Every fortnight another article says AI search is going to kill Google. It isn't. But it is quietly changing what a decent chunk of your prospective customers see before they ever click a website — and that's worth understanding without the melodrama.
This is what we've actually watched happen in Taprave client accounts across dentistry, trades, med spas and e-commerce over the last twelve months. Not what the podcasts say. What we've seen.
What's genuinely new
Two things. First: a growing share of informational queries — the 'how do I', 'what's the difference between', 'is it worth' searches — now get answered directly inside ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews or Perplexity, without the user visiting your site.
Second: those AI answers cite sources. Being one of the cited sources gets you a very specific kind of traffic: fewer visitors overall, but each one has already read a summary of what you do and is arriving with intent.
What hasn't changed
Local intent still goes to Google Maps. Someone typing 'dentist in Salford' or 'boiler engineer near me' is not asking ChatGPT — they want a phone number, opening hours and reviews. Your Google Business Profile is doing more work than ever, not less.
Commercial intent still goes through websites. Nobody is buying £4,000 of Invisalign, a £3,000 kitchen rewire or a £250 Meta ads retainer off the back of an AI-generated paragraph. The purchase decision still needs your actual page.
What to actually do about it
Three moves, in this order. One: make sure your key service pages answer real questions in plain English — not marketing copy. AI models cite pages that read like human explanations, not brochures.
Two: add proper FAQ sections to your top pages with the questions your reception team actually gets asked on the phone. These get lifted directly into AI answers.
Three: make sure your business is described consistently everywhere — site, Google Business Profile, directories, LinkedIn. AI models triangulate; conflicting descriptions get you dropped from the citation list.
What we'd ignore for now
'llms.txt' files. 'AI schema.' Any tool promising to 'optimise you for ChatGPT' for £199 a month. None of it moves the needle for a small UK business right now. Come back to it in a year.
The takeaway
AI search is a real shift, but a small one for local UK businesses. Answer real questions in plain English on your key pages, keep your Google Business Profile tidy, and don't buy anything that ends in '.ai' for at least six more months.