Hiring an AI Search Company in Sherman: What to Ask

A year ago almost nobody in Texoma was selling "AI search." Now it shows up in every agency's service list, sometimes next to a price that would make you sit down.

The demand is real. More people ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews who to call instead of scrolling through ten blue links. Ask one of those tools for a good roofer in Sherman and it names two or three businesses. If you're not one of them, you never got a chance.

But it's a new field, and new fields attract people who are mostly selling the buzzword. Here are the questions we'd ask before hiring anyone for AI search, ourselves included.

1. "Can you show me where I'm named today?"

This should be the starting point. A real AI search company will take the questions your customers ask, run them through ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI, and write down who gets named. You should see that before you pay for anything beyond the check itself.

If they can't show you a "before," they can't show you an "after." Walk away from anyone who skips this step and jumps straight to a package.

2. "How is this different from regular SEO?"

Listen closely to this answer. The honest version is that AI search builds on local SEO. The tools lean on many of the same things Google does: clear pages that answer a question, business details that match everywhere, reviews, and mentions on other trustworthy sites. The difference is that an AI tool gives one answer instead of a list, so being "close" counts for less.

If someone tells you AI search is a totally separate discipline that makes SEO obsolete, be careful. If they tell you it's the same thing with a new label, also be careful. It's an extension of good local work, aimed at the questions people type into AI tools. You'll also hear it called GEO or AI SEO.

3. "What will you actually change?"

Ask for the list of work, not the philosophy. On a typical local business, the useful changes look like this:

• Plain questions and answers on your site, written so an AI can quote them word for word.
• Name, address, phone, hours and services kept identical across Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp and the directories AI tools read.
• Schema markup that spells out what you do, where you do it and when you're open.
• A steady flow of reviews and mentions on other sites.
• Making sure AI crawlers are allowed to read your site at all, through your crawler settings and an llms.txt file.

That last one surprises people. Some sites block the very bots they want recommendations from, usually by accident.

4. "Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend me?"

The right answer is no. AI answers change from one question to the next, and even from one minute to the next for the same question. Anyone promising a guaranteed spot in ChatGPT is promising something no one controls.

What a company can do is show you how often you're named across a fixed set of questions, every month, next to your competitors. That number moving in the right direction is the goal.

5. "How will I know it's working?"

You want a repeatable test. Same questions, same tools, run on a schedule, with the results written down. Pair that with the numbers you already care about: calls, form requests and Google clicks. If AI mentions go up and the phone doesn't, something's off, and you should be able to see it.

6. "Are you local, and do you show up yourselves?"

This one is easy to check. Open ChatGPT and ask it for an AI search or web design company in Sherman, TX. See who comes up. Then ask the companies you're talking to why they did or didn't. Their answer will tell you a lot about whether they understand the work.

Local knowledge matters here too. AI tools pull from local directories, local news, chamber listings and reviews written by people in your area. A company that knows Texoma knows where those mentions come from.

A few red flags

• Pricing that only makes sense if you don't ask what's included.
• Talk of "secret prompts" or tricks to fool the AI.
• Bulk-generated blog posts stuffed with your town name.
• No mention of reviews or your Google Business Profile at all.

The AI tools are getting better at spotting thin content, not worse. Shortcuts age badly.

Where to start if you want to do it yourself

Ask ChatGPT and Gemini five questions a customer might ask about your kind of business in your town. Write down who gets named. Then compare your Google profile, your website's service pages and your review count to the businesses that showed up. You'll usually spot the gap in an afternoon. If you want the background first, our post on GEO vs SEO explains how the two fit together.

Want a second opinion?

We do AI search optimization from our office in Sherman, and we'll run the visibility check on a free call so you can see where you stand. Call (469) 790-0543 or reach us here, and we'll get back to you within 24 hours on weekdays.