Best fit: local service companies, consultants, clinics, agencies, studios, property managers, contractors, and any small business whose website footer, contact details, or service-area facts may be copied into search snippets or AI answers.
Human-review rule: do not let AI invent addresses, phone numbers, licensing details, emergency availability, legal disclaimers, service areas, review counts, fees, or guarantees. A business owner or manager should verify every footer/NAP fact against the source of truth before publishing.
9 footer and NAP checks before AI tools summarize your business
- Exact business name. Use the same public name in the footer, contact page, Google Business Profile, invoices, and main citations.
- Phone and contact routing. Show the primary phone number, text/call rules if relevant, and the best contact path for urgent versus non-urgent requests.
- Address or service-area clarity. State whether customers can visit, whether the address is mailing-only, or whether the business serves customers at their location.
- Hours and response windows. Separate office hours, service windows, emergency availability, holiday exceptions, and “we reply by” expectations.
- Service-area boundaries. List real cities, counties, neighborhoods, or radius limits without implying coverage you do not actually provide.
- License, insurance, or credential proof. Link only to current, verifiable proof and avoid claims that require legal, medical, financial, or trade-board review.
- Policy links. Link to privacy, refund, cancellation, booking, warranty, or accessibility notes when those affect buyer decisions.
- Internal proof links. Connect the footer/contact facts to service pages, staff bios, portfolio examples, reviews, FAQs, and contact/booking pages.
- Consistency across templates. Check that mobile footer, desktop footer, landing pages, blog pages, and checkout/booking pages all use current facts.
Copy/paste footer and NAP worksheet
Business name exactly as public customers see it:
[Verified name]
Primary phone:
[Number]
Call/text rule:
[Call only / text allowed / urgent calls only / after-hours instructions]
Physical address status:
[Customer-facing address / mailing-only / service-area business / no public address]
Address or service-area wording to publish:
[Verified wording]
Hours:
Office hours: [days/times/timezone]
Service windows: [days/times/timezone]
Emergency/after-hours rule: [if any]
Holiday or seasonal exceptions: [if any]
Service area:
Cities/counties/neighborhoods served: [verified list]
Locations not served or quote-only: [if helpful]
Proof and policy links:
License/credential proof: [URL or none]
Reviews/testimonials: [URL]
Staff bios/about page: [URL]
Portfolio/case studies: [URL]
Privacy/refund/cancellation/warranty policy: [URL]
Contact/booking page: [URL]
Owner/manager final review completed by: [name/date]
AI prompt to audit a website footer
You are auditing a small-business website footer and contact facts for clarity and AI-search accuracy.
Use only the facts I provide. Do not invent business names, phone numbers, addresses, service areas, hours, licenses, guarantees, policies, or emergency availability.
Verified source facts:
[Paste the worksheet above]
Current footer/contact text:
[Paste current website footer and contact-page text]
Return:
1. Facts that match the source of truth.
2. Facts that are missing or unclear.
3. Any contradiction between footer, contact page, service pages, or policy links.
4. A revised footer/contact snippet using only verified facts.
5. A final checklist of facts a human must verify before publishing.
Stop rules
- Stop if AI adds a location, service area, emergency promise, legal/medical/financial credential, or warranty term that was not in the source facts.
- Stop if the page mixes a public storefront address with a private home, mailing-only, or service-area-only address.
- Stop if review counts, star ratings, licenses, awards, insurance, or “licensed and insured” claims cannot be verified.
- Stop if local regulations, accessibility, privacy, SMS consent, refund, or cancellation policies need expert or owner review.
Why this matters for AI search
AI search systems often pull compact facts from repeatable page areas such as headers, footers, contact pages, and structured summaries. Clear, consistent footer/NAP data helps reduce wrong answers about where the business operates, how customers can reach it, and what promises are actually verified. This is not a ranking trick; it is basic fact hygiene for customers, crawlers, and answer engines.
Related paid guide: SEO After AI expands this into a full website audit and implementation kit for AI search, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and classic SEO.