Last Updated on June 25, 2026
The short version
- We asked Google’s AI to recommend the best plumber in 13 UK towns and cities, then recorded who it named.
- In all 13, it named independent local firms. Not one national chain. Not one “find a plumber” directory as the actual pick.
- That is the opposite of the normal Google results page, which is led by directories like Checkatrade and paid ads.
- The common thread was reviews. Every named firm with a visible profile had a 4.8 to 5.0 rating, from 54 reviews in a small town to over 1,200 in a city.
Ask a plumber how you win work online and most will say the same things: pay for Google ads, or pay for a Checkatrade listing. So we wanted to know what actually happens when a customer asks AI to recommend one. We asked Google’s AI Mode, the new answer-first version of search, to “recommend the best plumber” in 13 UK towns and cities, in June 2026, and wrote down exactly who it named.
The result was strikingly consistent, and it is good news for small firms.
Key takeaways
- When asked for the best plumber across 13 UK towns and cities, Google’s AI named an independent local firm every time, never a national chain or directory (Whito study).
- Every plumber the AI recommended held a Google rating between 4.8 and 5.0, with review counts from 54 in a small town to over 1,200 in a city.
- Most towns returned two or three named firms, often grouped by job type such as “best for 24/7 emergencies” or “best for installations”.
- A family-run firm in Wakefield with 54 reviews was recommended as readily as a 1,200-review firm in Cardiff, so review quality mattered more than size.
What we did
One trade, plumbers, because it is fiercely competitive and every town has plenty. We used Google’s AI Mode and asked the same plain question a customer would, “recommend the best plumber in [town]”, across a spread of big cities and smaller towns: Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Nottingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, Leicester, Wakefield and Doncaster. We recorded the businesses it named and the ratings it showed.
What the AI actually recommended
In every single town, the AI answered with named, independent local plumbing businesses, the kind of firm run by a handful of people, not a national brand. Here is a sample of the top business it led with in each place.
| Town | Top firm the AI named | Rating (reviews) |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff | N.J Harkus Plumbing & Heating | 5.0 (1,211) |
| Leicester | East Goscote Plumbers | 4.9 (977) |
| Newcastle | Forest Hall Plumbing & Heating | 5.0 (636) |
| Bristol | MP Plumbing Services Ltd | 4.9 (490) |
| Nottingham | Aquasure Plumbing | 5.0 (338) |
| Leeds | Plumbers Leeds | 4.9 (219) |
| Doncaster | Adal Plumbing & Heating Ltd | 5.0 (200+) |
| Liverpool | SC Plumbing & Heating | 5.0 (159) |
| Glasgow | The Glasgow Plumbers | 4.8 (141) |
| Wakefield | CorePlumbing | 5.0 (54) |
| Manchester | Zodiac Plumbing & Heating | Top rated |
| Birmingham | Jack The Plumber | Top rated |
| Sheffield | SmartFlow Services | Top rated |
Most towns got two or three names, often grouped by job type, “best for 24/7 emergencies”, “best for installations”, with the detail pulled straight from each firm’s profile and reviews.
Three things that stood out
The directories vanished. Run the same search the old way and the top of Google is wall-to-wall Checkatrade, Trustatrader, MyBuilder and paid ads. We checked, and that is exactly what the standard results page looked like. The AI skipped past all of it to name actual businesses. The directory subscription that is supposed to get you found did not get you named.
Reviews were the deciding factor. Every firm the AI singled out, where it showed a profile, had a rating between 4.8 and 5.0 stars. The thing it kept citing as the reason was the reviews, “a perfect rating from over 200 local reviews”, “5 stars from nearly 1,000 customers”. Not the website, not the advertising. The reviews.
Small did not mean invisible. A family-run firm in Wakefield with just 54 reviews was named as readily as a 1,200-review firm in Cardiff. You did not need to be the biggest in a big city. You needed to be the clearest and best reviewed in your own town.
What this means for your business
If you have been told you need a big budget or a directory subscription to compete online, this is the more hopeful truth. The name the AI gives is won on the things you already control: a complete, accurate Google Business Profile, and a steady habit of asking happy customers for reviews. The businesses winning here are not the loudest. They are the clearest and the best regarded.
That is the whole point of getting your foundations right. Check whether AI recommends your business in twenty minutes, and if it does not, you now know what moves the needle. For the bigger picture, see how UK businesses get found by AI search.
The honest caveats
This is one trade, one AI tool, one phrasing, captured in June 2026. AI answers vary by location, change over time, and other tools like ChatGPT may weigh things slightly differently. So treat the exact names as a snapshot, not a league table. But the mechanism was consistent across all 13 towns, and it matches what Google itself says: clear, well-reviewed, well-described businesses are the ones that get surfaced.
Common questions
Does Google’s AI recommend chains or local firms? In our 13-town test, independent local firms every time, and not one national chain.
How does it choose? Reviews and clear service information. Every named firm with a profile sat between 4.8 and 5.0 stars.
Do I need Checkatrade or ads? Our test suggests not. The AI named businesses with strong Google profiles and reviews, and skipped the directories and ads.
