Half the local audits we run find the same defect: the website, profile, and directories describe the business three different ways. Search engines and AI recommenders both hedge when entity data conflicts, and the fix is pure discipline: one canonical record, deployed verbatim, audited quarterly.
For near-me intent, your Business Profile gets more impressions than your website. Complete every field, keep categories precise, post weekly, and answer every review; the algorithm reads activity as reliability.
Name, address, phone, categories, and service descriptions must match everywhere, site, profile, and directories, character for character. Mismatch is the quiet killer behind most map pack losses we audit.
Both search and AI recommendations quote review text. Prompt customers with specific questions so reviews contain services, locations, and outcomes in plain sentences worth extracting.
This exact method ships inside our client engagements at $45/hr, estimate in writing first.
Start a ProjectFor near-me intent, the profile gets more impressions than your site. Treat it with homepage-level discipline.
AI assistants now name specific local providers with addresses and phone numbers. The signals overlap heavily with map pack work.
Most high-intent searches now end in an extracted answer, not a click. AEO is the discipline of being that answer.