Free tools for local businesses

Free AI visibility tools for local businesses

Find out why ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers might be recommending your competitors instead of you. Three quick checks, no sign-up, and nothing you type ever leaves your browser.

What is AI visibility?

AI visibility is how often AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews name your business when someone asks for a service in your area. These tools build their answers from what they can find and trust about you: your Google Business Profile, your website, your reviews and your listings on other sites. When that information is thin or doesn't match, they pick someone else.

Tool 1

AI Readiness Score

Answer 20 yes-or-no questions about your business. You'll get a score out of 100 and the five fixes that will make the biggest difference. It takes about two minutes. If you're not sure about something, pick "Not sure" and we'll treat it as something to check.

Google Business Profile

1. Have you claimed and verified your Google Business Profile?
2. Is your main category the most specific one that fits? (For example, "Pediatric dentist" instead of just "Dentist".)
3. Does your profile list every service you offer, with a short description of each?
4. Are your hours, including holiday hours, up to date?
5. Have you posted an update on your Google Business Profile in the last 30 days?
6. Have you added new photos in the last 90 days?

Reviews

7. Do you have at least 25 Google reviews?
8. Did you get a new Google review in the last 30 days?
9. Do you reply to every review, including the bad ones?
10. Do reviews often mention the service you provided and your town?

Your website

11. Does your website have a separate page for each main service?
12. Does your website have LocalBusiness schema markup?
13. Do your service pages answer common customer questions near the top, in plain language?
14. Does your website load in under 3 seconds on a phone?
15. Do your business name, address and phone number appear on every page (for example in the footer)?

Listings across the web

16. Are your name, address and phone number exactly the same on Google, your website, Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing and Facebook?
17. Have you claimed your Apple Business Connect and Bing Places listings?
18. Are you listed on the main directories for your industry? (For example Healthgrades for doctors, Avvo for lawyers, Angi for contractors.)

AI access and reputation

19. Does your website allow AI crawlers like GPTBot and PerplexityBot?
20. Is your business mentioned on other trusted local websites, such as local news, your chamber of commerce or community blogs?
Tool 2

NAP Consistency Checker

NAP stands for name, address and phone number. When these don't match across the web, AI tools and search engines can't be sure all those listings belong to the same business, so they trust each one a little less.

Open each listing and copy your details exactly as they appear there, typos and all. The first row is your reference, so put your Google Business Profile details there.

Tool 3

AI Crawler Checker

Some websites block AI crawlers without the owner ever knowing, usually because of a security plugin or an old setting. If an AI tool can't read your site, it has less to go on when someone asks about businesses like yours.

  1. Open yourwebsite.com/robots.txt in a new tab.
  2. Select everything on that page and copy it.
  3. Paste it below and click Check.

robots.txt is a request, not a lock. The big AI companies say their crawlers follow it, which is why it's worth getting right. If you don't have a robots.txt file at all, every crawler is allowed.

Next step

Found a few problems? Here's how to fix them.

The AI Visibility Toolkit walks you through every fix these checks point to. You get a 30-day plan, a schema generator, a service page builder, a checklist of 40+ US directories, a review request kit and AI crawler file generators.

AI Visibility Toolkit

$29 one-time
  • Lifetime access, no subscription
  • Built for US local businesses
  • Do it yourself in about 30 minutes a day
  • Try these free tools first, so you know what you're buying
FAQ

Common questions

Are these tools really free?

Yes. There's no sign-up and no credit card. Everything runs in your web browser, so nothing you type is sent to us or stored anywhere.

How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Ask it the way a customer would, for example "Who's the best dentist in Austin?" Try a few different wordings, then ask the same questions in Gemini and Perplexity. Answers change from one session to the next, so look for a pattern across several tries rather than trusting one result.

How accurate is the AI Readiness Score?

It's a checklist score based on the things that most affect whether AI tools recommend a local business. It can't see inside ChatGPT or Gemini, so use it as a guide to what to fix first, not as a ranking report.

What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?

SEO (search engine optimization) helps you rank in regular Google results. AEO (answer engine optimization) helps your content get picked as the direct answer to a question. GEO (generative engine optimization) helps AI tools like ChatGPT understand, trust and mention your business. The work overlaps a lot, and the same basics help with all three.

Should a local business block AI crawlers?

For most local businesses, no. If AI tools can't read your website, they have less information to recommend you with. Blocking mostly makes sense for publishers who sell their content.

How long does it take to start showing up in AI answers?

There's no fixed timeline, and anyone who promises one is guessing. Fixes to your Google profile and listings are usually picked up first. Reviews and mentions on other websites build up over months.

Who made these tools?

Atharva Kashikar, an SEO, AEO and GEO consultant with 11 years in search and B2B marketing, and author of Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT.

Connect on LinkedIn
© 2026 EduTechToday. Made by Atharva Kashikar.info@edutechtoday.com · Privacy · Terms · Refund Policy

ChatGPT, Gemini, Google, Perplexity and other product names are trademarks of their owners. EduTechToday is independent and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.