When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI Mode for a roofer, a plumber or an HVAC company nearby, the answer is built from what those systems can read on business websites. So we checked what they can read. In October 2026 we scanned the websites of 3,787 US home-service businesses across 36 states, and 3,198 of them loaded for us. We tested each one for five basics that make a site easy for search engines and AI assistants to understand.
Only 22% passed all five. The problem isn’t that contractors block AI. Almost none do. The problem is that most sites never say, in a form machines can read, who the business is, where it works and what it answers.
Key findings
- 22% of sites pass all five readiness checks, and 14% pass two or fewer.
- 52% have no LocalBusiness-type structured data, the markup that states a business’s name, type, phone and address.
- 61% have no FAQ section or FAQ markup on the homepage, even though AI search is built around questions.
- Only 0.3% block AI search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot in robots.txt. Blocking is not the issue.
- 8% of homepages show fewer than 150 words in the raw HTML, which is all that crawlers that don’t run JavaScript get to see.
- Only 22% mention any price on the homepage, while cost is one of the most common things people ask AI assistants.
- Garage doors scored best (32% passed everything); remodeling scored worst (17%).
Source: Ad X Groupe scan of business homepages, October 2026.
What we checked, and why it matters
Google says its AI features rely on the same foundations as regular search: a page has to be crawlable, indexable and clear about what it offers (Google Search Central). OpenAI says ChatGPT search uses its OAI-SearchBot crawler, and sites that block it won’t appear in those answers (OpenAI). With that in mind, we scored every homepage on five checks:
- Open to search crawlers. robots.txt doesn’t block Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User or PerplexityBot.
- Readable without JavaScript. At least 150 words of text in the raw HTML. Several AI crawlers fetch pages without running JavaScript (Vercel found this for OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s crawlers).
- LocalBusiness structured data. JSON-LD that names the business type (LocalBusiness, RoofingContractor, Plumber, HVACBusiness and so on).
- FAQ content. A visible FAQ section or FAQPage markup that answers real customer questions.
- Meta description. A written summary of the page, which search engines often use when they describe a site.
None of these is a magic switch. Together they decide whether an AI assistant can say with confidence what your business does, where, and why it’s a good pick.
Finding 1: almost nobody blocks AI, so that’s not the problem
There’s a lot of talk about blocking AI bots. Among contractors it barely happens. Only 4% of the sites block any AI crawler in robots.txt, and most of those block training crawlers such as GPTBot, CCBot or Google-Extended rather than the bots that power AI search answers. Just 0.3% block OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User or PerplexityBot. If a contractor is missing from AI answers, robots.txt is rarely the reason.
One caution: 524 of the 3,787 sites (14%) refused our scanner outright with a firewall or bot challenge. We can’t say how those firewalls treat AI crawlers, but it’s worth checking that your host’s bot protection isn’t turning away the crawlers you want.
Finding 2: half of contractor websites never say who they are in machine-readable form
Structured data (schema markup) is how a website tells search engines plainly: this is a roofing contractor, here is the phone number, these are the opening hours. 80% of the sites had some JSON-LD, usually added by a theme or plugin. But only 48% had LocalBusiness-type markup, only 50% included a phone number in their markup, and only 38% listed opening hours.
For a local business, those are the facts an AI assistant needs before it recommends you. Without them, it has to guess from the page text, or it picks a competitor that spelled them out.
Finding 3: most homepages don’t answer questions
People ask AI assistants questions: how much does a roof replacement cost, do you offer emergency service, which areas do you cover. Only 37% of homepages had any FAQ section, and only 13% used FAQPage markup. Just 22% mentioned a price or price range anywhere on the homepage.
A site that answers the questions customers actually ask, in plain sentences, gives an AI assistant something to quote. A site that only says “quality service you can trust” gives it nothing.
Finding 4: 8% of sites are nearly empty to crawlers that don’t run JavaScript
Some sites load their text with JavaScript after the page opens. A browser shows the full page, but a crawler that reads only the raw HTML sees almost nothing. 8% of homepages had fewer than 150 words in their raw HTML. WordPress sites were the least affected (2%); some hosted builders were higher.
Finding 5: llms.txt is common, but mostly by accident
32% of the sites had an llms.txt file, a newer and optional file that summarises a site for AI systems. Most of them didn’t write it: 96% of Wix sites and 97% of Duda sites had one, because those platforms generate it automatically, against 20% of WordPress sites. It does no harm, but it’s not a substitute for the basics above. Of the sites with an llms.txt, plenty still had no LocalBusiness markup and no FAQ content.
Results by industry
| Industry | Sites | Pass all five | LocalBusiness markup | FAQ content | Shows a price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garage doors | 183 | 32% | 54% | 54% | 29% |
| Roofing | 313 | 30% | 57% | 48% | 21% |
| Pest control | 171 | 29% | 52% | 56% | 30% |
| Cleaning | 193 | 29% | 45% | 59% | 31% |
| Plumbing | 189 | 26% | 53% | 39% | 25% |
| Painting | 191 | 26% | 49% | 44% | 18% |
| Fencing | 196 | 24% | 49% | 39% | 12% |
| HVAC | 235 | 21% | 57% | 33% | 36% |
| Electrical | 190 | 17% | 48% | 25% | 14% |
| Remodeling | 306 | 17% | 47% | 29% | 13% |
Garage doors and roofing companies did best, likely because they compete hard for leads and invest more in their sites. Remodeling businesses trailed, with only 47% using LocalBusiness markup and 29% answering questions on the homepage.
A seven-step checklist for contractors
- Check robots.txt and make sure Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot are allowed. Ask your host whether its firewall challenges these crawlers.
- Add LocalBusiness structured data using the most specific type (RoofingContractor, Plumber, HVACBusiness, Electrician), with your name, phone, address, service area and hours. Make sure it matches what the page shows.
- Put your core facts in plain text on the homepage: what you do, the towns you serve, how to reach you, and your licence or certifications.
- Add an FAQ section that answers the five questions customers ask most often, including what jobs typically cost.
- Make sure your main text loads in the HTML, not only through JavaScript. View the page source and search for a sentence from your homepage.
- Write a clear title and meta description for every service page.
- Keep your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing complete and consistent with your website, since AI answers often lean on both.
Methodology
We started from 3,787 unique websites of US home-service businesses listed on Google Business Profiles in 36 states, from our own prospect research. In October 2026 we requested each site’s homepage, robots.txt and /llms.txt once, with a crawler that identified itself as Ad X Groupe research. 3,198 homepages returned a page we could read; 524 refused automated requests and the rest failed to load. We analysed only the raw HTML returned, as a non-JavaScript crawler would see it. We looked at homepages only, so a business may have FAQ content or markup on other pages. We publish only aggregate figures and do not name any business.
Journalists and researchers can request the aggregated data by industry and website platform at info@adxgroupe.com.
Want to know how your business shows up in AI answers?
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