US questions are answered by city and by state, and the engines assume the US when no country is given, which is why a company elsewhere sees US rivals in its answers. The engines read Google Maps and Yelp and Better Business Bureau before they answer. A page per city and per state served, with the local number and the state licence where the trade has one.
What changes when the buyer is in the US
US questions are answered by city and by state, and the engines assume the US when no country is given, which is why a company elsewhere sees US rivals in its answers. Review platforms are strong (Yelp, Google, BBB), and for B2B the engines lean on G2, Capterra and Reddit more than anywhere else. Questions carry dollars and a 'for a small business' or 'for a team of 20' qualifier.
The sources the engines read for the US
| Source | What it decides |
|---|---|
| Google Maps and Yelp | consumer services; both scores are quoted, and Yelp's review text is summarised |
| Better Business Bureau | the rating and the accreditation are quoted for trust questions |
| G2, Capterra and TrustRadius | software; the category ranking and the review count |
| read for every kind of question; a subreddit thread is treated as a peer recommendation | |
| Healthgrades and Zocdoc | doctors and clinics; the profile is quoted for specialty and insurance |
| Angi and Houzz | home services and contractors |
| State licensing boards and the SEC and FINRA registers | a licence claim is checked |
The report's 'sources the engines trust' table shows which of these were actually cited for your questions, and how often your own site was.
Language
English, American spelling. Spanish questions are a growing share in several states and are answered from Spanish pages, which few companies have.
What to put on the site for the US
- A page per city and per state served, with the local number and the state licence where the trade has one.
- Prices in dollars on the page; 'under $X' is the most common qualifier in US questions.
- A Better Business Bureau profile and the Yelp listing claimed, since both are quoted for trust.
How the report runs for the US
Every question is asked with the market set to the United States, so an engine that would otherwise assume the United States answers for the US. The questions themselves are written with the country's cities and qualifiers where the site sells to one ('best accountant in New York'), and the competitor discovery probe is asked for the US too, so the rivals in the table are the ones a buyer in the US is shown, not the global names.
Prices in the report are quoted as the engines quoted them, in USD where the answer used it.
13 US trades, one page each
| Trade | A question a US buyer asks |
|---|---|
| CPA firms | best CPA firm in Denver for an S corp with 20 employees |
| Staffing agencies | best staffing agency in Chicago for warehouse workers |
| 3PLs and freight companies | best 3PL for a Shopify brand shipping 5,000 orders a month |
| Machine shops and manufacturers | CNC machine shop in Ohio for 5-axis aluminium parts in small runs |
| Contractors | best general contractor in Austin for a 4,000 square foot custom home |
| HVAC contractors | best HVAC company in Phoenix for a same day AC repair |
| Plumbers | best emergency plumber in Chicago open right now |
| Electricians | best electrician in Denver for a 200 amp panel upgrade |
| Roofers | best roofing company in Tampa for hail damage |
| Janitorial companies | best commercial cleaning company in Atlanta for a 20,000 square foot office |
| Pest control companies | best pest control company in Orlando for German cockroaches |
| Movers | best moving company in Boston for a two bedroom apartment |
| Dumpster rental firms | cheapest 20 yard dumpster rental in Kansas City |
Mostly the unglamorous ones, because that is where the engines answer with a broker, a franchise network or a lead platform instead of the company that does the work. Each page: the questions with the metro in them, the registers the engines verify, how the question changes across the country, Spanish, and the dollar figures to publish.
Read next
The UAE · Saudi Arabia · India · The UK · Singapore · Australia · Germany · All countries · By industry
Questions
Why does the report ask with a country at all?
Because the engines assume the US otherwise. A UAE company asked without the market set is measured against US rivals it will never meet.
Does Reddit really matter?
For the engines, yes. A thread that names four companies is read as a shortlist. The report shows how often Reddit was cited for your questions.
See who the engines name in the US
Your website, region and work email. The score appears in about three minutes, and the report is a link you keep.