Something has quietly changed in how people find professional services firms.
Instead of searching Google and clicking through several websites, more people are now opening ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity and asking a direct question:
- “Who is the best accountant for a small business in Manchester?”
- “Can you recommend a conveyancing solicitor in Cardiff?”
- “Which mortgage adviser should I use in Birmingham?”
The AI gives them two or three names. They contact one. The search is over.
If your firm isn't one of the names that comes back, you're invisible to that potential client — and you'll never know it happened.
This guide explains exactly how AI assistants decide who to recommend, and the specific steps you can take to make your firm one of them.
How AI Assistants Actually Decide Who to Recommend
Understanding this is the most important part.
AI assistants don't rank websites the way Google does. They don't look at page speed, keyword density, or backlinks in the traditional sense.
Instead, they look for evidence that a business is:
- 1Real — does it exist on multiple trusted sources across the web?
- 2Regulated — is it registered with the relevant professional body?
- 3Reputable — do real clients say it is trustworthy?
- 4Relevant — does it clearly serve the location and service area being asked about?
When an AI assistant has strong evidence on all four points, it recommends that firm with confidence. When the evidence is thin, it either recommends a competitor or gives a vague answer that doesn't mention your firm at all.
The good news: all four of these signals are things you can directly influence.
Step 1: Claim and Verify Your Professional Directory Listings
The first thing AI systems check is whether your business is registered with the appropriate regulatory body.
For UK professional services firms this means:
- Solicitors — SRA register (sra.org.uk)
- Accountants — ICAEW or ACCA member listings
- Mortgage advisers — FCA register (fca.org.uk)
- Estate agents — Property Redress Scheme or The Property Ombudsman
AI assistants treat these registers as ground truth. If your firm appears on the SRA register and your website matches that information exactly, it dramatically increases AI confidence in recommending you.
What to do: Check that your firm appears correctly on the relevant register. Make sure your trading name, address, and website match exactly across the register and your own website.
Step 2: Add Structured Data to Your Website
Structured data is code that sits in the background of your website and tells AI systems — in precise, machine-readable language — exactly what your business does, where it operates, and who regulates it.
Without it, AI assistants have to guess. With it, they can verify your firm instantly.
The most important fields for professional services firms are:
- Business name and trading name
- Office address and phone number
- Services offered and practice areas
- Regulatory body and registration number
- Geographic areas served
This is technical to implement manually, but platforms like TendorAI handle it automatically for UK professional services firms using live data from the SRA, FCA and ICAEW registers.
What to do: Add LocalBusiness and ProfessionalService schema markup to your website homepage and service pages. Include your regulatory registration number in the structured data.
Step 3: Build Consistent Listings Across the Web
AI assistants cross-reference your business across multiple sources before recommending you. The more places your firm appears — with consistent, matching information — the more confident AI systems are in recommending you.
Key platforms to be listed on:
- Google Business Profile
- Bing Places
- Trustpilot
- Yell.com
- Thomson Local
- Your industry-specific directory (Law Society Find a Solicitor, ICAEW directory, Unbiased for financial advisers)
The critical word is consistent. Your business name, address, and phone number must be identical across every listing. Even small variations — “Limited” versus “Ltd”, or a slightly different postcode format — reduce AI confidence.
What to do: Search for your firm name on Google and audit every listing that appears. Update any that have outdated or inconsistent information.
Step 4: Get Genuine Client Reviews on Public Platforms
Reviews are one of the strongest signals AI assistants use to decide which firms to recommend.
Not because AI reads every review — but because a firm with 50 Google reviews and a 4.8 rating is clearly trusted by real clients, and AI systems use that as a credibility signal.
The most influential review platforms for professional services firms are:
- Google Reviews — the most important single platform
- Trustpilot — widely referenced by AI assistants
- ReviewSolicitors — specifically for law firms
- VouchedFor — for financial advisers and mortgage brokers
You don't need hundreds of reviews. Ten to twenty genuine, recent reviews on Google alone will put most small professional services firms ahead of competitors who have none.
What to do: After completing a matter for a satisfied client, send them a direct link to your Google review page. Most clients are happy to leave a review if you make it easy.
Step 5: Create Clear, Specific Service Pages on Your Website
AI assistants match firms to searches based on what they can verify about your services and location.
A website that says “we offer a full range of legal services” gives AI very little to work with. A website with dedicated pages for “Conveyancing Solicitors in Cardiff”, “Probate Solicitors in Newport”, and “Employment Law Advice in Swansea” gives AI exactly what it needs.
Each service page should clearly state:
- The specific service you offer
- The location you serve
- Who your typical clients are
- What the process involves
- How to get in touch
This also improves your traditional Google rankings — so it is effort that works on multiple fronts.
What to do: Identify your top three to five services and make sure each has its own dedicated page with a clear title, location reference, and description.
Step 6: Get Mentioned on Trusted Third-Party Websites
AI assistants give more weight to firms that are mentioned or referenced outside their own website.
This can include:
- Press coverage in local or industry publications
- Guest articles on legal, financial or property websites
- Features in local business directories or chambers of commerce
- Case studies or testimonials on partner websites
You don't need national press coverage. A mention in your local business journal, a guest post on an industry blog, or a feature in a trade publication all count.
What to do: Contact your local chamber of commerce, any industry associations you belong to, and local business publications. Offer a short article or comment on a topic relevant to your sector.
Step 7: Check How Visible You Actually Are
Most professional services firms have no idea whether AI assistants are recommending them or not — because they've never checked.
The quickest way to find out is to open ChatGPT or Perplexity and type:
“Who are the best [your service] in [your town]?”
If your firm doesn't appear, you now know what to work on.
For a more detailed picture — including your score across six AI platforms, the specific gaps affecting your visibility, and the competitors being recommended instead — TendorAI runs a full AI Visibility Report in under 60 seconds.
How Long Does This Take to Work?
Results vary depending on how much groundwork already exists, but firms typically see improvement within four to eight weeks of making these changes.
The firms seeing the fastest results are those that combine all seven steps rather than doing one or two in isolation. Structured data alone helps. Reviews alone help. But the combination of regulatory verification, consistent listings, reviews, and structured data creates a level of AI confidence that individual signals cannot achieve on their own.
The firms doing this now are the ones that will dominate AI recommendations in their area over the next twelve to eighteen months. The window to get ahead of competitors is still open — but it won't be for long.
Find Out What AI Says About Your Firm
TendorAI scans your business across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and three other AI platforms and shows exactly where you stand — and what to fix. Run your free AI Visibility Report in 60 seconds.
Run Your Free AI Visibility Report