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Your business, as a stranger sees it

⏱ 35 min8 steps

Walk through your own front door ten thousand times and you stop seeing the sticky lock. Your website and listings get like that. In this lesson Claude looks at your business five ways, the way an outsider would: can they find you, would an assistant recommend you, would they call, does it feel like real people, and how you compare. You'll leave with a one-page . If Claude wanders off, the fixes under each step bring it back.

AI Short for artificial intelligence. Here it means a program like Claude that reads what you write and writes back in plain words. All wordsscorecard A short table that gives each part of something a score, with the reason next to it. All words
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  1. Start a new chat and tell Claude about your business

    This sets the rules for the whole look, and checks that Claude understands what you do before it starts.

    1. Open the or claude.ai and start a new chat.
    2. Copy the prompt below.
    I own a small business, and I want an honest look at how a stranger finds and judges it. We'll look at it five ways, one at a time, in this chat. The rule for every finding: give me the link and the exact words or thing you saw there. If you can't check something, say so and don't guess. Don't start the five yet. First, read my website and tell me in three or four lines what you think I do, who for and where. My business: [its name, website and town]
    1. Paste it into the chat. Replace the part in square brackets with your business name, website and town.
    2. Send it.

    If Claude can't open your site, paste the words from your home page and contact page instead.

    prompt What you type to Claude. A good one says what you want, how to work and what never to do. All wordsClaude app Claude on your phone or computer, where you chat with it by typing. claude.ai is the same thing in a web browser. All words

    You should see:

    A few lines saying what Claude thinks you do, who for and where.

    That's not what I see
    Claude answered without looking anything up.
    is built in. If you see a Web search switch under +, turn it on. Then reply: Search the web for this, and give me a link for each thing you found.web search Claude looking things up on the internet during a chat. Its answer comes with links to the pages it used. All words
    Claude got what I do wrong.
    That's your first : a stranger could get it wrong too. Write it down. Then tell Claude what you really do, so the next steps look at the right business.finding One thing an audit found, with the link and the words that show it. All words
    Claude says it can't open my website.
    Open your home page, select all the words with **Cmd+ACtrl+A** and copy them. Do the same with your contact page. Paste both into the chat in place of the address.

  2. Lens 1: can people find you?

    Customers search for what they need, not for your name. This prompt has Claude search the way they do. Claude's web search isn't the same as Google, so treat what it finds as a rough guide.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Lens 1, being found. Search the web three or four ways a customer would, using the words they'd type, not my business name. For each search, tell me whether I show up, and what shows up instead. Give me the link for each finding.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
    2. Pick one of Claude's searches and try it yourself in Google. Note anything different.

    You should see:

    Three or four searches, each saying whether you showed up and who did, with links.

    That's not what I see
    I don't show up in any of the searches.
    Write that down as it is. It's the starting point this section works from, and the lesson "Write the answers AI wants to quote" is where you start fixing it.

  3. Lens 2: would an AI assistant recommend you?

    AI assistants tend to name businesses they can describe with confidence. That comes from plain facts in words: what you do, where, when you're open and how you price, with the same name, address and phone everywhere. This prompt asks Claude what it would need to name you.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Lens 2, being recommended by AI. If a customer asked you for a business like mine, what would make you confident naming me, and what would hold you back? Check whether my services, the area I cover, my hours and how I price are written in plain words on my site. Check whether my name, address and phone are the same everywhere you find me. Link to each thing you checked.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.

    You should see:

    What would make Claude confident naming you, what holds it back, and the places it checked, with links.

    That's not what I see

    Nobody has reported a snag on this step yet. Getting stuck is normal. Read the step again one line at a time, and compare your screen with the video.

  4. Lens 3: would a visitor call?

    Most people look you up on a phone, often with one thumb. This prompt checks how quickly a visitor who's ready can call, book or ask for a quote. Claude reads your pages, but it can't tap anything, so you'll check that part yourself.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Lens 3, turning visits into calls. Read my home page and contact page as someone on a phone who's ready to buy. How many steps from landing on my site to calling, booking or asking for a quote? Is there one clear next step, or several competing ones? Tell me what you can see, and what I should check myself on my phone.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
    2. On your phone, open your website and tap your phone number. It should start a call.

    You should see:

    Claude counts the steps to get in touch, says whether there's one clear next step, and lists things to check on your phone.

    That's not what I see
    When I tap my phone number on my phone, nothing happens.
    Write it down. A phone number you can tap to call is a common fix, and a quick one for whoever looks after your site.

  5. Lens 4: does it feel like real people?

    People choose people. A bakery page with the name of the person who makes the cakes, or a roofer's page that says how long the family's been at it, feels safer than a page of stock photos. This prompt looks for that.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Lens 4, making it personal. Do my site and listings feel like real people run this business? Look for names, a story, photos of real work or real customers, and words that sound like a person talking. Tell me what's there and what's missing, with links.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.

    You should see:

    What Claude found that feels personal, what's missing, and links to where it looked.

    That's not what I see

    Nobody has reported a snag on this step yet. Getting stuck is normal. Read the step again one line at a time, and compare your screen with the video.

  6. Lens 5: how do you compare?

    This one can sting a little. This prompt has Claude find three businesses near you that do what you do, and put you side by side.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Lens 5, compared with competitors. Find three businesses near me that do what I do and show up well. Compare them with me on reviews, proof like licenses, insurance or guarantees, how clearly they ask for the call, and anything they offer that I don't. Use a table, with a link for every cell you filled in.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.

    You should see:

    A table comparing you with three nearby businesses, with links.

    That's not what I see
    Claude picked businesses that aren't really my competition.
    Name the ones you actually lose work to, and ask Claude to compare you with those instead.

  7. Ask Claude to argue against its own findings

    In a proper audit, every finding gets a second look from someone trying to prove it wrong, and only what survives gets acted on. This prompt makes Claude do that second look on its own work.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Before we score anything, argue against yourself. Go back through every finding from the five lenses and try to prove it wrong. Open the links again. Drop any finding you can't back with a link and the words you saw there, and tell me which ones you dropped and why.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.

    You should see:

    The findings Claude kept, then the ones it dropped, with a reason for each.

    That's not what I see
    Claude says I've reached my usage limit.
    This chat is a long one, so it can happen. Come back when Claude says you can. The chat keeps your place, so carry on from this step.
    Claude kept everything and dropped nothing.
    Ask it: Which three findings are you least sure of, and why? Look at those links yourself before you trust them.

  8. Make your one-page scorecard

    This prompt turns everything that survived into your scorecard, with the six things to do first.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Turn what's left into a one-page scorecard called "How findable am I?". One row per lens: a score out of 5, one line on why, and the link that backs it up. Under it, list the six things you'd do first, with the most useful and quickest at the top, each in one plain sentence. Keep it to one page.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
    2. Copy the scorecard into a note or a document. Name it with today's date, like How findable am I, October 2026.

    Read the six things with your own customers in mind, and cross off any that don't fit. Claude might suggest an online booking button, when a bookkeeper who meets every new customer first would rather they phoned. You'll need this list in "Check again in 90 days".

    You should see:

    A five-row table with a score and a reason for each , then a numbered list of six things.

    lens A way of looking at something. Four lenses means four different starting points for ideas. All words
    That's not what I see
    Every score is low, and it stings.
    Low scores are the point of doing this: they show you where to start. Pick number one on the list and leave the rest for now.
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Your challenge

Do the first thing on your six-things list before the end of the week. Then show your scorecard to one person who knows your business, and ask which score surprises them.

Last checked 2026-10-21

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