Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock since December 2022, you’re probably well aware of the rise of AI and the effect it’s having on every aspect of our lives. Your business is no different. Think about the last time you had a purchase decision to make online. Where did you head? Was it Google or ChatGPT? The new economy, the search economy, traffics in answers as opposed to results. Your online presence now needs to be compatible with a whole host of new visitors, including search engines hungry for AI summary data, autonomous AI agents, and impatient prospects. Let’s peel apart the complexity and break it down into simple steps. You’ll come away from this article with a checklist of to-dos that will immediately step up your visibility online:
Be Clearly Defined
AI must instantly understand who you serve, what you do, and where. This may sound like common sense, but you’d be surprised by how many websites don’t make these three key elements simple and easy to understand. Spell out services, markets, and specialties in plain language. If your last website overhaul makes your company look like a wildly mysterious Dior holiday perfume ad and not the real you, now’s a great time to reboot with a don’t make me think mindset. If your customers have to guess, imagine a toddler-level AI agent trying to understand it.
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If a human can’t summarize you in one sentence, AI can’t either. Do you ever find yourself trying to explain your company to a stranger and the pitch includes “um, like” or other word-salad meanderings? Yes? Cut it in half. Once you’re done. Cut what’s left in half again. Commit it to memory and add it to your website’s “About Us” page. Here’s a sample spoken elevator pitch for reference: “Livewire is Technology Made Simple: We design, install, and service technology solutions for homes and businesses. Think of the last epic home or office you were in and all the amazing lighting, sound, security, and video surveillance. That’s us.”
Build Verifiable Trust Signals
You need consistent, current business info across the web, reviews, and directories. This one is boring but necessary. It’s also not a one-and-done. Your business is no different than a ship. Once you finish painting it, it’s time to start again. Assign someone in the organization to champion this work and put it on a semi-annual or monthly cadence depending on the activity. The big players to keep up with are platforms where your name, address, phone, services, and reviews must be consistent and current:
Must-Optimize (Non-Negotiable):
- Google (Search + Google Business Profile)
- Bing (feeds Microsoft Copilot)
- Apple Maps
Homeowner Trust Platforms:
- Houzz
- Yelp
- Nextdoor
CI Industry Authority:
- CEDIA
- HTA
- Manufacturer dealer locators (Control4, Savant, Crestron, etc.)
Audit your reviews and testimonials to ensure you’re keeping customers happy while replying to each one quickly. Recent social proof is hands down the least expensive, highest return rocket fuel for your company. Tools like ReviewChamp can help you collect reviews, and plug-ins such as CommonNinja will automatically display a live scrolling ticker of your most recent raving fans. While there’s a lot of tech available to collect reviews, the actual ask itself should be face-to-face at the end of a project, while the customer is gushing about how happy they are.
Make certifications, awards, and industry affiliations visible and scannable. Many trade associations (including CEDIA) offer digital badges and live credential lookups to further burnish online credibility.
Add Pricing Context
Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room. Most integrators are uncomfortable talking about price online because they fear being shopped, misunderstood, or commoditized.
When prospects are in the buying mood, they want to know how much it will cost and will move on to your competition if they don’t find what they need quickly. Google is now filtering search results based on pricing transparency. Unless you start talking about price, you risk getting skipped all together by major search engines and AI tools.
Use ranges, budgets, or “starting at” guidance. Eliminate call-for-pricing and start using online estimate or instant pricing calls to action with tools like Priceguide (full disclosure: I’m a co-founder) or the HTA budget calculator. Create a one-pager or section explaining how pricing works and what affects cost.
Optimize for Questions, Not Keywords
This shift is about creating content that directly answers real homeowner questions in plain language rather than chasing search terms and setting cash on fire with a Google Ads spend.
Publish FAQs based on how clients actually ask questions. Marcus Sheridan wrote an amazing book called They Ask You Answer about this no-brainer practice. Think of all the questions a customer might ask (“How much does X cost?” etc.) and write short- and long-form content while shooting social media video content featuring beginner’s mind offerings like time-lapse installations and product reviews. These articles and shorts might be old hat to you, but prospects love a peek behind the curtain to watch how the sausage is made. Your website is now training data for AI summaries, whether you like it or not. Would you rather be left in the dust or the one defining the content while leading the way?
Ask Your Marketing Firm the Right Questions
If you’re already the center of the universe in your business for sales, installation, and operations, adding all these new marketing activities will feel overwhelming. I strongly recommend hiring a third party to take the ball while practicing the art of demanding and expecting. If you’re thinking, “I can’t afford to pay someone to do this,” I want to challenge that perspective by asking how many new projects would make it worth it? Better yet, even if you decide not to “play to win” but would rather “play not to lose,” you’re now facing loss of business in either scenario without an active strategy to preserve and enhance the marketshare you already have. Inaction is no longer an option.
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Schedule a meeting with your marketing partner (or begin interviewing new vendors) and ask them all the following questions. The right partner will anticipate these:
- “Can AI accurately recommend us today?”
- “What trust signals are we actively strengthening?”
- “What five things should we do with our online presence right now to gain better visibility with AI?”
If you feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose, you’re not alone. Assign a champion within your organization to handle AI visibility and work it into your marketing strategy. Outfits like One Firefly are CI exclusive, while other digital marketing agencies can focus on other verticals or bring specialization in specific areas like video production or social engagement.
Once you’ve finished your initial AI reboot, use tools like AI Trust Signals or ChatGPT to get a sense of how you’re seen by large language models (LLMs). I’ve included a prompt below for any LLM to get a quick sense of how you’re doing. Pick an area of opportunity to focus on each week and start treating it like you would taking care of your lawn. It’s not a destination, it’s a journey, and your company needs constant caring, watering, and feeding to stay out in front.
AI Visibility Self-Check (Works With any LLM)
Prompt: Visit my company’s website and evaluate how well it would be recommended by AI to a homeowner. Grade us (A–F) on clarity of what we do, trust signals, pricing transparency, question-based content, and overall AI recommendation readiness. Briefly explain each grade and list the top three improvements.
Good luck with your AI reboot and rest easy knowing you’re still ahead of much of your competition. The rules will continue to change, so get comfortable with being uncomfortable. That persistent question of “What else can I be doing to keep pace with AI?” will serve you well in the coming weeks and months.
