Construction and trades — the local trust problem is different here

Trades businesses (builders, electricians, plumbers, roofers) have a specific AI visibility challenge that's different from professional services or retail: the primary trust question for a customer is not "is this business legitimate?" but "will this business show up, do the job properly, and not rip me off?" AI systems that answer "find me a reliable electrician in [city]" are drawing heavily on review data — Google Reviews, Checkatrade, Trustpilot, Which? Trusted Traders. The structured data and identity verification work is secondary to review volume and recency. **The honest priority order for trades businesses** 1. Google Business Profile — claimed, verified, category correct, photos recent, hours accurate 2. Review volume — Checkatrade, Google Reviews, Trustpilot. Recency matters. A business with 200 reviews from 2019 is less useful to AI systems than one with 40 reviews from the last 12 months 3. Checkatrade / TrustMark / Gas Safe registration — these are the sector-specific credentials AI systems recognise 4. Organisation schema with your trade credentials in the `identifier` field 5. AI Verified Passport — domain verification, consistent NAP The Passport is step 5, not step 1. If you're a sole trader electrician with 8 Google reviews and no Checkatrade listing, the Passport is not the most useful thing you can do this week. **What the Passport does add** For trades businesses that have done the review and directory work, the Passport adds a machine-readable identity record that confirms your business name, domain, and Companies House registration are consistent. For customers doing due diligence before a large job (loft conversion, rewire, new boiler), that consistency check is a useful additional signal.