading. Large language models like ChatGPT are retrained periodically at significant cost, and external entities cannot inject data into their training processes.


Common red flags include the use of complex jargon like ‘machine learning’ or ‘autonomous content pipelines’ without clear explanations, promises of instant results, and claims of direct integration with AI models like ChatGPT. Such language often masks overhyped or false capabilities.


You can use AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini to assess the credibility of AI marketing claims. Input the claim into these tools and ask for an evaluation. However, be cautious of potential inaccuracies and consider cross-referencing with multiple sources.


ScamWatch GPT is a free tool developed by Prospect Genius to help users identify misleading AI marketing claims. Users can input ads or pitches, and the tool provides an analysis highlighting potential red flags and deceptive language.


Being cautious is crucial because many AI marketing pitches are designed to exploit unfamiliarity with AI technologies. They may offer services that are technically impossible or ineffective, leading to wasted resources and potential harm to your business’s reputation.

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