Are AI recommendations bringing new clients to your business?

We are starting to see visits referred by AI tools to Bridging Loan Directory, but I would distinguish that from evidence of new clients. A referral tells us someone reached the site; it does not tell us what the AI said or whether that visit became an enquiry.

Our approach is to publish clear answers to real property-finance questions, supported by lender criteria, practitioner experience and original sources. That helps readers assess the information wherever they discover it.

Google matters, but we also want to understand how people find us through ChatGPT, Claude and other tools. The useful measure will be whether those visits lead to relevant enquiries and business, rather than simply whether BLD appears in an AI answer.

AI recommendations are already bringing new clients to businesses like ours. For someone choosing a mortgage broker, an answer that explains why a firm might suit their circumstances can be more useful than a list of websites. We’ve invested in answering the questions clients actually ask, particularly around complex income and self-employment. That gives AI tools something useful to draw on, and we’ve had clients find us through those recommendations. Google is the biggest opportunity right now because it’s where so many people begin their search. But I think ChatGPT and other AI tools will increasingly influence the shortlist too. For smaller businesses with genuine expertise, that’s exciting: a helpful answer can put you in front of the right client at exactly the right moment.

GEO, optimising for AI recommendations rather than blue-link rankings will reshape how professional services firms win new clients. Ask Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini for a broker or adviser and you get a shortlist built on proof, not keywords. So, what earns you a place on it? First, a clear entity: your website, Schema markup, Google Business Profile and LinkedIn should all say the same thing about who you are and who you serve. Second, third-party validation like press quotes, podcasts and directory listings tell the AI you're a genuine player. Third, answer-first content: concise Q&A, clear summaries, a blog and podcasts the AI can lift and cite. The payoff? Fewer clicks but better leads as by the time someone lands on your site, the AI has already qualified you. As for Google versus the rest — it's not either/or. Everyone will have their "go to" AI Google still drives the volume; ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity increasingly shape the final shortlist.