GEO for electricians: the AI ranked five companies by the price they publish

What happened when the AI was asked

On September 6, 2026, I told ChatGPT my lights had gone out, asked for a few electricians in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and asked whether any of them say how much a site visit costs. It opened with a safety note: check with Portland General Electric before paying an electrician if the whole street is dark, with the outage numbers from the city's own page, and treat a burning smell or a hot panel as urgent.

Then it produced a table. Five companies, a column for why it would call each one, and a column headed "site visit / diagnostic cost stated?" Smiley Electric: a licensed Oregon contractor serving Lake Oswego, a $95 in-home service visit, $295 for a full diagnostic. Landmark Electric: a clear troubleshooting model, $79 dispatch and evaluation, waived if you approve work during the visit. Power Professor: the fit if it feels unsafe, $250 service visit, $400 to $600 for an emergency call-out. Bridgetown Electric: an established metro residential electrician, $240 first-hour minimum, then $170 an hour. Apollo Services: 24/7 same-day Lake Oswego repair, and for the fee column, "I found upfront-pricing language, but no specific site-visit fee listed."

It closed with a short list. Call Smiley or Landmark first if it is safe to wait, because their visit pricing is clear and lower. Call Power Professor or Apollo if you need someone tonight.

How the AI ranked them

The order in the short list came from the answer to the customer's second question. The customer asked what a visit costs. The AI went to each company's website, looked for a number, and built its recommendation around what it found. The gutter cleaning answer was read off company websites the same way.

Two companies had published a low, specific fee, and they went to the top of the list. Two had published a higher fee tied to urgency, and they were named for the urgent case, which is a recommendation on its own terms. One company had "upfront pricing" on its site and no number behind it, and it went to the bottom of the table with a sentence saying so.

That is what happened in this run. The AI read the offer as the company has written it, and it ranks on the fit between that offer and what the customer asked for. A published fee answered the question. A phrase about transparency, with no fee, was reported as a gap. The AI did the comparison a customer would do across five tabs, in twenty-five seconds, and handed over the result. That split is the second of two patterns across six trades.

The same engine, asked for the best electrician in Portland the same day, named Falcon Electric on a Birdeye rating from 547 reviews, an Expertise listing, and the license and permit history it could read on BuildZoom. Asked for three more bids from 97209, it read White Lightning Electric's site for its list of services and West Side Electric's site for its history since 1961. Different question, same method: it names the company it can verify, and it ranks on whatever the customer said mattered. Making both readable is the GEO half of my SEO, GEO, and AEO services.

Google's results against the AI's

Ahrefs' snapshot of Google's results for "electrician lake oswego" on the same day puts Prairie Electric's Lake Oswego page first, then the BBB category page, then lakeoswegoelectricians.com. A knowledge panel for Dickinson Electric sits at five. Yelp, NW Pacific Electric, Angi, Sarkinen Electrical, A-Temp, and DT Electric fill out the first eleven.

Set that against the AI's table. Smiley Electric, Landmark Electric, Power Professor, Bridgetown Electric, and Apollo Services: zero of the five appear in Google's first eleven results for the same search. Prairie Electric, Sarkinen, and A-Temp hold their Google positions with a location page for Lake Oswego, and the AI named none of them.

The two engines are answering different questions. Google is ranking pages for the words "electrician lake oswego," and a location page with those words on it wins. The AI was asked who to call and what a visit costs, and it went looking for the fee. The companies that had published one were named, whatever their Google position. The companies that rank on Google have location pages, and most of them have no fee on the page for the AI to quote.

What the searches are worth

The electrical searches are large and mostly open. Electrician near me is 214,000 searches a month in the US. EV charger installation near me is 18,000 at a difficulty of zero. Emergency electrician portland is a $25 click, and electrician lake oswego is 150 searches a month at a difficulty of zero, with a knowledge panel and no map on the results page. The customer in Lake Oswego who asks the AI instead of Google is choosing from a list that Google's page never showed.

The electrician-specific steps

The general checklist is in the post on getting ChatGPT to recommend your business. These are the parts the answer above was built from, in the order I would do them for an electrical contractor.

• A service-call fee, in text, with the conditions. The AI built a whole column out of this one fact. State the dispatch or diagnostic fee, what it covers, and whether it is waived when work is approved. Landmark was named second on a $79 fee with a waiver. "Upfront pricing" with no number behind it was reported as a gap. Heating companies get the same fee question at midnight in October.
• The emergency offer on its own page. Power Professor was named for the urgent case because its site states an emergency call-out range. Emergency electrician portland is a $25 click at a difficulty of zero. If you answer at night, a page that says so, with the after-hours rate, is the page the AI names you from.
• A page per city, with the city's own facts. Every company in Google's top ten for this search has a Lake Oswego page. The AI named companies that state Lake Oswego in their service area. Both engines match the customer's town to the words on your page.
• The license number where both engines can read it. Smiley Electric was described first as a licensed Oregon contractor. Licensed electrician near me is 8,800 searches a month. The CCB number belongs in text on the site, on BuildZoom, and on the BBB profile, all in the same format.
• Services listed by name. Tripping breakers, panel upgrades, EV chargers, generators, rewiring, lighting. The 97209 follow-up quoted White Lightning's service list from its site. A page per service gives the AI a specific reason to name you when the question is specific.
• Reviews and the record behind them. Falcon Electric was named for Portland on 547 reviews and a permit history on BuildZoom. Ask after every job, and keep the BuildZoom, BBB, and Birdeye records current, because the AI reads the record before it repeats the rating.

How to check it

Ask ChatGPT the question your customer asks, with the town and a constraint. "My lights went out, I need an electrician in Lake Oswego, and do any of them say what a visit costs." Read the table it builds. If your company is in it, check the fee column against your own site. If your company is absent, the companies it named have a number on their site that yours is missing, and that is the first page to write. The free consultation runs that prompt for your town and reads the table back to you.