PACO Blog

AI Search is rewriting how customers find businesses

Guides on GEO, local AI visibility, and how to make ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini recommend you.

Latest

7 Mistakes Local Businesses Make With AI Search (and How to Fix Them)

The 7 most common mistakes that keep local businesses invisible to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Each mistake explained with a specific fix you can implement today.

GEO · Advanced Strategy

The Review Strategy That Makes AI Recommend You: What Actually Works

How review text (not just stars) influences AI recommendations. Specific words that trigger recommendations, minimum thresholds, and review velocity.

GEO · Technical Guide

Schema Markup for AI Search: Which Types Actually Matter

Which Schema.org types AI models actually read. LocalBusiness, FAQPage, Service schema. Implementation guide with common mistakes and the 3.2x citation rate.

GEO · Content Strategy

Content That AI Cites: How to Write Pages That Get Recommended

500+ word pages vs thin content (18 vs 41 visibility score). FAQ format, direct answers, comparison pages. The structure AI models prefer to cite.

GEO · Multi-Location

Multi-Location Businesses: Managing AI Visibility Across Cities

How AI handles chains vs independents. Per-location directories, centralized vs local content, NAP at scale. When franchise branding helps vs hurts.

GEO · Hallucinations

AI is Lying About Your Business: How to Find and Fix ChatGPT Hallucinations

ChatGPT is telling customers the wrong hours, wrong phone number, and wrong services for your business. Here's how to find and fix AI hallucinations.

GEO · Los Angeles

AI Search Optimization for Los Angeles Businesses: The 2026 Guide

250K+ LA businesses competing for AI visibility. Neighborhood-specific strategies, Foursquare coverage gaps, bilingual optimization, and why generic listings fail in the densest market on the West Coast.

GEO · Miami

Miami Businesses: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT and Perplexity

27M+ annual visitors asking AI for restaurant, nightlife, and activity recommendations. Tourism-driven queries, bilingual optimization, and why hospitality businesses need AI visibility most.

GEO · Denver

Denver Local Businesses and AI Search: What You Need to Know

Denver's tech-savvy population adopts AI search faster than most markets. Home services, outdoor recreation, and breweries are most affected. New businesses are especially invisible.

GEO · Austin

Austin TX: Why Your Business Should Care About AI Search in 2026

Austin's tech-forward market and explosive growth mean AI adoption is ahead of the curve. Food scene competition, new business invisibility, and the shrinking window to get ahead.

GEO · New York City

NYC Businesses: Standing Out in AI Search When Everyone's Competing

900K+ businesses across five boroughs. The highest-density AI search market in the US. Why even famous NYC businesses get skipped, and what it takes to stand out.

GEO · Pricing

How Much Does GEO Cost? AI Search Optimization Pricing Guide 2026

What agencies and tools charge for GEO. Profound $499+/mo, Otterly $29-489/mo, PACO $149 one-time. What you get at each price point and the ROI math.

GEO · AI Search

ChatGPT vs Google for Finding Local Businesses: What's Actually Different

Side-by-side comparison. Different data sources, different results, different user behavior. Why businesses need both and how to show up on each.

GEO · Tutorial

How to Check if ChatGPT Recommends Your Business (Step by Step)

Step-by-step tutorial. What queries to type, how to interpret the results, what "mentioned" vs "recommended" means, and what to do next.

GEO · Technical

What is llms.txt? The New File That Tells AI About Your Business

The llms.txt standard explained. How to create one, what to include, and an honest assessment of whether AI platforms actually read it yet.

GEO · Case Study

From 0 to Found: How a Local Plumber Went from Invisible to AI-Recommended

Illustrative case study. Score went from 0/F to 7/B in 6 weeks. Foursquare claim, GBP optimization, Schema markup, 15 new reviews. The full timeline.

GEO · Dental

AI Search for Dentists: How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your Practice

Patients are asking AI to find dentists. Reviews, Foursquare dental categories, and GBP optimization determine which practices get recommended. Here's the playbook.

GEO · Restaurants

Why ChatGPT Recommends Some Restaurants and Not Yours

Restaurants are the #1 local business query on AI. Menu data, Foursquare categories, photos, and review keywords determine who gets recommended.

GEO · Legal

AI Search for Law Firms: Getting Recommended When It Matters Most

Legal queries are the highest-value local searches on AI. Personal injury, family law, estate planning. How law firms get recommended by ChatGPT and Gemini.

GEO · Home Services

Home Service Contractors: Your Customers Are Asking AI Instead of Google

Roofing, painting, landscaping, cleaning. Homeowners ask AI for contractor recommendations. Emergency vs planned queries, trust signals, and the Nextdoor advantage.

GEO · Beauty & Wellness

Beauty and Wellness: How Salons and Spas Get Found by AI Search

Instagram as an AI signal, booking platform visibility, beauty-specific review keywords. Why photos matter more for salons than any other vertical.

GEO · Research

We Analyzed How ChatGPT Picks Local Businesses. Here's What We Found.

500+ queries across 4 AI models. Foursquare data, Bing search, review sentiment, directory presence. The 3-platform framework for AI visibility.

GEO · Home Services

AI Search for Plumbers and HVAC Companies: The 2026 Guide

Homeowners are asking ChatGPT to find plumbers and HVAC techs. Most trades businesses are invisible to AI. The queries, the platforms, and the $5K-15K jobs at stake.

GEO · Bing Places

The Platform Nobody Uses That Feeds ChatGPT: Bing Places for Business

ChatGPT searches Bing. Bing Places feeds Bing results. 88% of businesses have not claimed their listing. The blue ocean of AI visibility.

GEO · Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is Now Your AI Search Profile Too

Gemini reads your GBP directly. The Ask Maps feature uses it to recommend businesses. Reviews are the #1 signal. Here's how to make your GBP AI-ready.

GEO · Foursquare

Why Foursquare is the Key to Getting Recommended by ChatGPT

70% of ChatGPT's local business data comes from Foursquare. Most business owners have never claimed their listing. Here's why it matters and how to fix it.

GEO · AI Visibility

What is Your AI Visibility Score? How ChatGPT Decides Who to Recommend

Your AI visibility score determines whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini recommend your business. Most local businesses score zero. Here's how it works.

GEO · Checklist

The Complete GEO Checklist: 15 Things That Make AI Recommend Your Business

The actionable checklist for AI visibility. 15 specific things you can do to make ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini recommend your business.

GEO · Strategy

AI Search vs Google: Why Local Businesses Need Both in 2026

AI search grew 527% in 2025. Google still processes 85x more searches. Local businesses need to show up in both, and the strategies are different.

GEO · Tools

Best AI Visibility Tools for Local Businesses in 2026

Honest comparison of PACO GEO vs Otterly.ai vs Merchynt vs Profound. Features, pricing, and which tool fits which business.

GEO · AI Search

Why Local Businesses Are Invisible to AI Search (And How to Fix It)

527% growth in AI search traffic in 2025. Most local businesses don't show up when customers ask ChatGPT or Perplexity. Here's why and how GEO fixes it.

GEO · Strategy

GEO vs SEO: What's the Difference?

SEO optimizes for Google's algorithm. GEO optimizes for AI citation. They share a foundation but diverge on structured data, entity clarity, and FAQ content.

GEO · ChatGPT

How to Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT

ChatGPT recommends businesses based on structured data, directory authority, and FAQ content - not website design. Here's the exact playbook.

GEO · Tools

Is Your Business Showing Up in AI Search? How to Check

Most business owners have no idea whether AI recommends them. Here's a 5-minute audit - what to ask each AI model, and what the answers mean.

GEO · Indexing

How Google Search Console Helps AI Find Your Business

AI models cite pages Google has indexed. Most local business pages wait months to get indexed. Here's how GSC fixes that - and what GEO automates for you.