7 fixes that make your website readable to AI assistants

AI assistants can only recommend what they can understand. Most small business websites were built to look good to people, which is great, but they often hide the basic facts an assistant needs. These seven fixes are practical, mostly free, and you or your web person can usually do them in an afternoon or two.

1. Put your core facts in real text, not images

A surprising number of sites put the business name, phone number, service list or hours inside a banner image or a stylized graphic. Assistants and search crawlers read text far more reliably than images.

Do this: Make sure your business name, what you do, the area you serve, phone number and hours appear as plain, selectable text, ideally on the homepage and in the footer of every page. If you have a logo with your name in it, also write the name in text nearby.

Quick check: Try to highlight the text with your mouse. If you can't select it, it's probably an image.

2. Add LocalBusiness schema markup

Schema markup is a small block of structured code (usually JSON-LD) that labels your details in a standard vocabulary from schema.org. Instead of an assistant inferring that "201-555-0100" is your phone number, the markup says so explicitly.

Do this: Add a LocalBusiness block, or a more specific type like Dentist, Plumber, HVACBusiness, LegalService or HairSalon, with:

• name, url, telephone
• address (if customers visit you) or areaServed (if you go to them)
• openingHoursSpecification
• sameAs links to your Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook and other official profiles

Most website builders (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Shopify) support this through settings, a plugin or a custom code block. Google's Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator will tell you whether it's readable.

3. Make your name, address and phone (NAP) identical everywhere

Assistants cross-reference sources. When your website, Google profile, Yelp and directory listings disagree about your phone number or address, it creates doubt about which is right, or whether you're the same business at all.

Do this:

1. Pick one canonical version of your business name, address and phone number.
2. Update your website footer and contact page to match it exactly.
3. Update Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook and your key industry directories.
4. Search your business name plus your old phone number or old address to find stale listings, then fix or claim them.

If you've moved or changed numbers in the last few years, this step is often the single biggest cleanup.

4. Write a real FAQ page

Customers ask assistants questions in full sentences: "Does anyone in Montclair do same-day crown fittings?" "Which electricians near me handle EV charger installs?" An FAQ page answering the questions you actually hear gives assistants clear, quotable answers in your own words.

Do this:

• List 8 to 15 questions customers really ask on the phone or at the counter.
• Answer each in two to four plain sentences. Be specific: prices or price ranges if you're comfortable, timelines, what's included, what isn't.
• Optionally add FAQPage schema so the questions and answers are machine-readable.

Avoid filler questions like "Why are we the best?" Nobody asks that.

5. Give each main service and location its own page

One "Services" page with a list of ten bullet points gives an assistant very little to work with. A dedicated page for each core service, and for each town you seriously serve, gives it something to match against specific questions.

Do this: Start with your top three to five services. For each, write a page with a clear title ("Drain cleaning in Bayonne, NJ"), a few paragraphs on what the service involves, who it's for, how long it takes, and what affects cost, plus a clear way to contact you.

Avoid cloning the same page twenty times with only the town name swapped. Thin, duplicated pages don't help and can make your site look low quality.

6. Make reviews visible and specific

Reviews are one of the most commonly cited sources in AI answers about local businesses. Detailed reviews tell an assistant what you're good at, in customers' words.

Do this:

• After each job or visit, send customers a direct link to leave a Google review (and Yelp or an industry site if that matters in your field).
• Ask them to mention what you did: "If you have a sec, it really helps if you mention what we fixed."
• Reply to reviews, including negative ones, briefly and specifically.
• Consider featuring a few real reviews on your website as text (not screenshots), with the reviewer's first name and permission.

Don't offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews; most platforms prohibit it.

7. Complete your Google Business Profile and let crawlers in

Google's AI features lean heavily on Google Business Profile, and other assistants often surface the same information through maps and listing data. A half-finished profile is a missed opportunity.

Do this:

• Fill in every relevant field: primary and secondary categories, services, service areas, hours (including holiday hours), attributes, and a description written in plain language.
• Add real photos of your work, team and location.
• Post updates occasionally and answer questions in the Q&A section.

Separately, check your website's robots.txt file (yoursite.com/robots.txt). If it blocks crawlers like OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Googlebot, assistants may not be able to read your site directly. Unless you have a specific reason, allow them.

How to prioritize

If you only have an hour, do fixes 1 and 3: plain-text facts and consistent NAP. They're the foundation everything else builds on. Then add schema (2) and complete your Google profile (7). Content work (4 and 5) and reviews (6) take longer but compound over time.

None of these guarantee an AI assistant will recommend you; nobody can promise that, and answers vary over time. But each one removes a reason for an assistant to skip you or get your details wrong. If you'd like to see which of these are holding your business back right now, our free Viz Score check tests how AI assistants currently answer for your business and flags the fixes that matter most.