Your customers are already asking AI where to find businesses like yours.

Not thinking about it. Not planning to try it. Doing it right now.

Adobe reports a 520% increase in shopping traffic from AI sources. The GEO market is projected to hit $850 million this year. 62% of consumers now trust AI to guide their brand decisions.

And here’s what most local businesses don’t realize: AI isn’t just giving people a list of options like Google does. It’s making the choice for them.

When someone asks ChatGPT for the best chiropractor in Chicago, it doesn’t return ten blue links. It recommends two or three businesses. It’s already done the due diligence your potential customers used to do themselves.

Reading your content. Checking your reviews. Looking for licensing information. Weighing trust factors. Inferring credibility from patterns of human endorsement, authority, and presence.

The question isn’t whether this affects your business. It’s whether you’ll be one of the businesses AI chooses to recommend.

What AI Values (That Google Didn’t)

When I first started, search engines were comically simple to influence.

We built websites for two separate audiences: the search engines and the end users. We’d trick the algorithms into ranking the site, then give human readers what they needed to feel safe choosing a business.

AI changes that calculation entirely.  When the machine can understand what’s real, the tricks stop tricking.

Why This Matters Now

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most local businesses are vulnerable across every trust signal.

Content on sites is frequently weak. Reviews are an afterthought. Trust signals get no thought whatsoever. Outside their own website, they don’t exist.

It’s rarely one gap. It’s all of them at once.

And yes, by vast margins, most people still go to Google, type a search phrase, and click one of the ten blue links. But the share of consumers who now turn to AI first is growing fast…and it’s not slowing down.

I don’t see real marketers acting like traditional SEO is dead. I see marketing gurus who sell to marketers screaming that from the rooftops. That’s because “You’re fine. We have time to breathe and act strategically” doesn’t sell courses or get views.

My clients aren’t panicking. Most haven’t even brought it up. They’re busy running actual businesses. The most I get is the occasional “What’s all this about?” I explain what we’re doing to stay ahead. They go back to work.

I try not to confuse anxious headlines with reality. They’re often not even adjacent.

But here’s the truth: you do have time. Just not unlimited time.

The window to prepare is open. The businesses that act now will own market share in a channel most competitors don’t even know exists yet.

Where You’re Actually Vulnerable

If your last review came in three months ago, AI sees that.

If your website content reads like everyone else’s in your industry, AI notices.

If nobody’s talking about you online outside your own website, AI knows you don’t exist in the conversations that matter.

If your certifications are listed somewhere buried on an “About” page with no context, AI can’t weigh them properly.

If the only proof you’re good at what you do lives in your own head or in conversations with customers who never wrote it down, AI has nothing to recommend you with.

This is the part most business owners don’t want to look at. You’ve been meaning to ask for more reviews. You know your content is generic. You’re aware that outside your own site, there’s not much evidence you’re a big deal in your market.

You’ve been getting by because people still find you on Google. They click through. They do their own research. They call.

But AI doesn’t work that way.

It’s doing that research for them. And if the evidence isn’t there, you’re not making the shortlist. You’re just not in the conversation.

This isn’t about keeping up with technology. It’s about making sure AI has irrefutable reasons to choose you. If that proof exists, you win. If it doesn’t, no amount of visibility will save you. This is no longer a marketing tactic. It’s proof-of-worthiness. And AI is already checking your work.

What To Do Monday Morning

Run a Trust Audit on your business.

GEO doesn’t reward the business that shouts loudest. It rewards the business easiest for AI to choose with confidence.

Pull up a blank sheet of paper. List every signal proving you’re the safe, credible, trusted choice in your market. Recent reviews. Testimonials with specifics. Licenses. Certifications. Community affiliations. Awards. Case studies. Media mentions.

Then be brutally honest: which are missing, outdated, or sparse?

That gap is your first move. Not a blog post. Not a new ad campaign. The trust gap.

If you don’t have a system asking every customer for a review at peak satisfaction, you start there. That’s your Monday morning.

AI isn’t asking “Who is visible?” It’s asking “Who can I confidently recommend without risking the trust of the person who asked me for help?”

If you can’t prove you are the safe and trusted choice with real-world signals, you won’t be chosen. This isn’t only about preparing for what’s coming. This is how winners are being chosen right now.