What AI Search Means for Plumbers in North Hertfordshire

Look, I'm going to be straight with you. Most plumbers I meet in Hitchin or Letchworth have absolutely no idea their entire marketing playbook is about to get binned.

Not because they're doing anything wrong. They're not. They've just spent years getting good at something that's rapidly becoming obsolete.

You know how you rank on Google? How your mate built you a website in 2019 and you've been getting three calls a week from it ever since? How you're on page one for "emergency plumber Baldock"?

ChatGPT doesn't care. Neither does Perplexity. And increasingly, neither do your customers.

Your Google rankings are becoming invisible

Here's what's happening right now, today, in North Hertfordshire.

Someone's boiler packs in at 11pm on a Tuesday. They're cold, they're annoyed, and they pull out their phone. But instead of typing "emergency plumber near me" into Google, they open ChatGPT (or Claude, or whatever AI thing they've started using) and they ask: "I need an emergency plumber in Stevenage tonight, who's reliable and won't rip me off?"

The AI gives them three names. Maybe four.

Your business is either in that list or it isn't. There's no page two. There's barely a page one. It's just... an answer.

And if you're not in it? You've disappeared. Completely. Even though you might be the best bloody plumber in Hertfordshire.

I watched this happen to a sparky I know in Royston. Brilliant at his job. Booked solid for months. Then in January his phone went quiet. Took him three weeks to realise his leads had dropped by 60%. Not because his Google rankings changed (they hadn't). Because people had stopped using Google the same way.

What AI search actually does differently

Traditional search engines show you ten blue links. You click around. You read reviews. You compare. It's work, but you're in control.

AI search (or answer engines, or whatever we're calling them this week) tries to just... tell you the answer. It reads everything, processes it, and gives you a response.

Sounds helpful, right? It is. For the person searching.

For you? It's a nightmare if you're not prepared.

Because the AI isn't looking at your website the way Google does. It doesn't care that you've got "plumber" written 47 times on your homepage. It's not counting your backlinks. It's looking for clear, direct answers to specific questions.

When someone asks "who should I call for a boiler repair in Hitchin at night", the AI is scanning for businesses that have clearly stated:

• They do emergency callouts
• They cover Hitchin
• They're available 24/7 (if you are)
• What their response time is
• Rough pricing expectations
• What makes them trustworthy

If that information isn't on your site in a clear, conversational way? You're invisible. Simple as that.

The FAQ page you definitely don't have (but need)

Most plumbers don't have an FAQ page. The ones that do have five questions that don't help anyone:

"How long have you been in business?" "Are you insured?" "What areas do you cover?"

Useless.

What you actually need is answers to the questions your customers are typing into ChatGPT at 11pm. Things like:

• How quickly can you get to me for an emergency?
• Do you charge more for evenings and weekends?
• Can you give me a rough price before coming out?
• What if you can't fix it tonight?
• Do I need to be there or can you work with a key holder?

I helped a plumbing firm in Letchworth rebuild their entire website around this stuff last year. We didn't touch their Google ads. Didn't change their SEO. Just rewrote everything to answer real questions in a natural way.

Their ChatGPT mentions went from zero to appearing in about 40% of relevant local queries within two months. (We track this stuff, it's possible now.) Their phone enquiries are up 30% year on year while most of their competitors are struggling.

How AIs decide who to recommend

This is where it gets interesting.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation, which is basically SEO's younger, more demanding sibling) is about making your business citation-worthy. Making it the kind of business an AI wants to mention when someone asks for help.

It looks at:

• Whether you're mentioned on reputable sites (directories, local news, review platforms)
• What people say about you (reviews matter even more now)
• How clearly you explain what you do and where
• Whether your information is consistent everywhere
• If you sound like a real business run by real people

That last one is bigger than people think. AIs are actually quite good at spotting generic website copy that could describe any plumber anywhere. They want specifics. They want personality. They want you to sound like a human who knows what they're talking about.

When I'm doing AEO work for clients in North Hertfordshire, half the job is just getting them to write like they talk to customers. Stop with the "we pride ourselves on delivering excellence" nonsense. Start with "we're usually with you within 90 minutes, and we'll text you when we're 10 minutes away so you're not waiting around."

See the difference?

What you need to do (actually practical stuff)

Right. Enough theory. Here's what changes this week:

Get your basics absolutely nailed down everywhere. Your Google Business Profile, your website, Yell, Checkatrade, wherever you're listed. Same business name. Same phone number. Same address format. Same service descriptions. AIs cross-reference everything and they hate inconsistency.

Rewrite your service pages around questions, not keywords. Don't write "Boiler Repair Services Hitchin". Write "Need your boiler fixed fast? Here's how we help." Then answer every question someone might have before calling you.

Collect reviews obsessively. But here's the trick: ask customers to mention specifics. "Dan was here within an hour and explained everything clearly" is worth ten reviews that just say "good service". AIs pick up on detail.

Create content that actually helps. Not blog posts about "The History of Plumbing" (I've seen this, I swear). Write about the problems people in your area actually have. Why do boilers in Baldock always pack in during that first cold snap? What should someone do while they're waiting for you to arrive?

Get local. Mention the towns you cover. Talk about local issues. That new housing estate in Stevenage with the dodgy plumbing? Write about it. AIs are surprisingly good at local context now.

The bit where I tell you this is urgent

I know you're busy. You've got jobs booked. You're not sitting around thinking about AI and algorithms.

But I'm watching this shift happen in real time across North Hertfordshire. The plumbers who adapt now are going to own their local markets. The ones who wait are going to watch their phone stop ringing and wonder what happened.

You don't need to become a tech expert. You don't need to understand how these systems work under the hood. You just need someone who does this stuff every day to point you in the right direction.

That's what we do at Hert Bots. We help local trades and service businesses show up when people ask AI for recommendations. Not by gaming the system, but by making sure you're presenting yourself in a way these new tools can actually understand and recommend.

If you're a plumber (or any local service business) in North Hertfordshire and you want to know where you stand, book a call and I'll give you an honest assessment. Takes about 20 minutes and I'll tell you exactly what needs fixing. Or if you want to understand more about how this applies to your specific area, check out our guide to AEO in North Hertfordshire.

Your competitors are still figuring out what AI search even means. That window won't stay open forever.