Getting named when
they ask AI for a tradie.

A homeowner with a tripping safety switch in Glenmore Park usually asks an AI tool two kinds of question. First, finding: 'who's a good electrician near Penrith?' Then, once there's a name, checking: 'is Wattle and Wire Electrical licensed? What do people say about them?' The first gets you on the list. The second decides whether you stay on it.

Google's AI Mode can split one question into a set of related searches it runs at the same time, which Google calls query fan-out. A question about a switchboard upgrade could fan out into what it costs, how long it takes, whether it needs a licensed electrician and who's well reviewed nearby. Pages that answer those follow-ups give the AI something to work with. The Fan-out Mapping method lists them for any search.

None of these companies publish how they pick which tradie to name. Here's what each says, or what testing has shown, checked on 2 November 2026.

Customers are told to check licences. In NSW anyone can search the register by licensee name, licence number, ABN or location, and Service NSW tells them to check before work starts. An AI tool asked 'is this tradie licensed?' is being asked to do the same check.

Here's where it breaks. The van says 'Wattle and Wire Electrical'. The register says 'J Nguyen'. If nothing public links the two, a careful customer can come up empty, and so can an AI answer. NSW wants the licensee's name or registered business name, the licence number with its category, and a business phone number on ads, internet included. Queensland goes further: ads must show the name you're licensed under, and a trading name on its own is likely non-compliant, and websites, social media pages and online directories count.

So the fix is both a rule and good marketing: both names together, with the number, in your website footer, your Google profile description and your Facebook page. Nobody outside these companies knows how much weight AI tools give it. It's the check customers are told to make, so make it easy.

Trade businesses change shape more than most. A new mobile number when the old phone died on a roof. A move from the garage to a yard in Tuggerah. A switch from sole trader to a company. Each change leaves old details behind on directories, old Facebook pages and quote sites, and an AI answer built from several sources can pick up the stale one.

Start with the register, because everything else should match it. In NSW, you must tell Building Commission NSW within 7 days if your name or address changes. Then your Google profile, using the name you trade under in real life: Google's guidelines don't allow extra keywords or suburbs added to the business name. Then the listings outside Google. The new Bing Places can import your details from your Google Business Profile.

AI answers about local businesses lean on what customers say, and customers read the recent ones. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of US consumers, 74% looked for reviews from the last three months, and 47% wouldn't use a business with fewer than 20. It's a US survey, but the habit travels.

Specific beats glowing. 'Replaced our old ceramic fuses with a new switchboard in Glenmore Park, tidy and on time' tells a reader, and any tool summarising your reviews, the job, the suburb and the standard. 'Great service!' tells them nothing. You can't script what customers write, but you can ask everyone, straight after the job. The Google Business Profile page for tradies covers asking within Google's rules.

Reply too. The same survey found 80% say they're likely to use a business that responds to all its reviews. A reply that mentions the job adds detail in your own words.

Google is blunt about the shortcuts. You don't need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup to appear in its AI features, and it says its search ignores llms.txt files. Structured data still helps with rich results, but isn't required for AI answers.

It also says making lots of pages to manipulate rankings or AI responses breaks its scaled content abuse policy, and says chasing inauthentic mentions isn't as helpful as it seems. So no 80 suburb pages with the name swapped, and no paid listicles calling you 'best sparky in Western Sydney'. Fake or paid reviews are a separate problem: the ACCC's guidance on reviews applies to tradies like everyone else.