For electrical contractors
How electricians get recommended by AI
A landlord asking for an EICR, or a homeowner replacing a consumer unit, wants a name they will not have to defend later. Of 1,943 electricians listed on Google Maps across four East Anglian counties, 98 were ever named. ChatGPT and Google AI Mode still open NICEIC and Checkatrade when the contractor’s own pages are thin. Gemini, in the same tests, more often opened the website. launchAEO is how you get recommended: put EICR, rewire, EV charger and the towns in HTML, fix what is blocking the crawler, and on Growth see whether the assistants name you.
Questions customers already ask AI
These are the prompts, not keywords. An assistant that cannot match them to a page on your site will name someone else.
- Who can do an EICR for a rental in Birmingham this week?
- Recommend a NICEIC electrician for a full rewire in Glasgow.
- Someone to replace a consumer unit in a 1930s house in Cardiff.
- Electrician to install an EV charger at home in Milton Keynes.
- Is this quote for a kitchen electrical first fix reasonable in Sheffield?
Why someone else gets named
Google AI Mode cites NICEIC as well as Checkatrade
In Wray’s electrician answers, Google AI Mode’s most-read domains were checkatrade.com, niceic.com and trustatrader.com. A contractor who is on Google Maps but not on the competent-person register leaves the model with a map pin and no official body to quote.
Gemini quotes the contractor’s own site — if the site says the job
Gemini named far fewer electricians, and when it did, it read firms’ websites rather than directories. A homepage of van photos with no “EICR”, “EV charger” or town in the HTML gives Gemini nothing to lift.
Landlord work is a document, not a brand story
The high-intent prompt is an electrical installation condition report for a tenancy. If that phrase never appears on the site, the engine recommends whoever already published a page that names the certificate, the timescale and the postcode.
What launchAEO checks
Whether the electrical services exist in the HTML
launchAEO’s readability score is not a speed test. It asks whether ChatGPT’s crawler would see EICR, rewire, EV charger and the towns you cover, or only a JavaScript gallery.
Issues that stop a competent-person page being trusted
Blocked robots rules, noindex, or a site that is only an Instagram link. Issues & Alerts groups those findings so you are not guessing why an engine skipped you.
Who is named on the landlord and homeowner questions
Growth runs the same EICR and rewire prompts across the main assistants and stores who was recommended. That is the measurement. It is not inferred from traffic.
What to change
Same shape as the action plan in the product: what’s wrong, why it matters, how to fix it.
What’s wrong
No public NICEIC or equivalent membership page.
Why it matters
Google AI Mode treated niceic.com as a source for electricians. Without a register listing, the model has no official body to cite next to your name.
How to fix it
Keep the membership live and put the same trading name on the register, the site and Google. launchAEO’s listings check is there to catch a mismatch.
What’s wrong
The only “electrical” copy is a slogan on a hero image.
Why it matters
Gemini in the East Anglia tests read contractor websites. Image text is not a source.
How to fix it
Write one page each for EICR, consumer unit, EV charger and rewire, with the towns in sentences. The action plan lists the gaps in that order.
What’s wrong
Quotes live in Facebook messages only.
Why it matters
A customer asking whether a first-fix price is reasonable needs a public starting range. Engines will not scrape your inbox.
How to fix it
Publish typical scopes and starting prices in HTML. That is the page an assistant can quote without inventing a figure.
Where assistants look
NICEIC
The competent-person register Google AI Mode cited alongside Checkatrade for electricians.
Checkatrade
Still the first directory ChatGPT opened in most electrician answers in the East Anglia study.
TrustMark
Cited with NICEIC on electrician prompts in UK ChatGPT tests of local trades.
TrustATrader
The third domain Google AI Mode read for electrical firms in that study.
Questions about this
How do electricians get recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI?
Publish EICR, rewire and EV-charger pages in HTML, under one name that matches Google and NICEIC. launchAEO is how those pages get ready to be recommended, and on Growth whether the assistants name you. A directory listing is support, not the product.
Is NICEIC more important than Google reviews for electricians?
They do different jobs. Reviews help you get noticed. NICEIC is proof you can do the work. The website is how Gemini — and launchAEO — get you recommended as the contractor. Named electricians in East Anglia had more reviews; they also had pages an engine could quote.
Why would Gemini name a smaller firm than ChatGPT?
Gemini cited directories in only 6 of 40 electrician answers and instead read contractor websites. A clear EICR page can beat a busier Checkatrade profile in that engine, and lose in ChatGPT. launchAEO keeps those results apart.
What should an electrician scan first in launchAEO?
The free homepage check: can the assistants read it, and which issues to fix. Starter adds more pages. Who is named on EICR prompts is Growth.
Where these facts come from
Independent studies, not launchAEO scores. We summarise them; we do not pretend we ran them.
Other businesses
Plumbers
Sunday-night boilers and burst pipes. launchAEO gets the plumbing site ready so ChatGPT names the firm.
Builders
Extensions and lofts. ChatGPT uses directories less; Gemini looks at Glenigan and finished jobs.
Trades
ChatGPT citing Checkatrade 85% of the time is the gap: most trade sites are not ready. launchAEO gets the firm recommended instead.
The full playbook sits in the 2026 guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT.
Get onto the recommendation
Free is a homepage check, not a trial. launchAEO shows whether AI can read the site, what to fix, and — on Growth — whether the answers name you. Prefer us to handle it? Managed services are quoted separately.