Guide · Reviewed 2026-09-25
Use this checklist to make your public business information clearer and inspect how it appears in sampled AI answers. It improves the quality of your source information; it cannot guarantee a mention or ranking.
Step 1
Record the exact public name, primary category, address or service area, phone, website, hours and core services. Mark which details vary by location. Use this sheet when checking every public profile.
How to verify: Compare the sheet with your own website and Google Business Profile. Correct conflicts at the source.
Step 2
Give each meaningful service a clear description, who it is for, where it is offered and how to contact you. Answer common customer questions in visible page text. Link to these pages from your navigation or relevant location page.
How to verify: Open the page without signing in and confirm its main answer appears in the HTML, title and headings.
Step 3
A public page needs to be reachable by search crawlers to be considered for Google Search AI features. Check robots rules, noindex directives, canonical URLs and Google Search Console URL Inspection.
How to verify: Inspect one important service page in Search Console and resolve the specific exclusion or rendering reason, if any.
Step 4
Search for your business on relevant directories and local publications. A source missing from an AI answer does not prove your listing is missing. Prioritize incorrect facts on pages you own or can claim.
How to verify: Open each listing directly and compare name, location, phone, hours and website with your source sheet.
Step 5
Keep the business identity, location, prompt set and provider configuration consistent when comparing scans. Read the answer snippets and cited URLs. A mention score alone cannot explain why a model answered differently.
How to verify: Save the prompt, date, provider, answer and citations with the action you took; review changes across several scans.
Google says its AI search features use ordinary Search eligibility and helpful content; there is no special AI file or schema requirement. Structured data, when used, should match visible page content. Read Google Search Central's AI features guidance and its LocalBusiness data guidance before changing markup.