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How to show up in Google, Maps and AI search
Eight steps, none of them hard. The difficult part is knowing which ones you need.
Last updated October 2026.
Introduction
Google, Google Maps and AI tools like ChatGPT all decide whether to show your business the same way: can they work out what you do, who you do it for, where, and whether you're any good. Here's what that takes, in order.
Every step below is something your team, your developer or you can do this month. The reason most businesses don't is that nobody's told them which steps matter for their site and which are a waste of a week. That's the strategy, and the doing is the easy bit.
01 - Make sure Google can read your site
Make sure Google can read your site
If Google can't crawl it, nothing else on this list matters. The hard part is knowing whether you have this problem, because it's invisible from the front of the site.
Check your site has an XML sitemap, it's submitted in Google Search Console, and Search Console isn't reporting pages it couldn't index. Fix broken links. Make sure every page loads in under three seconds on a phone.
Doable in: an afternoon, once you know what's broken.
02 - Say what you do, plainly, on every page
Say what you do, plainly, on every page
Google and AI tools don't infer. If your homepage says "we help you grow", they have no idea whether you're an accountant or a gym.
Every page needs a heading that says what it's about in the words a customer would use. "Emergency plumber, Ballina" beats "Solutions for every drip." One page per thing you sell. One page per place you sell it, if that's how people search.
Doable in: a week of writing, once you've decided what the pages are.
03 - Set up your Google Business Profile
Set up your Google Business Profile
For most local businesses this is the single biggest lever, and most profiles are half-filled. The tricky part is knowing which categories, services and attributes to pick, because the wrong primary category quietly caps your visibility.
Claim it. Pick the right primary category. Fill in every service, every hour, every attribute. Add real photos. Post something monthly.
Doable in: two hours.
04 - Get reviews, and reply to them
Get reviews, and reply to them
Reviews are the trust signal Google Maps and AI tools weigh most heavily.
Ask every happy customer. Send them the direct link. Reply to every review, good and bad, in a sentence or two. Aim for a steady trickle, not a burst.
Doable in: ongoing, five minutes a week.
05 - Answer the questions people ask
Answer the questions people ask
AI Overviews and ChatGPT lift answers from pages that answer a specific question clearly.
Find the ten questions customers ask you on the phone. Write a short, direct answer to each on your site. Put the answer in the first two sentences, not after a 400-word preamble. Mark them up as FAQs.
Doable in: a day of writing.
06 - Get mentioned somewhere other than your own site
Get mentioned somewhere other than your own site
Google and AI tools check whether anyone else vouches for you. The difficulty is working out which mentions count and which are junk, because most "link building" is junk.
Get listed in the two or three directories that matter for your industry. Ask a supplier or partner to mention you. Pitch a local paper or industry site one real story. Sponsor something and get the link.
Doable in: a few hours a month, once you know where to aim.
07 - Make your business a consistent entity
Make your business a consistent entity
AI tools in particular want to see the same business name, address, phone and description everywhere.
Same name, same details, on your site, your Google profile, your socials, every directory. Add structured data to your site so machines can read who you are without guessing.
Doable in: an afternoon, plus a bit of hunting.
08 - Measure it, then adjust
Measure it, then adjust
Most of the above takes three to six months to show up in results.
Search Console for what you rank for. Google Business Profile insights for Maps. Once a month, ask ChatGPT and Google's AI Mode the questions your customers would ask, and see whether you're in the answer.
Doable in: twenty minutes a month.
09 - You don't need all eight
You don't need all eight.
You need three or four of them, in the right order, for your site.
A five-page trade site needs 01, 03, 04 and 07 and almost nothing else. An online store needs 01, 02 and 05 and can mostly ignore Maps. A professional services firm lives or dies on 05 and 06.
Not sure which of the eight you need? The free audit tells you, and the paid audit gives you the full plan.
Free tools
Free tools.
llms.txt generator — make a plain-text file that tells AI tools what your business does. Two minutes, runs in your browser, nothing is stored.
Local business schema generator — the code block that tells Google and AI exactly what you are and where. Copy, paste, done.
FAQ schema generator — turn the questions people ask you into code Google and AI can read.
Google review link generator — a one-tap review link and a QR code for invoices, counters and vans.
Service area page planner — the location pages your site needs, with titles and what each one must say.
SEO cost calculator — a rough number for what SEO should cost your business, before you talk to anyone.
10 - Contact
Want to be found first?
Tell me about your business and I'll tell you what's worth doing. If I can't help, I'll say so.
Prefer email? kate@foundfirst.com.au
Or call 0432 573 646