The AI Visibility Guide for trade businesses.

Download the PDF directly

No form, no email. Just click and you're done.

Receive by email

We'll email you the guide, handy if you want it on your laptop or phone later.

If you leave the box unticked you receive exactly one email with the guide, no newsletter, no further messages, see privacy policy.

How do I read the result of my self-test?

If your business is named, note that down as your baseline. If it doesn't appear while other businesses are named, that is the most common case: in our study, this applied to 14 of 20 businesses even with web search.

Also check whether your address, opening hours and reviews are reproduced correctly and up to date; AI answers are sometimes out of date. Repeat the test in at least two different AI tools, for example ChatGPT and Gemini, because each model has learned from different sources.

Important: This test is only for your own assessment. Don't publish the answers on your own website as a comparison with named competitors; that is legally risky.

What is the technical foundation of AI visibility?

Your website must be technically readable for AI systems: clean Schema.org markup, access for AI crawlers and clear answers right in the first sentences rather than after three paragraphs of marketing copy.

Self-check: Open your home page and read only the first two sentences. Do they say what you do and where? Also check your robots.txt, available at /robots.txt on your web address.

Fix: see “How do I open my robots.txt to AI crawlers?” and “How do I add Schema.org LocalBusiness?” below.

What is citable content?

Citable content is content an AI can take over word for word or in substance because it fully answers a question: your own figures instead of empty phrases, for example “15 years of experience, more than 400 completed projects” instead of “good and reliable”.

Self-check: Look on your own site for the answer to “What does a typical job cost?” or “Do you offer an emergency service at weekends?”. Is the answer there as a clear sentence, or do people have to guess or call specially?

Fix: Build an FAQ section with your five most common customer questions, each answered in one clear, short sentence.

What are independent mentions?

These are mentions beyond your own website: in business directories, on review platforms, in your Google Business Profile, in trade media. AI models learn about a brand from many independent sources at once, not just from its own website.

Self-check: Search for your business name together with your town. How many independent results appear that are not your own website?

Fix: see “How do I build independent mentions?” below. This level takes effect most slowly; expect weeks, not days.

How do I open my robots.txt to AI crawlers?

Add the following block to the end of your robots.txt, or give it to your web designer as a task. Many robots.txt files lock out AI crawlers unintentionally, often because they come from an old template that blocks “Bot” across the board.

# Explicitly allow AI crawlers
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /

This permission merely ensures the crawlers are not blocked from reading your site. Whether an AI ends up mentioning you is decided mainly by citable content and independent mentions.

How do I add Schema.org LocalBusiness?

Insert the following JSON-LD code invisibly into the head section of your home page and replace the placeholders in square brackets with your real details. Nothing changes visually for visitors.

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "[Your business name]",
  "image": "[Link to a photo of your business]",
  "telephone": "[Your phone number]",
  "email": "[Your email address]",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "[Street and house number]",
    "postalCode": "[Postcode]",
    "addressLocality": "[Town]",
    "addressCountry": "DE"
  },
  "areaServed": "[Town/region where you work]",
  "openingHours": "Mo-Fr 08:00-17:00",
  "priceRange": "€€",
  "url": "[Your website address]"
}
</script>

Tip: For specific trades there are more fitting schema types than “LocalBusiness”, for example “Electrician” or “HomeAndConstructionBusiness”. Once it is in place, you can check the code with Google's free Rich Results Test or a Schema.org validator.

How do I build independent mentions?

This is not a one-off action but an ongoing checklist that you work through over the coming weeks.

• Google Business Profile created or completed: opening hours, photos, services, emergency service if you offer one, everything filled in
• Listing in at least three business directories with identical details, e.g. Das Örtliche, Gelbe Seiten, 11880, your Chamber of Crafts (Handwerkskammer) or guild directory. Name, address and phone number must be written exactly the same everywhere, otherwise it counts as an unclear source
• Actively ask satisfied customers for reviews, right after the job is finished, when satisfaction is at its highest
• If applicable: let local press, club websites or supplier reference pages know about a mention