AI Assistants Cannot Find Your Business. Here Is Why.

Where the answers come from

Copilot draws heavily on Bing. Siri and Apple Maps draw on Apple Business Connect. Other assistants pull from a mix of web results and business data providers. Google Business Profile, which is where nearly all local effort goes, is not the primary source for any of them.

That leaves a gap. Businesses that have spent years on their Google presence can be completely absent from the answer an assistant gives.

Bing Places, in about twenty minutes

1. Go to Bing Places for Business and search for your business.
2. If a listing already exists, claim it. If not, create one.
3. You can often import directly from Google Business Profile, which saves most of the typing.
4. Verify by phone, email or post.
5. Check the categories carried over correctly. Imports often get this wrong.

Apple Business Connect, in about the same

1. Go to Apple Business Connect and sign in with an Apple ID.
2. Search for your business and claim it, or add it.
3. Verify, usually by phone or documentation.
4. Add photos, hours, and what Apple calls Showcases, which appear directly in Maps.

Why this is worth doing now rather than later

Almost no small Canadian business has done either. That means the competition for being the answer is far lower than it is on Google. Being the only claimed listing in your town on Apple Maps is achievable in an afternoon and would take years on Google.

The other half: being mentioned elsewhere

Assistants also lean on editorial content. Local best of roundups, association directories, chamber listings, news mentions. If your business appears in a page titled best denturists in your city, that page can end up feeding an answer.

This is why citations are becoming more valuable rather than less, even though they were supposed to be an old idea.

How to check whether you appear

Ask an assistant directly. Who are the best denturists in your town. Where can I get dentures near this address. Try it three or four different ways and note who gets named. Then look at what those businesses have that you do not.