Would your business make the shortlist when AI recommends one?

Here’s a thought that has been sitting with me. What if your next customer doesn’t find you? What if their AI does?

Imagine I tell ChatGPT:

“I need a marketing strategist in London who understands AI, SEO, websites and paid advertising. I don’t want an agency. I want someone who can look at the whole system.”

The AI searches. It finds 20 possible businesses. Then it narrows that down to five. Then three. And eventually it recommends one.

Where are you in that process?

That’s a very different question from “Do I rank on Google?” Because ranking gets you visibility. It doesn’t necessarily get you chosen.

Think about how we make decisions ourselves. We don’t usually look at every possible option. We create a shortlist. Then we compare. Then we choose.

AI can potentially do the same thing for us. And that changes what I think businesses should be thinking about. You don’t just want your business to be discoverable. You want it to be understandable enough to make the shortlist.

That means being clear about:

• Who you help.
• What problem you solve.
• What you actually offer.
• Where you operate.
• What you’re good at.
• What makes you different.
• What customers say about you.
• And what evidence supports those claims.

None of that is particularly new. What’s changing is who is doing the research. For years, we’ve optimised for people searching. Now we’re starting to optimise for systems that may research on their behalf.

So here’s the test I’d run. Ask AI to find three businesses that do exactly what you do. Then ask:

“Why did you choose these three?”

And then ask:

“Why didn’t you choose mine?”

You might get an answer you weren’t expecting. And that answer could tell you more about your digital presence than another SEO report ever will.