How to Get Your Trade Business Found on ChatGPT and AI Search (UK)

Start with the customer question you want to answer: what work you do, where you attend, how to contact you and what evidence a customer can check. Put those facts on your own website and correct outdated public listings. Then record what a search-enabled assistant actually says and which pages it cites.

This is practical AI search optimisation: clear, accurate, accessible information. Google says its usual search guidance applies to AI Overviews and AI Mode; there is no special AI markup or text file to add. Eligibility still depends on indexing and permission to show a search snippet.

Use the sheet below for ChatGPT and Claude. A citation, a referral visit and a booked job are different observations; record each separately.

Official guidance checked 3 October 2026. Ask your website provider to check the controls for the platform you want to reach, rather than switching on every AI crawler.

OpenAI distinguishes search from training and says ChatGPT-User is used for user actions, not automatic crawling or Search eligibility. Its robots.txt rules may not apply to those user actions. Anthropic separately identifies search, user retrieval and training robots, and says its bots honour robots.txt and do not bypass CAPTCHAs.

Allowing search access does not require allowing a training crawler. Access is one prerequisite, not proof that an assistant will recommend the business.

Choose a real customer question, for example “Who installs outdoor sockets in [town]?” Use the same wording when comparing observations. Record whether web search was available and used; a general chat answer is a different observation from a searched answer with source links.

A single answer is a sample, not your share of all AI recommendations. Do not turn repeated searches from one account into a visibility percentage. Track genuine enquiries separately in the lead ledger, with the customer's reported source and any observed referral URL.

Check the real trading name, working contact number, services, attendance hours, coverage and current registrations. Keep the same business facts across your website, Google Business Profile and any directories where you actually have a listing.

Do not publish a home address just to make listings match. Follow the profile's service-area rules. Record the owner and correction date for an old number or wrong service area, then check the public page. A directory membership or verified Google profile is not a qualification to carry out trade work.

Keep voluntary reviews of genuine work separate from directory corrections. Use the neutral review request and ledger; do not prescribe keywords, a rating or a reward. Public replies should address the feedback without revealing private job details.

A useful service page tells the customer what you do, the area you attend, what information you need to quote, what is included and how to contact you. Write important facts as visible text alongside images and downloads so the page is usable without opening another file.

Fill-in service answer, not a real business claim: “[Business] provides [actual service] in [actual coverage]. To assess this job, send [required details]. Our stated price basis is [basis/date/VAT treatment], with [inclusions/exclusions]. Check [current registration link, if held] and contact us through [working route].” Leave out facts you cannot substantiate.

For a real job example, state the agreed scope, the problem found, what was done and a permissioned photo. Label an illustrative example as fictional. A copied list of “best trades” or a town-name swap adds no evidence about your own business. Improve the existing page before creating another one for the same question.

The website guide has a mobile enquiry test and job-proof worksheet. Structured data, where used, should match visible facts; Google does not require special AI schema.

Give the provider the public URL and ask them to record whether it loads without login, whether its important text is available, and whether a search-indexing setting, robots.txt rule or firewall challenge blocks the relevant crawler. Check the actual hostname, including any separate subdomain.

For ChatGPT search, OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot and its published IP ranges. For Claude, check Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User separately; Anthropic describes robots.txt and CAPTCHA behaviour in its guidance. Keep your training preferences separate from this search task. If a page opens for you but the assistant cannot read it, use the access-fault worksheet to give the provider a reproducible task.

For Google, check indexing and snippet eligibility in Search Console. Submitting a URL or removing a block is an action taken, not confirmation of indexing or an AI citation. Ask the provider to record the result and date, then use your observation sheet to check the public answer.

Use one date window and record the channels separately:

• Observed citation: the assistant, question, date and source URL from your sheet.
• Referral visit: a visit actually recorded by your website analytics; a visit is not an enquiry.
• Enquiry: a real call or message, with source stated by the customer or recorded as unknown.
• Suitable enquiry, quote and booking: the separate stages in the lead ledger, followed by completed work and payment.

Google reports AI-feature search activity within Search Console's Web search totals. Those totals are not a separate count of ChatGPT or Claude mentions. A customer may use several sources before contacting you, so retain their own wording instead of guessing the channel.

Start with one inaccurate source or one blocked useful page. Record its correction, then recheck. Use Tradehand to keep the enquiry, quote and job together; choose the next content task from the questions suitable customers actually ask.