AI Search for Tradies: How to Get Found by ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews

Your next customer might not open Google Maps at all

It's 9pm and someone's hot water system just died. Ten years ago they'd grab their phone and search "plumber near me." Now, a growing number of them ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overview instead: "who's a good emergency plumber in Toowoomba?" The AI answers with two or three names. If yours isn't one of them, you never get the call — and you never even know the search happened.

This is AI search, sometimes called GEO (generative engine optimisation). It's not replacing Google Maps or the local pack yet, but it's sitting on top of it, and it's growing fast. Here's what's changed, why it matters more if you're outside a capital city, and what to fix first.

What's actually changed in search

AI Overviews still show up in a minority of "near me" style searches — but that share is climbing every month, and it's no longer just informational questions. When an AI answer does appear for a local trade search, it pulls from your Google Business Profile and from what your website actually says, not just from your ranking position. You can sit on page one of Google and still not get named in the AI answer above it.

At the same time, Google's own data shows actions on Business Profiles — calls, direction requests, website clicks, bookings — grew 41% year-on-year, while plain organic traffic keeps flattening out. Customers aren't typing less. They're increasingly acting straight off a profile or an AI answer, without ever landing on a website in between.

Why this matters more for a regional trade business

In a capital city, a dozen agencies are already fighting over "emergency electrician Sydney." Out in the regions, most tradies haven't touched this yet — which means the businesses that get their profile and their website right in the next few months will be the ones an AI keeps naming for years. This is one of the few genuine first-mover windows left in local search.

How an AI decides which business to name

There's no secret trick here — it's the same fundamentals that drive the Google Maps pack, done properly:

• A complete, active Google Business Profile. Right category, every service listed, weekly photos and posts. Profile signals alone drive around a third of local ranking.
• Real, recent reviews — with replies. Three to five new reviews a month, every one replied to, beats a big pile of old ones sitting untouched.
• A website that answers the exact question, in plain words. A page titled "Emergency plumber Toowoomba" that opens with a direct answer in the first sentence gets picked up far more often than a vague "About Us" paragraph.
• Consistent details everywhere. Your name, address and phone number need to match, character for character, across your website, your profile, and every directory you're listed on. Mismatches quietly cost you trust with both Google and the AI.
• Suburb-specific content. A dedicated line or page for each town or suburb you actually service, not one page trying to cover a whole region.

Six things to fix this month

1. Claim and completely fill out your Google Business Profile — every field, every service, the right primary category.
2. Ask your last 10 happy customers for a review this week, and reply to every review you already have.
3. Add a short, honest paragraph to your website answering "do you service [suburb]?" for each area you actually cover.
4. Rewrite your homepage's first sentence so it plainly states what you do and where — not a slogan.
5. Check your business name, address and phone number match exactly across your website, your profile and any directories you're on.
6. Post a photo of a finished job to your Google Business Profile once a week. It's the single easiest "recent activity" signal to keep up.

None of this needs a big budget. It needs about an hour a week, done consistently, for a few months.

Where this fits with everything else

AI search doesn't replace local SEO or a fast, well-built website — it sits on top of them. A site built to answer real customer questions, backed by a Google Business Profile that's actually maintained, tends to show up in both the map pack and the AI answer, because they're reading the same signals.

If you're not sure where your business currently stands, a free website audit will show you exactly what's missing before you spend a cent. Or if you'd rather talk it through, book a free strategy call and we'll walk you through it — no lock-in contracts, no jargon, plain English the whole way.