Last Updated on August 21, 2026
Published by Whito Research · Last updated 2 July 2026 · Data checked July 2026
Every business owner is now being told the same thing: get recommended by AI or disappear. Fine, but recommended on what basis? We did the obvious experiment. We asked Google’s AI to recommend a tradesperson, again and again, across different trades and cities, and watched closely to see where its answers actually came from.
What we did
In June 2026 we put four recommendation questions to Google’s AI mode, the kind a normal person types: who are the best electricians in Leeds, the best plumbers in Manchester, the best roofers in Leeds, and recommend a good plumber in London. For each, we recorded not just who it named, but the sources it leaned on to decide.
Where AI gets its recommendations
- Google’s own ratings and reviews were the backbone of every answer. The star rating and review count did most of the heavy lifting.
- It checked an accreditation register every time. Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT or TrustMark. It often led with “make sure they are registered”.
- It leaned on the established directories, Checkatrade and Which? Trusted Traders most often, then TrustATrader.
- And it quoted Reddit. Real residents recommending real names in community threads were treated as evidence.
The four pillars AI actually trusts
Across the four queries, the same four kinds of source did all the work. No single one decided the answer. The AI stitched them together, which is exactly why its lists are confident but inconsistent.
| Source the AI leaned on | What it provides | How often it appeared |
|---|---|---|
| Google ratings and reviews | Star score and review volume | Every query |
| An accreditation register (Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, TrustMark) | Proof the business is qualified and legal | Every query |
| Checkatrade | A vetted listing and review history | Most queries |
| Which? Trusted Traders | An assessed, independent listing | Several queries |
| Reddit threads | Genuine word of mouth from locals | Several queries |
| TrustATrader | A vetted listing with reviews | Some queries |
Sources Google’s AI mode drew on across four tradesperson recommendation queries, June 2026.
What this means if you run a business
The instinct is to pay one directory and hope it carries you. The evidence says that does not work. AI does not trust a single source, it cross-checks. To be the name it returns, a business has to line up on several signals at once: a strong, current Google rating, a verifiable entry on the relevant accreditation register, a presence on the directories AI reads, and ideally a genuine mention or two where real people talk.
In other words, the businesses AI recommends are the ones whose trust signals are consistent and verifiable everywhere it looks. The ones it ignores are not necessarily worse. They are just harder to read, scattered, inconsistent, or missing from half the places that matter.
That is the real game now. Not buying a top spot, but being legible, the same accurate, accredited, well-reviewed business wherever an AI checks. The businesses that get that right will be recommended. The rest will quietly vanish from the answer.
Cite this research
Whito Research (2026). We asked AI to recommend a tradesperson, again and again. Here is where it gets its answers.. Whito. https://whito.co.uk/research/what-sources-ai-trusts-local-business-recommendations/
Key finding: Every AI recommendation tested leaned on Google’s own star ratings and an accreditation register such as Gas Safe, NICEIC or TrustMark to decide which firms got named.
This is original Whito research. You are welcome to reuse these figures with a link to this page as the source.
Common questions
What sources does AI use to recommend a local business?
In our June 2026 tests, Google’s AI built its recommendations from four kinds of source: Google ratings and reviews, accreditation registers such as Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT and TrustMark, established directories like Checkatrade and Which Trusted Traders, and community word of mouth on Reddit. No single source decided the answer.
How does a business get recommended by AI?
By being consistent and verifiable across the signals AI checks: a strong current Google rating, a verifiable entry on the relevant accreditation register, a presence on the directories AI reads, and genuine mentions where real people discuss local businesses. AI cross-checks several sources rather than trusting one.
The July log: 36 questions, every citation recorded, Reddit won
On 19 July 2026 we ran the tightest version of this test yet. We asked ChatGPT and Gemini the identical question, “Recommend a trustworthy [business] in [town]”, 36 times across six categories and three UK towns, and logged every website they cited.
Reddit was ChatGPT’s most-cited source, appearing in 10 of 18 answers. Businesses’ own websites came second, cited 9 times: AI will quote your site directly if it can read it. Yell, Yelp and Facebook were cited zero times, and Trustpilot once. Gemini showed no sources at all in 13 of its 18 answers, and when it did cite, it cited trade directories only: Checkatrade, TrustATrader, MyBuilder and the Gas Safe Register.
Originally published as a separate citation log in July 2026, merged into this page.
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