Physical retail — the AI visibility checklist for shops and local businesses

Physical retail businesses have a specific AI visibility challenge: the queries that matter most to you are local queries ("bookshop in Edinburgh," "independent coffee shop near me"), and local AI queries draw on a different set of signals than general business queries. Here's the checklist, in priority order. **Google Business Profile (highest priority)** Claimed and verified. Category set correctly — use the most specific category available, not just "Retail Store." Hours accurate and updated for holidays. Photos recent (within the last 6 months). At least 20 reviews with responses. Posts active (GBP posts are indexed by AI systems). **LocalBusiness schema on your website** The key fields for physical retail: - `name`, `url`, `telephone`, `email` - `address` with full `PostalAddress` including `streetAddress`, `addressLocality`, `postalCode`, `addressCountry` - `openingHoursSpecification` for each day - `geo` with latitude and longitude - `url` - `image` **NAP consistency** Your Name, Address, Phone number needs to be identical across every directory listing — GBP, Yelp, Yell, Bing Places, Apple Maps, TripAdvisor if relevant. Even small variations ("St" vs "Street", "+44" vs "0") create inconsistency that AI systems interpret as uncertainty about your identity. **AI Verified Passport** The Passport adds domain verification — confirming that your website is genuinely associated with your registered business. For physical retail, this matters most when customers are doing due diligence before visiting ("is this shop actually real and still open?"). The Bronze tier is free and takes five minutes.