A skip firm I know – solid operator, twenty years in business, 700+ reviews and a 4.9 Google score – rang me recently in a panic.
- Website traffic down 40%.
- Enquiries flatlining.
- Visibility gone.
They hadn’t changed a thing. But overnight, they’d become invisible.
Their web agency shrugged. The same agency that sold them an overpriced WordPress site “optimised for search”. What they’d actually delivered was a digital desert: no leads, but still a monthly invoice.
Why good firms are disappearing online
If you run a local waste company, you’d expect to show up when someone searches “skip hire [your town]”.
Not anymore.
Today, the top search result in my area is a broker that doesn’t even operate here. They just subcontract the jobs and pocket the margin. Meanwhile, good local firms employing local people? Buried.
Why? Because the rules of the web have changed. And AI is rewriting them faster than most agencies understand.
The AI search shift
More customers are now using AI tools instead of traditional search. And even on Google, the first thing users see is an AI-generated ‘summary’ rather than your actual link.
If your business isn’t featured in that AI summary, you’re not even in the race.
Think about what that means. How many jobs are you losing, not because a competitor outperformed you, but because the algorithm doesn’t even know you exist?
Four quick checks to see if you’re visible
- Search for your own service using AI tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity: ‘Best skip hire in [your town]’. Do you appear?
- Check your Google Business profile. Is it verified, updated weekly, and linked to your main site?
- Look at your reviews and site text. Are they written in the natural, descriptive language AI tools understand, or full of jargon your customers never use?
- Publish fresh, useful content. AI favours relevance and recency. If your website hasn’t been updated since the last World Cup, you’re basically telling the algorithm you’ve retired. Share insights, local stories, or quick guides that actually help your customers make decisions.
The wake-up call
AI doesn’t care about your reputation. It doesn’t care that you’ve served your community for 20 years. It only cares what it can find.
And right now, too many waste firms are invisible.
If your traffic has tanked and the phone’s stopped ringing, the issue isn’t just SEO. It’s search evolution. And it’s happening now.
Bringing your business back into view
I help waste companies bridge that gap. Making sure the right customers find you: not the brokers, not the fakes, not just the loudest voices online, but you.
Because if AI search doesn’t know you exist, soon enough, neither will your customers.
