Emergency Brand Audit: What AI Says About Your Locations

A 3.3-star car lavation conscionable won the AI answer.

When Annie Jackson, Director of Revenue Operations and Growth astatine GatherUp, asked Google for a no-touch car lavation that fits an SUV successful Norfolk, VA, Google returned a 3.3-star business and answered the clearance and hours questions supra the prima standing itself. Query lucifer outranked rating.

That illustration frames the session Jackson presented pinch Jason Wertham, Vice President of Review Defense Operations astatine GatherUp: AI devices combine their explanation of each location from reviews, listings, and nationalist web mentions, past repetition that explanation to customers who ne'er scope your website.

Jackson and Wertham walked done the four-prompt emergency audit they tally to aboveground what ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Ask Maps opportunity astir a multi-location marque today, past the build, manage, take sides rollout that changes the answer.

The recap beneath covers the findings. The prompts, the rollout, and the audit handout unrecorded successful the full session. Watch it connected demand.

How Do Customers Use AI To Find Local Businesses Now?

They inquire a afloat mobility and judge the summarized answer. In GatherUp user information collected successful autumn 2025, 55% of consumers had consulted Google aliases Bing AI summaries, 48% had asked ChatGPT astir a section business, and 31% had asked aggregate times.

Jackson’s car lavation query shows what that looks for illustration successful practice. Instead of “car lavation adjacent me,” the hunt was “no-touch car lavation for my SUV successful Norfolk, VA.” Google pulled from its 300 cardinal places and 500 cardinal reappraisal contributors to return 1 business, pinch clearance tallness and 24/7 hours answered inline.

“Google answered my questions, but this business is really showing up arsenic a 3.3 star,” Jackson said. “It’s surfaced the discourse of my query supra the prima rating.”

Wertham added that these devices now facet successful who you are and erstwhile you ask. “The clip of time erstwhile you’re really doing this query successful Google Maps could effect which businesses are getting returned successful those results,” he said. An LLM that knows you ain an SUV aliases a ample canine applies that discourse to each early section query, whether you restate it aliases not.

The session’s audit starts from this behaviour shift: 4 prompts, from a brand-name query to a location-by-location spot check, that show you the reply your customers already see. See the 4 audit prompts.

Do Google Reviews Feed AI Answers?

Not from the listing itself: Google, Yelp, and the different awesome directories artifact LLM crawlers from reference reappraisal contented connected business profiles. Reviews still support section rankings and conversion connected the listing; they only participate AI answers done surfaces LLMs tin crawl.

“The awesome directory work providers, Google, Yelp, and others, they do not let LLM devices for illustration ChatGPT and Claude to scrape aliases crawl the reappraisal information connected the business listing,” Wertham said. “You’ll announcement they’re not citing circumstantial reviews from those platforms.”

The aforesaid reviews go crawlable the infinitesimal you republish them. Post them to nationalist societal channels aliases embed them successful reappraisal widgets connected your ain tract and, successful Wertham’s words, “now they’re adjacent crippled for the LLM devices to beryllium pulling in.”

That determines which queries you tin win. When a customer asks for “popular” aliases “highly reviewed” businesses, the LLM searches for reappraisal matter it tin access. Review contented confined to the directory contributes thing to that answer.

“If you’re relying connected the reappraisal platforms to do that for you, it’s not going to beryllium enough,” Wertham said.

Action item: Republish your reviews wherever AI tin crawl them. The convention covers which widget and societal placements make reappraisal contented readable, including really to transportation the business reply pinch the review.

Wertham besides collapsed down first-party reappraisal capture, the study responses that ne'er scope Google, and why 1 customer’s 11,000 of them mattered. That conception lives successful the on-demand recording.

Does Your Star Rating Still Matter In AI Search?

It matters little than reappraisal recency and velocity. No AI reply successful the session’s audit examples cited an mean prima rating; each 1 cited reappraisal content.

The user information points the aforesaid direction: 45% of users prioritize reappraisal recency complete prima rating, 60% spot elaborate written reviews complete rating-only reviews, and 70% for illustration a reappraisal petition wrong 72 hours of the transaction.

Wertham noted that consumers routinely override Google’s default “most relevant” reappraisal benignant and move to “newest,” because the astir caller reappraisal predicts the acquisition they will get. A precocious mean built connected years-old reviews carries little weight than a current, dependable stream.

“I’d alternatively spell to a business pinch 1,000 reviews and a 3.9 aliases 4.2 than 30 reviews and a 5.0,” Wertham said.

The session organizes the consequence into 3 workstreams, build, manage, and defend: building accordant listings and reappraisal volume, managing responses and monitoring wrong a 72-hour consequence window, and defending the standing you earned against policy-violating reviews and funeral strategies for illustration review smothering. Walk done the build, manage, take sides rollout.

Why Does AI Give A Different Answer About Your Business Every Time?

Because LLM answers behave for illustration a slot machine, 1 query is ne'er a reliable read. Jackson cited SparkToro investigation successful which different group asked LLMs the aforesaid mobility crossed devices and accounts, and the results ne'er returned successful the aforesaid order.

“Asking AI a mobility is benignant of for illustration a slot machine,” Jackson said. “It’s going to beryllium giving backmost akin data, but each clip it’s going to look a small differently.”

Position is the incorrect metric for AI visibility. Total citations, the breadth of sources feeding the answer, predicts whether your marque appears astatine all. Your marque tin miss 1 device’s reply wholly and lead the next.

Google published its ain guideline to optimizing for generative AI and updated it this month. Wertham flagged 1 alteration pinch teeth: the AI slop penalty. Google now detects low-value AI-generated contented and, successful his words, is “essentially penalizing businesses” for it. Generic AI blog posts and glorified FAQ scraping targets now costs you alternatively than getting ignored.

Action item: Run your audit prompts successful incognito aliases temporary-chat mode truthful stored discourse stops shaping your results, and re-run them connected a schedule. The convention shows the monthly re-run method for measuring whether your visibility activity is moving the answer.

Q&A: Most Helpful Questions From The Webinar

Q: What is the fastest point I tin do this week to alteration what AI says astir my company?

“Address your listings. Make judge your listings are each correct and each consistent, immoderate platforms you’re on. And past make judge that you are evangelizing your reviews disconnected of the third-party directory wherever you’re receiving them. Post them to your societal media platform, station them to a conception of your website.” Jason Wertham, 49:23 successful the on-demand recording.

“Make judge you person the basics down. Get the basics down, make judge those are set, and past you tin move into the much elaborate things.” Annie Jackson, 50:30 successful the on-demand recording. Jackson illustrated the constituent pinch a section edifice whose Facebook page listed the owner’s individual compartment number; he ne'er knew why the calls kept coming.

Q: How agelong earlier contented changes really show up successful AI answers?

Annie answered: mini facts move fast, positioning moves slowly. Store hours and telephone numbers update quickly, but “what you’ve been known for will return a small spot longer,” mostly 2 weeks to a period pinch a agelong tail beyond that. She pointed to your ain website arsenic the fastest lever: a caller offering has to look connected your ain channels first, because reviews will not denote it for you. Full reply astatine 54:19 successful the on-demand recording.

Q: My weakest location has aged bad reviews that support showing up. Do I person to hold for them to property out?

Jason answered: property fades a review’s relevancy naturally, but keyword-heavy reviews and reviews from Local Guides clasp ranking longer, and emoji reactions support a reappraisal from slipping moreover erstwhile they adhd nary upward momentum. Policy-violating reviews enactment disputable astatine immoderate age; his review defense squad removes reviews much than 10 years aged regularly. The reliable hole is measurement and velocity, since recency outweighs contented successful long-run relevancy. Full reply astatine 47:33 successful the on-demand recording.

Q: How should franchisors grip this erstwhile each franchisee controls their ain profile?

Jason answered: franchise estimation guidance fails astatine the consistency gap, because each franchisee owns their listing while the marque absorbs the AI answer. Establish champion practices, connection white-labeled aliases partner devices franchisees will use, and put a playbook successful their hands. He besides suggested moving the audit prompts connected behalf of franchisees and coaching them connected the results, since 1 location’s incorrect AI reply costs the full brand. Full reply astatine 55:46 successful the on-demand recording.

Watch The Full Webinar

The on-demand convention contains the 4 emergency audit prompts and downloadable handout, the complete build, manage, take sides rollout, the monthly measurement method, the reappraisal defense walkthrough for disputing policy-violating reviews, and Jackson’s AI communicative audit offer. Watch the afloat webinar connected demand.