Prompt results
Which prompts exposed the gap?
The useful evidence is not the score by itself. It is the row where a buyer's question, a competitor recommendation, a cited source, and a fixable error meet.
| Prompt | Brand | Competitors | Reason | Sources | Error |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| top emergency plumbers near Austin open tonight | No | Competitor E, Competitor F | Competitors had consistent directory records, review snippets, and service-area pages that matched the urgent query. | Google Business Profile, Yelp, local chamber directory, competitor service page | The brand appeared with an old phone number on one directory and limited hours on another. |
| best local firm for same-day water heater replacement | No | Competitor F | The answer favored a competitor with a specific water-heater page and consistent city coverage across directories. | Competitor service page, Better Business Bureau profile, neighborhood directory | The brand's site mentioned water heaters only inside a long service list. |
| which Austin plumber has financing for urgent repairs | No | Competitor G | The model used a competitor financing page and a directory profile that repeated financing availability. | Financing page, local directory profile, review snippet | No first-party financing page was available for the brand. |
Missing Source Map
Which cited sources did not support the brand?
01
Directory profile: High-ranking local directory
Local answers leaned on compact entity records. Conflicting phone numbers and categories made the brand harder to trust.
Create a directory correction sheet and update high-visibility profiles before expanding content.
02
Specific service page: Same-day water heater replacement page
The competitor had a page that answered the exact urgent job while the brand offered only a broad services page.
Publish one service-intent page with area, availability, proof, caveats, and booking path.
03
Business profile: Google Business Profile and local citations
The answer reused hours, area, and category fields more often than long website copy.
Align categories, hours, booking URL, service areas, and service names across profiles.
Fix Plan
What should be fixed first?
- 01Correct entity conflicts firstNormalize name, phone, category, service area, hours, booking URL, financing, and emergency availability.
- 02Build one decision-grade local pageUse the page to answer a real prompt: who should call, when service is available, what is excluded, and what proof exists.
- 03Add local FAQ and Service schemaMark up only visible facts. Do not add schema for services, hours, or financing that the page does not state.
- 04Retest with city and urgency constraintsBroad 'best plumber' prompts are noisy. The useful test is service plus location plus urgency plus buyer constraint.
How should the retest be judged?
After profile corrections
AI answers stop repeating stale phone, hours, and service-area data.
If errors persist, trace the repeated source and prioritize that publisher.
After local page publish
The new service page appears as a cited source or changes the recommendation reason.
If the page is crawled but not cited, strengthen third-party corroboration.
FAQ
Questions this teardown answers
Is local AI visibility the same as local SEO?
They overlap, but they are not identical. Local AI answers often synthesize directories, reviews, business profiles, and first-party service pages into a recommendation.
Should a local business publish a page for every suburb?
No. Publish only where the page answers a real service-area decision and can contain useful proof. Thin location swaps create risk.
Which errors matter most?
Errors that change buyer action matter most: phone number, hours, location, service area, availability, pricing caveats, licensing, and booking method.
Can directory repair improve AI recommendations?
It can remove trust conflicts and supply corroboration. It does not guarantee a recommendation, but it often improves the evidence base.