Can customers find your business online? A 15-minute check

When someone searches "house cleaner near me" on Google, or asks ChatGPT for a lawn service in their town, the answer comes from what those tools can read about you. Google reads your homepage and your Google Business Profile. AI search tools read your website.

Neither has to be fancy. Both have to be readable. This check takes about 15 minutes.

What Google reads

Google builds the link to your page from several sources, including your page title, your main heading and other text on the page. The snippet underneath mostly comes from the page itself, though Google sometimes uses the meta description you wrote.

For map and "near me" results, Google uses your Business Profile. It names three things behind local ranking: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher) and prominence (how well-known you are). Google also says there's no way to pay for a better local ranking.

AI Overviews and AI Mode have no extra requirements. Google's suggestions are the basics: let crawlers in, keep important content in text, and keep your Business Profile up to date.

What AI search tools read

ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Claude each send their own crawler to read websites:

• OAI-SearchBot finds sites for ChatGPT's search features. OpenAI says sites that block it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
• PerplexityBot surfaces and links websites in Perplexity's search results.
• Claude-SearchBot crawls to improve Claude's search results. Anthropic says blocking it may reduce your site's visibility in them.

The checklist, in priority order

Copy this list. The top items matter most and take the least time.

[ ] 1. Name, phone and service area match everywhere
[ ] 2. Page title and description say your service and town
[ ] 3. Services listed as text, not inside an image
[ ] 4. Phone number or quote form visible on the homepage
[ ] 5. Google Business Profile basics done
[ ] 6. robots.txt isn't blocking search or AI search crawlers
[ ] 7. A sitemap exists

1. Name, phone and service area match everywhere (2 minutes)

Open your website, Business Profile, Facebook Page and any directory listings side by side.

If your site says "[Name] Cleaning" and your profile says "[Name] Cleaning Services LLC," customers have to guess whether they're the same business. Pick one version and use it everywhere. Google's guidelines say your profile name should reflect your real-world business name, without unnecessary extras.

2. Page title and description say your service and town (3 minutes)

Read the browser tab on your homepage. That's your page title. "Home" or "Welcome" tells Google nothing.

Use this pattern: [Service] in [Town], [State] | [Business name].

Then find the meta description field, usually under SEO settings in your website builder. Write one or two plain sentences: what you do, where, and how to get a quote. Skip keyword lists; Google notes they don't tell people what the page is about.

3. Services listed as text, not inside an image (2 minutes)

Many new sites show the services menu as a designed graphic. Google's advice for its AI features is to keep important content available as text.

Try to highlight the words with your mouse, or long-press them on your phone. If you can't select them, they're part of an image. Retype them as normal text on the page.

4. Phone number or quote form visible on the homepage (1 minute)

On your phone, can you see a phone number or a quote button without scrolling far? Tap the number to check it starts a call. Send yourself a test through the form.

5. Google Business Profile basics (4 minutes)

A Business Profile is free. Set one up at business.google.com if you don't have one, then check:

• Category. Choose the most specific primary category that fits. Google's example is "Nail salon" instead of "Salon."
• Service area. If customers don't come to your address, Google says to remove it and set a service area. You can enter cities or ZIP codes (not a radius), up to 20 areas, within about 2 hours of driving from your base.
• Services. Depending on your category, you may be able to list services, including custom ones, with descriptions and prices.
• Hours, phone and website. These should match your site exactly.
• Verification, photos and reviews. Google's tips for local ranking include verifying your business, adding photos and responding to reviews.

6. robots.txt isn't blocking search or AI search crawlers (2 minutes)

Go to yourbusiness.com/robots.txt. This small file tells crawlers what they may read, and it has to sit at that address.

If you see this, every crawler that follows the file is being turned away:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

It's sometimes left over from building the site. Also look for Disallow: / under Googlebot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Claude-SearchBot. Those are the search crawlers, and you want them in.

You may also see GPTBot, ClaudeBot or Google-Extended. These mainly control whether your content is used to train AI models, a separate choice from search. Google says Google-Extended doesn't affect inclusion or ranking in Google Search.

A "page not found" is fine: Google treats a missing robots.txt as no restrictions.

Some hosting and security services, such as Cloudflare, also have a setting that blocks AI crawlers. Google advises making sure crawling is allowed in robots.txt and by any CDN or hosting infrastructure.

7. A sitemap exists (1 minute)

Go to yourbusiness.com/sitemap.xml. A sitemap lists your site's pages. Most website platforms create one automatically. Google says a small, well-linked site may not need one, but a new site with few links from other sites might.

Submit it in Google Search Console, or add a line to robots.txt like Sitemap: https://yourbusiness.com/sitemap.xml. Google calls a sitemap a hint, not a guarantee.

One last look

Search Google for site:yourbusiness.com. If results from your site appear, Google has it in its index.

Don't expect overnight results. Google says some changes take effect in a few hours and others could take several months.