What do AI assistants look for on a contractor's website?
AI answers asked September 24 and October 5, 2026, through the versions these companies sell to programmers, not the phone apps. Page updated . By Known Around Town, which sells an AI check like the one these numbers come from.
When we asked Grok why it picked the local appraisers it named, it listed a phone number that is easy to find and the same everywhere, how long the business has worked in the town, the services it offers, and an easy way to ask for work. On October 5, 2026 we checked 70 Tacoma-area home and auto service websites for those things: 86% never said how long they had worked in their town, and 46% showed more than one phone number.
What the assistants said they weigh
On September 24, 2026 we asked four assistants to find and book a local appraiser, then asked why they named who they named. Appraisers are not contractors, so treat this as one example of how an assistant explains itself. Grok gave its reasons in order of weight:
- "Immediate, clear, local contact information ... phone number that is prominently displayed and appears consistent across sources."
- Repeated, specific claims of experience in that town and how many years in the market.
- "does the site itself make it easy to request service, and does it advertise flexibility?"
- Residential services listed "without requiring extra digging."
- The business's "own website + recent listings versus secondary compilations."
About the business it put third of four, Grok said "the homepage content I received did not display a phone number or email in the main text," that the numbers it found elsewhere "were not identical across sources," and that the site "does not advertise flexible scheduling or a direct 'call/text now' prompt."
Two other assistants pointed past the website. Gemini said the businesses it named had "prominent, long-standing listings across major structured business directories and map databases." Claude picked a business because "Reviewers specifically mention quick scheduling."
These are reasons the assistants gave in one conversation each, which is not proof of how they choose.
How 70 Tacoma-area home and auto service websites did
On October 5, 2026 we read 110 local business websites in Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, University Place and Gig Harbor with Known Around Town's own website check. The table leaves out the 40 dentists, vets, eye doctors and chiropractors and shows the 70 sites of roofers, plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, landscapers, garage door, pest control and house cleaning companies, and auto repair shops.
| What we checked | Sites without it | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Says "call or text" | 64 of 70 | 91% |
| Says how long you've worked in your town | 60 of 70 | 86% |
| Email address in the homepage text | 48 of 70 | 69% |
| An llms.txt file (optional, see below) | 36 of 70 | 51% |
| One phone number across the site | 32 of 70 | 46% |
| A business details block that software can read | 24 of 70 | 34% |
| A way to book or send a request online | 15 of 70 | 21% |
| Phone number in the homepage text | 5 of 70 | 7% |
| The page name and summary Google shows | 1 of 70 | 1% |
Almost every site had the basics: a phone number in the text and a page name. The gaps were the specific lines Grok asked for: one phone number everywhere, and a sentence that ties years of work to the town.
The business details block is a few lines of code, called LocalBusiness structured data, that tell Google and other software your name, address, phone number and hours. Google documents it on its developer site. The llms.txt file is a newer idea; Google says its own AI features need no special AI files or markup, so we would treat it as optional.
A perfect website is not the price of entry
Eight roofers from that website check were named by at least one assistant in our October answers. Six of the eight had failed four or more of our nine checks. The best-scoring one, Lakewood Roofing, failed only one check, and three of the four assistants named it in Lakewood. So a clean site may help, and plenty of roofers with gaps were named anyway. The website is one input; directory listings, reviews and what other sites say about you are others, and these numbers can't tell you how much each one counts.
What to put on your site
Each line below matches something an assistant said it looks for, and each is a sentence or two:
- Your phone number as text on the homepage, the same number on every page and every listing.
- If you take texts, say "call or text" next to the number.
- One sentence that names your town and your years there, such as "Roofing in Tacoma since 2009." Use your real year.
- A list of the services you offer and the towns you work in.
- A way to ask for work without a phone call: a short form or an online booking page.
- Your email address as text, not only inside a contact form.
- Ask your web person to add LocalBusiness structured data, using Google's guide linked below.
To see how your own site does on these checks, and what the four assistants say when a customer asks for your trade in your town, run the free check. How we got these numbers.
Sources
- Known Around Town's website check of 110 Tacoma-area sites, October 5, 2026, and the four assistants' answers of September 24, 2026, both kept in our records. Method.
- Google Search Central, Local business (LocalBusiness) structured data, read October 25, 2026.
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website, read October 25, 2026: "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features."
Other questions owners ask
Do I need an llms.txt file?
Google says its AI features need no special AI files or markup. About half of the 70 home and auto service sites we checked had none. We would fix the phone number, town and services lines first.
Will fixing my website get me named?
Nobody can promise that, and we do not. Six of the eight roofers from our website check that an assistant later named had failed four or more of our nine checks, so the website is one input among several.