AI Search Optimisation for Derby Businesses: Showing Up in ChatGPT and AI Overviews

What has actually changed for Derby businesses?

Three things, all measured in the last year.

• People see AI answers often. Ofcom's Online Nation 2025 found around 30% of UK Google searches show an AI Overview, 53% of adults say they see them often, and ChatGPT had 1.8 billion UK visits in the first eight months of 2025 against 368 million in the whole of 2024 (Ofcom, December 2025).
• AI is now a recommendation source. In BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey, ChatGPT became the third most-used source for local business recommendations, while Google's share as a review source fell from 83% to 71% (BrightLocal, February 2026) [US sample].
• Fewer people click. Across 68,879 real searches studied by Pew Research, a normal result was clicked 8% of the time when an AI summary appeared and 15% when it didn't. Links inside the summary got clicked on just 1% of searches (Pew, July 2025).

Derby is a city of small firms. The ONS counts 7,565 registered businesses here, 6,580 of them with fewer than ten staff (ONS via Nomis, 2026). Few of them have the time to check what an AI assistant says about them, which is why a business that does the work early can stand out in its category.

How do ChatGPT and AI Overviews decide which Derby businesses to name?

Nobody outside Google or OpenAI knows the full method, and anyone who claims to is guessing. What the published evidence does show:

• They draw on a wider set of pages than the top ten. An AI Overview cites around 11 sources on average, and the number-one organic result appears in only 46% of desktop Overviews and 34% on mobile (Semrush, July 2025).
• They corroborate across sources. Whitespark's 2026 survey of local search experts ranked citations and mentions as three of the top five factors for AI visibility (Whitespark, 2025). A business named consistently by its own site, its Google profile, a chamber listing and a trade article is easier to trust than one that only describes itself.
• They favour specific answers. A page that says what you do, where, for whom and roughly what it costs is easier to quote than a homepage of slogans.
• Google's AI uses normal Search signals. Google states there is no special schema.org markup, file or setting required for AI Overviews or AI Mode, that clicks from AI features are counted under the "Web" search type in Search Console, and that those clicks "tend to be higher quality" (Google Search Central, updated December 2025).

How can you check what AI says about your business today?

This takes about half an hour, and you need no special tools.

1. 1Write down eight to ten questions your customers actually ask. Not "Excel Process Systems Derby" but "who makes process systems in Derby" or "best MOT garage near Pride Park".
2. 2Ask each one in ChatGPT, Google (look for the AI Overview), Gemini and Perplexity. Use a private browser window so your own history doesn't skew Google's answer.
3. 3Record three things for each answer: whether you're named, which competitors are named, and which sources are cited.
4. 4Note anything wrong. Old addresses, closed branches, services you stopped offering. These usually trace back to an outdated listing somewhere.
5. 5Check your analytics. In Google Analytics, look for referral visits from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai. In Search Console, AI Overview clicks sit inside normal "Web" data.
6. 6Repeat monthly with the same questions. AI answers vary between sessions, so look for a trend, not a single result.

The cited sources in step 3 are your to-do list. If Perplexity names a competitor because of a directory you're not on, or a news article you could have been in, that's the gap to close.

What should a Derby business fix first?

In the order that usually pays back fastest:

• One page per service, answer first. Start each page with a 40 to 60-word plain answer: what it is, who it's for, where you work, a price guide if you can publish one. Whitespark ranks "dedicated page for each service" as the second strongest AI-visibility factor.
• Your Google Business Profile. Correct categories, real hours, a services list in customers' words. Our guide to getting into the Derby map pack covers it step by step.
• Recent reviews that describe the work. BrightLocal found around three-quarters of consumers only trust reviews from the last three months. Ask customers to say what you did and where they're based, in their own words.
• Identical business details everywhere. Name, address and phone the same on your site, your profile and every directory. Mismatches create the wrong answers you found in step 4.
• Mentions on sites AI tools trust. Chamber membership pages, trade associations, supplier and partner pages, local and trade press. For Derby's engineering and supply-chain firms, our digital PR guide explains how to earn them.
• A named expert. An author name and short bio on your advice pages, so the content has a real person behind it.
• Dates on content. Update key pages when prices or services change, and show the date.

What should you not pay for?

AI search attracts the same kind of selling that early SEO did. Be wary of:

• llms.txt files and "AI schema" packages. Google says no special file or markup is needed for its AI features.
• Guaranteed citations. Google's guidance says no one can guarantee a top ranking, and AI answers are less predictable still (Google Search Central, June 2026).
• Mass-produced AI pages. Google's spam policy on scaled content abuse covers using generative AI to produce many pages without adding value (Google Search Central, August 2026). Fifty thin "AI agency in [town]" pages will hurt, not help.
• Separate retainers for the same work. Most AI search optimisation is good SEO done properly. It shouldn't cost twice.

What has worked for our clients?

Our clearest proof is in Leicester, not Derby, and we'd rather say that than imply otherwise.

Bradgate Financial Solutions is a Leicestershire mortgage and protection broker that has worked with us over a number of years; we built and host its bespoke PHP site and run its SEO. A search for "self employed mortgages leicester" returns Bradgate referenced directly inside Google's AI Overview, with the opening answer on proving income through SA302 tax calculations and accounts attributed to their page.

What got them there wasn't a trick. We built a dedicated page for each mortgage circumstance (self-employed, adverse credit, first-time buyers, buy to let, remortgages), each written to answer the real question a borrower has. Financial advice is a topic Google treats cautiously, which makes the citation more telling. We can't promise the same result for any search, but the method transfers to a Derby engineering supplier, clinic or trade business.

We can also see the Derby demand in our own data. Over the past year our Search Console recorded 569 impressions for "ai search agency derby", at an average position of 18.8 (Vimana Digital Search Console, 2025–26). Derby businesses are looking for this help. Our Derby SEO page also averages around position 4 for "seo agency derby" in the same data.