There’s a plumber and electrician the neighborhood has relied on for twenty years. When something leaks, everyone calls him first. Another company has just opened, with a website, FAQs, and service descriptions all in place.
Someone asks AI: “Find me someone who can handle leaks in an old apartment, is willing to investigate the cause first, and won’t immediately tell me to tear the whole place apart.”
Who gets recommended?
I tend to believe that the stronger a business’s local reputation, the more likely it is to overestimate its visibility in AI search. Because between being trusted by your neighbors and helping a system recognize “why you deserve that trust” lies a body of experience that no one has translated for you.
Perfect Answers May Make Good Businesses Harder to Tell Apart
The debate over students using AI to turn in perfect assignments offers an angle worth bringing into digital marketing: when polished answers become cheap, how much ability can they still demonstrate?
Replace “assignments” with “business introductions,” and things get awkward.
“Professional workmanship, honest service, customers first”—a veteran tradesman can write it, a newcomer can write it, and someone who has never worked in the business can generate it too. The more polished the wording, the easier it becomes to smooth over differences in actual ability.
This doesn’t mean AI necessarily favors businesses with good copy. Its recommendations depend on what information it can access and how it uses that information. But at least one thing is a practical reality: you cannot expect a system to fill in strengths that exist only in regular customers’ minds.
The tradesman knows which row of old houses often has trouble with shared pipes, and when it’s best not to start breaking through a wall. Yet his website says only, “All types of plumbing and electrical work undertaken.” The problem isn’t a lack of expertise. It’s that the expertise has left no recognizable trace.
That Three-Star Review Actually Revealed Who the Service Suits
Suppose a review says: “He refused to replace the whole assembly that day and insisted on testing for leaks first. It took two visits. I found it a hassle.”
For someone in a hurry, that’s a drawback. For a homeowner worried about unnecessary demolition, it may be exactly what they need.
I have reservations about the assumption that “the higher the rating, the more worth recommending.” Reviews don’t just judge quality; they also reveal whether the two sides of a transaction are a good fit. The insistence behind a negative review is sometimes precisely what another customer is willing to pay for.
But there’s a trap here too: we can’t pick one convenient complaint and use it to package the tradesman as a master craftsman. To judge whether it reflects care or delay, we still need to look at the reasons for his approach, the quote, and the eventual outcome. The fuller the context, the more a reputation can tell us.
For marketers, this makes the work a little less exciting: spend less time calling every business “the best,” and more time asking, “When did you turn down a job, and why?” A willingness to refuse work beyond one’s abilities may communicate professional boundaries better than an entire page of service promises.
Being Found Also Changes the Customers You Attract
Making these details public may indeed help AI match businesses with customers, but it may also turn customers away. Price-sensitive people leave when they see an inspection fee; those who just want speed find the process tedious. Businesses may not be willing to bear that outcome, and platforms may not like information that makes people hesitate either.
But if a business removes all its limitations to gain more exposure, it may end up attracting customers whose expectations are completely at odds with what it offers. The recommendation numbers look great, yet every day is spent explaining over the phone, “That’s not how we work.”
Near closing time, the tradesman gets a call: “Why does one of your reviews say you insist on testing for leaks before quoting a repair price?”
Just as he is about to explain, the caller continues: “That’s exactly what I’m looking for. The last company already told me to tear out the bathroom.”