Website readiness
What to Document Before Moving Your Business Website to a New Domain
Google’s guidance for a website domain move, alongside Wildfire’s recommendation to document and test customer contact paths.
Read the guide (opens in a new tab)HELPFUL RESOURCES
Understand Google.
Make sense of AI.
Learn how customers find your business through Google and AI. Read simple explanations, see the original sources and find out what the information means for your business.
WHERE THE INFORMATION COMES FROM
WILDFIRE FIELD NOTES
Our latest guides.
Practical guides · Scroll to explore
Google Business Profile
Who Should Control Google Business Profile Access When Staff Changes?
Google Business Profile owner and manager roles, plus Wildfire’s advice for documenting access and planning a staff handover.
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Business information
Which wrong business listing should you fix first?
Prioritize conflicting business details by the customer problem they create and verify the correction at its source.
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Website readiness
Give a customer enough information to call
A useful service page answers the questions that determine whether an inquiry is a good fit.
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Local search
Not showing up locally? Start with the right problem.
Find out whether customers are struggling to find you, understand your services or contact you before paying for more SEO work.
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Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile check that starts with accuracy
Check your business name, categories, hours, service areas and how easily customers can contact you from your Google profile.
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AI visibility
AI visibility: being accessible is only the beginning
Learn why letting AI read your website is different from having it recommend your business.
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Trust & E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T: replace trust claims with evidence
Show who is giving the advice, what they know and why customers can trust it.
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Reputation
Build a review process customers can trust
Ask for honest reviews, respond to concerns and use repeated feedback to improve your service.
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Business information
One business, conflicting details: what to fix first
Fix wrong phone numbers, hours, services and locations before spending time on small differences in your listings.
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Ongoing improvement
Ongoing visibility work should end in a decision
Record what was happening before a change, check what happened afterward and decide what to do next.
Read the guide (opens in a new tab)STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE
Read advice from Google and AI companies.
Summaries by Wildfire · Sources reviewed September 20, 2026
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8 official resources
GoogleDocumentationAI features and your website
Updated December 10, 2025
Google says the same good website practices used for search also apply to its AI answers. No special AI code is required.
Why it matters
Clear pages give Google useful information about your business.
What we do with this information
Check that Google can find your pages, follow their links and read your services.
Your page must be included in Google’s index and allowed to show a search snippet to be used as a supporting link. Meeting these requirements does not guarantee it will appear.
Understand the foundation →GoogleSearch Central BlogSucceeding in Google’s AI search experiences
May 21, 2025
Google recommends useful, original content and websites that are easy to use.
Why it matters
Answering customer questions helps people understand your services and decide whether to contact you.
What we do with this information
Explain your services, use examples from your work and make the next step clear.
Avoid repeating the same generic page for every city. Give people useful details about your services and experience in the areas you serve.
Explore our approach →GoogleDocumentationHelpful content, E-E-A-T, and trust
Updated December 10, 2025
Google looks for signs of experience, expertise, authority and trust. These qualities are often called E-E-A-T; they are not one ranking score.
Why it matters
People can see who is giving the advice and why they should trust it.
What we do with this information
Show who wrote the information, their experience and what supports their claims.
Use genuine qualifications and examples. When you share a result, explain what happened and the circumstances behind it.
Meet Wildfire →GoogleBusiness Profile HelpWhat shapes local rankings
Living guidance
Google considers how well a business matches the search, how far away it is and how well known it is.
Why it matters
Correct services, hours and contact details help customers decide whether you can help.
What we do with this information
Check your Google categories, services, hours, review replies and contact details.
You cannot remove distance from Google’s decision or buy a better local ranking. Focus on accurate business information and genuine customer reviews.
Start with a baseline →GoogleBusiness Profile HelpWhere Google gets business information
Living guidance
Google gets business details from websites, directories, customer contributions and other sources.
Why it matters
Matching details help customers find the right place, hours and contact information.
What we do with this information
Compare the details on your website, Google profile and business listings.
Your website is only one source. We look for old or conflicting details, correct the listings you control and request corrections elsewhere.
Find the gaps →
OpenAIOfficial documentationChatGPT search access and crawler controls
Living guidance
OpenAI uses different software for ChatGPT search and AI training. Website owners can control access separately.
Why it matters
You can allow your site to appear in search without making the same choice about AI training.
What we do with this information
Check whether your website allows the search access you want.
Allowing ChatGPT’s search software to read your site does not guarantee a recommendation. Blocking it can affect whether your pages appear in search answers, although direct links may still appear.
Review your foundation →
PerplexityOfficial documentationHow Perplexity retrieves web content
Living guidance
Perplexity uses software to find web pages for search. It also has a separate tool that visits pages when someone asks it to.
Why it matters
A blocked page may keep Perplexity from reading useful information about your business.
What we do with this information
Check whether your website is unintentionally blocking Perplexity’s search software.
Perplexity says its search software is not used to train its main AI models. We check genuine access problems while keeping website security in place.
Explore technical alignment →
Claude · AnthropicProduct announcementClaude’s web search and citations
March 20, 2025; updated May 27, 2025
Claude can search the web for current information and link to the sources it uses.
Why it matters
Customers may find your business through an AI answer as well as a search results page.
What we do with this information
Record the question, answer and linked sources when checking how your business appears.
Not every AI answer uses a web search. When we check visibility, we record the tool, question, date and sources. This product announcement does not explain a business-ranking formula.
See how monitoring fits →
E-E-A-T, without the mystery.
Google’s framework describes qualities of helpful content. It is not a public score you can buy or a checklist that guarantees rankings.
E
Experience
Have you actually done the work?
E
Expertise
Why should someone rely on your knowledge?
A
Authoritativeness
What supports your reputation?
T
Trustworthiness
Can people verify what you say?
These examples show how the advice can apply to your business.
BEYOND YOUR WEBSITE
Your website is only part of the picture.
AI tools do not all read the same information. What they find depends on the tool and the question.
Your business information online
Google can find business details on your website, business profiles, directories and customer contributions. Those details should agree.
Google: Where Google gets business information How tools find information
Search engines and AI tools use software to find and read web pages. Some also run several related searches to answer a question.
Google: AI features and your website Perplexity: How Perplexity retrieves web content Why answers differ
The same business can appear in one answer and be missing from another. The question matters, and not every AI conversation searches the web.
Anthropic: Claude’s web search and citations What this means for your business
Help customers get the right information.
We check for missing information, wrong business details, blocked pages and unanswered questions. Fixing these problems can help customers find and understand your business. It cannot guarantee an AI recommendation.
01Does an AI model read everything about my business?
No. It depends on the AI tool, the question and the information it can access. A web search may read selected pages; it does not check everything about your business across the internet.
Google: Where Google gets business information 02What happens if my business details do not match?
Wrong hours, phone numbers or service details can confuse customers. Blocked pages can also keep search tools from reading your information. We find the specific problem before recommending a fix.
Google: What shapes local rankings 03What if my competitors improve while I do nothing?
A competitor with clearer services, useful reviews and easier contact options may win more attention. That does not prove your business will lose customers. We compare what people can find and whether the inquiries you receive are changing.
Google: Succeeding in Google’s AI search experiences 04Do I need to publish constantly to stay relevant?
No. Update information when it changes and answer useful customer questions. Publishing more pages or changing dates just to look active is not a substitute for helpful content.
Google: Helpful content, E-E-A-T, and trust 05Will schema make AI recommend my business?
No. Schema is code that labels information on your website for search tools. It should match what people can see on the page. It does not guarantee an AI recommendation, and Google says no special schema is required for its AI features.
Google: AI features and your website 06Are SEO and GEO separate systems?
SEO helps people find and use your website through search. GEO refers to helping your business appear in AI-generated answers. Much of the work overlaps: clear pages, accurate business details and useful answers.
Google: AI features and your website 07How do you separate evidence from a sales claim?
We tell you what comes from an official source, what we recommend and what we actually measured. A business appearing in a few AI answers does not prove more sales or guarantee it will appear again.
OpenAI: ChatGPT search access and crawler controls 08How does this connect to Enlighten, Embrace, and Evolve?
Enlighten establishes the baseline and priorities. Embrace addresses the agreed foundation and information gaps. Evolve monitors changes and guides incremental improvements. Scope depends on what the evidence and your business actually need.
Google: Succeeding in Google’s AI search experiences HOW WE EXPLAIN THE INFORMATION
Know what the advice is based on.
What the companies say
We link to the original information and tell you whether it is a product announcement or general advice.
How we use the advice
We explain what we recommend and why. That does not mean Google or an AI company endorses our work.
What we checked
We tell you which tool we checked, what we asked and when. An AI mention does not prove a sale or promise future results.
Curated by Wildfire Local. Reviewed September 20, 2026. This is a curated reference library, not an automatically updated news feed. What the companies say changes; consult the linked source for its current version. Rankings, citations, and recommendations are never guaranteed.
FROM UNDERSTANDING TO ACTION
Find the gap.
Make the next move count.
Enlighten reveals the priorities. Embrace strengthens the foundation. Evolve keeps improvements connected to what the evidence shows.
Choose your starting point →See an AI visibility report