Which sites AI reads about your UK business, and how to fix each one

Why other people’s sites matter so much

Ask Perplexity “a good physio in Nottingham for a running injury?” and the sources appear under the answer: Google listings, health directories, the odd local news article or forum thread. ChatGPT with search on does much the same, and Gemini draws straight on Google’s data. Even when an AI answers from memory, what it “knows” about a business came from these same kinds of sites.

The reason is simple. An AI can’t pop round to check your shop. To decide whether to recommend you, it looks for independent confirmation. If your name, address and services appear the same way on several trusted sites, with recent reviews, you’re a safe name to give. If the information is thin or contradictory, it picks someone else.

Think of it like this. Someone asks Perplexity: “A hairdresser in Bristol, near Gloucester Road, who’s good with curly hair and not too expensive?” Three salons come back and, underneath, the sources: two Google listings, a Treatwell page, a post on a local blog. If your salon has an empty Treatwell page and the wrong hours on Google, the AI isn’t marking you down. It simply hasn’t got enough confirmation to give your name. And the client books somewhere else.

Here are the sites that carry most weight for UK local businesses, and what to fix on each. You don’t need to be everywhere: get Google right, then the two or three platforms that matter in your trade.

Google Business Profile

The panel on Google Maps and in local search is, for nearly every local business, the single most important source. Gemini uses it directly, and its details get repeated across the web where other AIs pick them up.

• Claim and verify your profile at business.google.com if you haven’t already
• A precise primary category, plus relevant secondary ones
• Every service listed with a one-line description
• Accurate hours, including bank holidays and Christmas closures
• Real, recent photos of your premises, team and work
• A post every week or two, and a reply to every review

Trustpilot and Yell

Trustpilot matters most if you sell online or work nationally (removals, e-commerce, financial services, home improvement firms with several branches). If your customers use it, claim your free business profile, link your website, and invite reviews through Trustpilot’s own invitation tools rather than shortcuts. Trustpilot publicly flags businesses that break its guidelines, which is the opposite of what you want an AI to read.

Yell is the UK’s long-standing business directory, and many listings have sat there for years, sometimes created automatically and never checked. That’s exactly why it’s worth a look: an old phone number or a previous address on Yell can end up in an AI answer. Find your listing, claim it (a basic listing is free) and match your name, address, phone, website and category to your Google profile. While you’re at it, do the same on Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and your Facebook page.

• Search Yell for your business name and your phone number: sometimes two listings turn up
• Claim the free listing and correct name, address, phone, website and category
• Bing Places: you can import your details straight from your Google profile
• Apple Business Connect: verify your place card so Apple Maps shows the right hours and number
• Facebook: the same details in the About section, opening hours included

Trades: Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyBuilder, Bark and Gas Safe

For plumbers, electricians, roofers, builders, landscapers and other trades, these platforms are where homeowners look for vetted tradespeople and leave detailed reviews. Checkatrade and TrustATrader both run checks before listing members, which is useful reassurance for anyone reading your profile, including an AI. MyBuilder and Bark are job-matching platforms where customers post a job and get responses, and the reviews left there are public.

You don’t need all four. Pick the ones customers in your area actually use, and make those profiles complete rather than spreading yourself thin.

Reply to the critical reviews as carefully as the good ones. An example that works: “Thanks, Sarah. You’re right that we turned up an hour late on Thursday, and we should have rung ahead. We’ve changed how we schedule morning jobs so it doesn’t happen again. Glad the new radiators are keeping the house warm. Dave, owner.” It owns the problem, says what changed and is signed by a real person. Anyone reading it, human or AI, sees a business that listens.

Anyone working on gas appliances in Great Britain must be on the Gas Safe Register, and the public can check an engineer or business on the register’s website. Make sure your registered business details match the name you trade under, and put your Gas Safe registration number on your website and every listing. The same logic applies to electrical competent-person schemes such as NICEIC and NAPIT: an official, checkable record is precisely the kind of independent proof that makes AI comfortable naming you.

• The same business name, address and phone number as your Google profile
• Your coverage area written out with real town and postcode district names
• Photos of finished jobs, not stock images
• Accreditations listed (Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, FENSA, TrustMark) with registration numbers
• Replies to reviews here as well as on Google

Health and dental: NHS website, Doctify and Save Face

GP surgeries, NHS dental practices, pharmacies and opticians have service profiles on the NHS website, and AI assistants often draw on them when people ask things like “which dentists near Sheffield are taking NHS patients?”. Practice staff can update profile details such as opening times, services and whether you’re accepting new patients, so check it is current; an out-of-date “not accepting new patients” line costs you real enquiries.

Doctify carries profiles and verified patient reviews for private consultants, clinics and dental practices; complete your specialisms, locations and treatments in specific terms (“dental implants”, “Invisalign”, not just “dentistry”). For non-surgical aesthetics such as injectables and skin treatments, Save Face is an accredited register of practitioners whose premises and qualifications have been checked; if you’re eligible, being listed is a strong trust signal. Your GDC or GMC registration and any CQC registration are official records too, so keep the details consistent with how you present yourself online.

Think about how patients phrase it: “a dentist in Leicester who does Invisalign for adults?”, “a private dermatologist in Edinburgh for a mole check before the summer?”. If your profile names the treatment in the same words and your reviews mention it, the AI has something concrete to link to you.

• Treatments listed one by one, in the words patients use
• Every location, with the address matching your Google profile
• Your GDC, GMC or other registration number in your bio
• Languages spoken, if you see patients who prefer another language
• A short reply to each review, with no clinical details ever

Legal: Find a Solicitor and ReviewSolicitors

The Law Society’s Find a Solicitor directory lists firms and individual solicitors with their offices and areas of practice. Check that your firm’s offices, practice areas and contact details are accurate and match your website. Combined with the SRA digital badge on your site, it gives AI an official confirmation of who you are and what you do.

ReviewSolicitors is a review platform for law firms in England and Wales, and it often appears when people ask AI for, say, “a family solicitor in Cardiff with good reviews”. Claim your firm’s profile, invite clients to review once a matter has closed, and reply professionally, without revealing anything confidential.

Beauty and wellbeing: Treatwell

For hair salons, barbers, nail bars, beauty salons and spas, Treatwell is a major booking and review platform. List treatments by the names clients actually search for (“balayage”, “lash lift”, “gel manicure”), keep stylists and hours up to date, and encourage clients to review after appointments. Those treatment names are exactly the words people use when they ask AI where to book.

How to find which sites matter for you

The list above covers the UK in general, but every trade and every town has its own favourite sources. The simplest way to find yours is to ask the AIs themselves. Perplexity always shows its sources under the answer, and ChatGPT with search on often lists them too.

An example for a beauty salon in Harrogate. Ask Perplexity: “Where can I get a decent lash lift in Harrogate?” Sources shown: two Google Maps listings, a Treatwell page and a Facebook page. Ask ChatGPT: “A beauty salon in Harrogate with good reviews for brow lamination?” Sources: Google listings and Treatwell. The conclusion for that salon: Google first, then Treatwell, then Facebook; Yell and Trustpilot can wait. Run three or four different questions, because one answer on its own can be a fluke.

Common listing mistakes

They are nearly always the same ones, and none of them costs money to fix. It just takes a bit of tidying.

• Duplicate listings: one you made, and one created automatically years ago with your old number
• The name written several ways: “Gino’s Pizzeria”, “Ginos Pizza Bar”, “Gino Foods Ltd”
• A category that’s too vague: “Shop” instead of “Hardware store”, “Services” instead of “Electrician”
• Christmas or summer hours still showing in February
• Profiles on ten platforms that nobody has opened since: three looked-after ones beat ten abandoned
• Replying to reviews on Google but never on Checkatrade, Treatwell or Doctify
• Your accountant’s address or registered office shown instead of where customers actually come

How to do this without losing weeks

Make a simple spreadsheet with three columns: site, link to your listing, details to fix. Start with Google, then Yell, then the two or three platforms for your trade. Give it an hour a week and you’ll have most of it sorted within a month. Whenever your hours, phone number or address change, update every row the same day.

To see which of these sites the AIs are actually leaning on for your type of business in your town, the free check at alphaa.app/uk asks all four assistants who they recommend and shows you where you appear and where you don’t. From there you can fix things yourself, or let Alphaa’s AI Agent do it, with your approval on each change.

• Week 1: run the sources test with Perplexity and fix your Google Business Profile
• Week 2: Yell, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and Facebook
• Week 3: the two or three platforms for your trade, with services, photos and coverage area
• Week 4: reply to the review backlog on every site, then ask the AIs the same questions again

Questions from UK business owners