E41: AI Ranking Factors, SAB Pin Hack & Google Review Problems

ft. Amy Toman!

July 29, 2026

A massive study of LLM visibility factors by Ben Wills analyzed 403,000 prompts across 10 different AI models to identify what correlates with being recommended by AI.

He looked at prompts across 100 different industries, including many local search industries.

The strongest signals for the “legal services for businesses” included:

  • Appearing in Google’s search results

  • Having a homepage that is highly relevant to what you offer

  • Building strong backlinks and domain authority

  • Having a presence on Wikidata

  • Being mentioned in relevant Reddit discussions

Appearing in search results (anywhere on page 1 is good enough) had the strongest correlation with AI visibility (so I guess SEO is far from dead).

How to improve AI visibility, according to this data:

  • Show up in Google’s search results

  • Clearly explain your services and location on your homepage

  • Earn links from trusted, relevant websites

  • Build a consistent and recognizable business entity

  • Get listed on Wikidata if you can (easier than Wikipedia)

  • Participate in the Reddit communities your customers use

Amy Toman and I discuss this in detail on today’s episode of the Whitespark Local Update podcast, plus:

  • Hack to Move the Map Pin for an SAB (Mika Lepisto)

  • Warning About GBP Review Management

  • Google Review Not Posted?

  • What Local Brand Actually Means to Google and AI (Near Media Podcast with Cyrus Shepard)

  • Two Types of GBP Blocks (article not yet published)

Watch the episode here 👇️

🎧 Or if you prefer listening, find it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Watch by topic:

00:00 Intro
02:35 Hack to Move the Map Pin for an SAB
07:08 Warning About GBP Review Management
10:10 AI Search Visibility & Ranking Factors
13:31 Google Review Not Posted?
16:08 What Local Brand Actually Means to Google and AI
17:49 Two Types of GBP Blocks
21:45 Outro

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