How Do You Rank When Customers Ask Siri or ChatGPT Instead of Google?

Marcus Goh, Director, PULSE Digital

You rank on an AI assistant by giving it clear, verifiable facts about your business written in plain language: your service area, your licence numbers, your pricing logic, your reviews. Siri and Google Assistant now generate answers using large language models that read your website for facts, not for keywords stuffed into a page title.

What changed when Siri and Google Assistant started using AI models?

Apple confirmed at WWDC 2024 that Siri would draw on ChatGPT for complex queries, and Google has been rolling AI Overviews into standard search results since 2024. Both changes mean the first thing a customer sees is often a generated summary, not a list of ten blue links.

For a Singapore aircon servicing company, this matters because the customer typing “why is my aircon leaking water” into their phone may now get a direct answer with one or two companies named, rather than a results page they have to scroll through. If your business is not one of the names the model pulls in, you simply do not exist in that moment.

How is asking ChatGPT different from googling “aircon servicing near me”?

A Google search still returns a map pack and ten organic links a customer can click through at their own pace. An AI assistant collapses that into one synthesised answer, often recommending two or three options, and the customer may never click through to a website at all.

This means the content that gets you recommended is not the same content that used to get you clicked. The model is reading your site, your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and forum mentions, then deciding what to say about you in its own words. You are being quoted, not linked.

What ranking signals matter for Google search versus AI assistant answers?

There is real overlap, but the weighting is different. The table below sets out where the two systems agree and where they diverge, based on how each platform currently gathers and presents information.

The practical takeaway is that backlink-heavy SEO tactics from five years ago matter less to an AI assistant than having clean, factual, easy to quote content already on your own pages.

How can a renovation or pest control business get recommended by an AI assistant?

Start with the basics that feed both systems, then add content written specifically to answer the questions customers are already typing into Siri or ChatGPT.

1. Claim and fully complete your Google Business Profile, including service area, operating hours, and photos, because this still feeds Google’s AI Overviews directly.

1. Write an FAQ page in plain English that answers the exact questions customers ask, such as “how much does a BTO renovation cost in Singapore” or “do I need NEA approval to remove a wasp nest”.

1. State your licence and registration numbers where relevant, such as an HDB renovation contractor licence, an NEA vector control operator licence, or bizSAFE certification for workshops, so the model has a verifiable fact to repeat.

1. Get reviewed and mentioned on the platforms these models already crawl, including Google Reviews, HardwareZone forums, Facebook community groups, and SGCarMart for workshops.

1. Keep your business name, address and phone number identical across your website, Google Business Profile, and any directory listing, because inconsistency makes a model less confident about recommending you.

Does this mean I should stop doing SEO for Google?

No, because the two systems share enough signals that good SEO work still supports AI visibility. A well structured, factually accurate, frequently reviewed business profile helps you in both places at once, so there is no reason to abandon one for the other.

What changes is the type of content you prioritise. Instead of writing a long blog post stuffed with keywords aimed at ranking for “best renovation contractor Singapore”, you write a short, direct answer to “how long does a 4-room HDB renovation take” because that is the exact phrasing a customer feeds into an assistant.

Why does this matter more for service businesses than for retail?

A service business sells trust before it sells a transaction, and trust is exactly what an AI assistant is trying to summarise when it recommends one law firm or one tuition centre over another. Retail products can be compared on price and spec sheets, which AI assistants handle differently from recommending a contractor who will be in someone’s home for three weeks.

This is why licence numbers, years in operation, and genuine review content carry more weight for a cleaning company or a law firm than for an online shop. The assistant is standing in for the customer’s due diligence, and it needs facts to stand on.

FAQ

Will ChatGPT send me customers directly the way Google search does?

Not through clicks in the way search does today, since most AI assistant answers do not include a clickable link in the same prominent way. It does influence the shortlist a customer considers before they search further or call, which is where your visibility still matters.

Does my website need schema markup to appear in AI assistant answers?

Schema markup helps machines read your page structure faster, but it is not the deciding factor. Plain, clearly written FAQ content answering real customer questions does more work than technical markup alone, though the two together work best.

How do I check if AI assistants already mention my business?

Ask ChatGPT or Perplexity a question a real customer would type, such as “recommend an aircon servicing company in Tampines”, and see what comes back. If your business is missing or described inaccurately, that is your starting point for fixing it.

If you want a structured way to work through this rather than guessing at FAQ content and licence pages, we put together a free ChatGPT Ranking Roadmap at https://pulsedigital.sg/roadmap that walks Singapore service businesses through exactly this.