Local news, community, and how to tell it's working
Local news, awards and community pages round it out. Then a monthly check of which sites name you now, and whether AI follows.
News and magazine sites were 7% of what AI cited, and local ones carry extra weight for local questions. You don't need a PR firm: local news covers local businesses all the time.
Local news and awards
- Local readers' choice and best-of awards: enter honestly, and only ask customers to vote if the rules allow it.
- A story only you can tell: a big job, a milestone, a community project or a seasonal tip. Send a short pitch to the local reporter who covers business or home.
- Your chamber of commerce and trade association: member directories and newsletters are easy mentions.
Community pages
Sponsor a local team, a school event or a charity drive, and ask to be listed on their page. It's a real local connection, and one more page AI may read.
Reddit and forums
AI sometimes quotes Reddit and local forums when people ask who to hire. If you join in, do it as yourself, say who you are, and only answer real questions helpfully. Never post as a pretend customer.
How to tell it's working
- Once a month, ask the same questions as in lesson one on each assistant, and note which websites they cite now.
- Count how many of those sites mention you, and whether you're named in the answer.
- Give it time. Lists and directories update on their own schedule, and AI catches up over weeks, not days.
Before → after, by engine
Week 0 vs week 9
ChatGPT7% → 64%
Google AI12% → 48%
Perplexity9% → 71%
Claude0% → 22%
Sample data
Do this before the next lesson
- Find one local award or readers' choice you can honestly enter, and one community page you can be on.
- Ask your chamber of commerce or trade association for a member listing.
- Put a monthly reminder in your calendar to re-ask your lesson-one questions and update your list of sites.
In Groow
Groow re-asks your questions every week, counts how often you're named and which sites are cited, and tells you when a best-of list adds you or drops you.
Put this to work on your business
Groow checks how ChatGPT, Google and Google Maps see your business every week, tells you what to fix first, and drafts the work for your OK.