Can AI read your website? A 60-second test you can do yourself.

AI tools do not look at your website the way a customer does. They read the words on the page. If the words are not there, the AI cannot use them.

You can check whether your site passes in about a minute, with your phone and no technical skills. Here is the test.

Why does my website matter to AI?

AI tools go to your website to confirm what you do and where you do it. In our Florida Dental AI Visibility Study, Claude pulled from practice websites when it recommended dentists, and in our Florida HVAC study it read HVAC company websites too.

In our 600-query home services study, the few businesses that showed up on every AI tool all had specific service pages on their websites. Your site is one of the places AI checks before it names you.

How does the test work?

Open your website on your phone and check five things. Spend about 10 seconds on each, and count how many you pass.

1. Does each service have its own page?

It should. A single Services page with a long bulleted list is hard for AI to match to a specific search like “tankless water heater install.”

If you do five kinds of work, that means five pages. Each one should say what the job is, who it is for, and where you do it.

Pass: each main service has its own page, or at least its own section with a few sentences explaining the job.

2. Is your city written on the page?

It needs to be, in plain words. Many sites show a map or a service area graphic, and AI cannot read a picture.

Put it in a sentence, like “We serve Metairie, Kenner, and the rest of Jefferson Parish.” A footer line with your address and city counts too.

Pass: your city and the main towns you serve appear as regular text on your home page and service pages.

3. Is your phone number text or a picture?

It should be text. To check, press and hold on your phone number.

If your phone offers to call it or copy it, it is text. If nothing happens, or it offers to save an image, it is a picture.

Pass: you can tap your phone number to call it.

4. Are your hours on the site?

They should be, and they should match your Google Business Profile. AI tools compare details across sites, and when your website says one thing and Google says another, the AI has to guess which is right.

If you offer emergency, weekend, or after-hours service, say so in words. A customer with a burst pipe on a Sunday asks AI exactly that question.

Pass: your hours are on the site as text, and they match Google.

5. Is there one plain sentence that says what you do?

There should be, near the top of your home page. Something like: “We repair and install air conditioning for homes in Tampa, Brandon, and Riverview.”

Clever taglines do not help here. “Comfort you can count on” tells AI nothing about your trade or your town.

Pass: a stranger could read your first screen and say what you do and where.

How did you score?

Five passes means AI has the basics it needs from your site. Three or four means a few easy fixes. Two or fewer means AI has to guess about your business, and it may guess wrong.

Then run the same test on your top competitor's site. If they pass more checks than you do, that is one reason AI may know them better.

How do I fix what failed?

Most of these are edits you, or whoever built your site, can make in an afternoon. No code required.

Add a sentence with your city to each service page. Retype your phone number and hours as text. Rewrite your top line so it names your trade and your town.

If your site is on Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy, each of these is a text edit in the page editor.

If someone else manages your site, send them this list. Each item is a small text change, and none of them should be billed as a big project.

What doesn't this test cover?

This test checks whether AI can read your site. It does not tell you whether AI is recommending you, which also depends on your reviews, directory listings, and Google Business Profile.

Our free scan checks that part. It looks at ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews and shows which ones name your business, in about 60 seconds.