Here’s a question worth asking yourself: if someone in your town asked ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overview for a good electrician right now, would your business be the one it names? Not your Google ranking. Not your reviews page. The actual sentence the AI says back to a customer who’s never heard of you.
For most New Zealand electricians, the honest answer is no. And that’s not a reflection on the quality of your work, it’s because almost nobody has built their website in a way AI can actually read and trust yet. That’s the gap this post is about.
The proof: what happened with an electrician in Raglan
Vaughan Morris runs Morries Electrical, a one-man operation in Raglan, 30-plus years on the tools. We rebuilt his site and listing for exactly this: clean schema markup, proper meta data, a fully verified business listing, the works. On 2 July 2026, we captured Google’s AI Overview naming Morries Electrical first when asked about electricians in the area, free quotes, no call-out fee, straight to Vaughan’s number, with morries-electrical.co.nz sitting at #1 in the ordinary results directly below it. One business, both slots. It took about a month from doing the work to seeing it happen.
That’s not a mockup. It’s dated, it’s real, and the search data behind it (clicks and impressions on that exact query) is sitting in Search Console right now.
Why ranking #1 on Google isn’t the win it used to be
Here’s the uncomfortable stat: according to SOCi’s 2026 Local Visibility Index, ChatGPT currently recommends only around 1.2% of local businesses it’s asked about, and fewer than half of the businesses performing well in traditional local search even show up in AI recommendations at all. Ranking well in Google’s blue links and being the answer an AI gives are two different jobs now, and most businesses have only ever done the first one.
The flip side is the opportunity. Independent industry estimates put the number of NZ businesses actively optimising for AI search at under 5%. For electricians specifically, that number is close to zero. Whoever gets there first in your town becomes the entrenched answer, and once an AI model has a confident, well-supported source to quote, it takes real work from a competitor to dislodge them.
How AI engines actually decide who to recommend
Every AI engine works a little differently, and understanding this is most of the battle:
- Google’s AI Overview leans heavily on your Google Business Profile and on pages that answer the question directly, with clear headings and structured data behind them.
- Gemini follows a similar pattern, rewarding businesses with a complete, well-maintained profile and a website that states clearly and specifically what you do and where.
- ChatGPT often draws on Bing and general web data, so your visibility across the wider web (not just Google) matters more than people assume.
- Perplexity is the most transparent of the four, it shows its sources in a panel next to every answer, so you can literally see whether it’s reading your site.
None of these engines can be paid for placement. There’s no ad slot inside an AI answer. The only way in is being a source the AI already trusts enough to quote, which is a structural, technical problem, not a marketing one.
What’s actually in the build
This is the same work we did for Morries Electrical, done properly on your site:
- Your existing website cleaned up and re-tuned so AI crawlers can actually read it: schema markup, proper page titles and meta descriptions, alt text on every image, an llms.txt file, and page speed pushed as high as your platform allows (you can check your own site’s current score for free on Google PageSpeed Insights).
- Your business listing on List-It filled out completely and verified against the NZBN register, not a half-done placeholder. Logo, real photos, every service, every service area, socials.
- Both cross-linked, so an AI model finds two independent, matching sources confirming the same facts about your business instead of one it has to take on faith.
- A free year of List-It Max thrown in (normally $149+GST/year), the dashboard that shows your real AI-Ready score and a monthly report on exactly what the AI engines are saying about your business.
| Site size | Price (+GST) |
|---|---|
| Up to 15 pages | $999 |
| 16-30 pages | $1,299 |
| 31+ pages | $1,499 |
Priced by site size, done once, by our team. Not a subscription you have to manage yourself.
Government support worth knowing about
The MBIE AI Advisory Pilot, delivered through the Regional Business Partner Network, is co-funding up to 50% of AI-related consulting costs for eligible NZ small businesses, capped at $15,000. It’s worth checking your eligibility before this work even hits your own budget.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my electrician business recommended by ChatGPT?
You can’t pay for it, there’s no ad placement inside AI answers. What you can do is make your business easy for AI to trust: consistent business details across your website and directories, clear schema markup, and content that answers customer questions directly. That’s the entire job.
My business ranks well on Google. Why doesn’t AI mention it?
Because traditional ranking and AI citation are measured differently. Google’s blue links reward backlinks and on-page SEO built up over years. AI engines reward structured, verifiable, easy-to-parse data they can quote with confidence right now. A site can do well at one and be invisible at the other.
How long does it take to start showing up in AI answers?
For Morries Electrical it was about a month from the technical work going live to the AI Overview naming him. Results will vary by competition in your area, but because almost no electricians in NZ have done this work yet, the field is wide open.
Is traditional SEO still worth doing?
Yes. Google still sends the majority of traffic through ordinary search, and a strong SEO foundation is part of what makes AI trust your site in the first place. Think of it as both, not either/or.
What’s actually included in the $999 build?
A full technical clean-up of your existing site (schema, meta, alt text, llms.txt, speed), a fully verified List-It business listing, both cross-linked, plus a free year of List-It Max so you can see what’s working after we hand it back. See the pricing table above for exact tiers by site size.
See where you stand first, free
Before anything else, run the free AI check, ask ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini what they actually say about your business today, in about ten seconds, no signup required. Most NZ trade businesses that run it find they’re not appearing at all. That’s not a bad grade, it’s the exact gap this build closes.
Read more on how we approach this in how to list your NZ business for AI search and local SEO, or if you’re ready, get your AI-ready build started here. Or just get in touch at info@baywebco.nz and we’ll walk you through exactly what your business needs before you commit to anything.
