How AI assistants choose who to recommend for furnace maintenance

1. What people actually asked
2. What your furnace maintenance page has to explain
3. What the assistants looked for before recommending anyone
4. Your furnace maintenance page checklist
5. Questions owners ask
6. How we got these numbers
7. See it on your own website

What people actually asked

We asked for furnace maintenance in three different ways. Here is each one, word for word, with how many of the 265 answers it produced between September 3 and October 14, 2026:

• “Looking for someone to do furnace maintenance in 33713 sometime this month. Any recommendations?”96 answers, asked with five different timings: sometime this month, before the end of the month, in two weeks, next month and in the next few weeks
• “Who should I call for furnace maintenance in Pinellas Park, FL 33781?”96 answers
• “Furnace maintenance near me — I'm in 33772. Who do you recommend?”73 answers

Together, the 265 answers covered eight towns in Pinellas County: St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Dunedin, Largo, Palm Harbor, Pinellas Park, Seminole and Tarpon Springs. Each town came up in 33 to 34 answers. By assistant: ChatGPT 121, Claude 96 and Google AI Mode 48.

Customers also call it “furnace tune-up”, “heating maintenance”, “annual furnace inspection” or “furnace inspection”, so use those words on the page as well.

The question underneath all of them

“What does a furnace maintenance visit actually include?” A maintenance visit, fault diagnosis and replacement of worn parts are different services.

What your furnace maintenance page has to explain

Many local HVAC companies focus on cooling, and their tune-up offers often turned out to be for the AC. Assistants told customers to ask whether a low tune-up price covers the heating system or only the air conditioner. A page that names a heating tune-up, separate from the AC visit or clearly combined with it, removes that doubt.

Answers kept noting that many homes here heat with a heat pump or electric heat strips, not a gas furnace. The visit differs by system. On a gas furnace, assistants told customers to ask about burner, heat exchanger and carbon monoxide checks. On electric heat, they mentioned heat strip checks. The page should say which heating systems the tune-up covers and what it checks on each.

A tune-up, a repair and a parts replacement are different services, and customers worried about being upsold. Assistants told customers to ask whether repair recommendations are optional and need separate approval. A real checklist and a sample maintenance report show what the visit covers and how findings are written up and quoted.

What the assistants looked for before recommending anyone

We read all 265 answers to see what the assistants looked for before naming a company for furnace maintenance, what they told the customer to ask, and what they said they couldn’t find.

What the assistants told customers to ask

Most common first:

Is it a single tune-up or a maintenance plan?

Many answers told customers to ask whether the tune-up is a single visit or part of a membership. Some said a combined heating and cooling plan may cost less than separate visits, so customers wanted both prices.

43% of the answers (115 of 265) brought this up.

Ask for the price up front, and whether the tune-up is a one-time visit or a maintenance plan.

Does the company service this kind of heating?

Assistants told customers to ask whether the technician regularly services their type of heating: a gas furnace, an electric furnace or a heat pump. Some said to name the system when booking so the right technician is sent.

37% of the answers (99 of 265) brought this up.

Ask whether the technician regularly services your type of heating, whether that's a gas furnace, an electric furnace or a heat pump.

Does the visit include safety checks?

For gas furnaces, many answers told customers to ask whether the visit includes heat exchanger, combustion and carbon monoxide checks. Assistants treated these as what separates a real heating tune-up from a quick filter change.

27% of the answers (71 of 265) brought this up.

Ask whether they check for cracked heat exchangers and carbon monoxide if you have a gas furnace.

What does the tune-up actually check?

Answers told customers to ask what the tune-up includes, such as the filter, blower, thermostat, electrical connections and heat strips. Some warned that a low tune-up price may cover only the AC.

24% of the answers (63 of 265) brought this up.

Ask whether the quoted price covers a full heating-system inspection, since some low "tune-up" prices cover only the AC.

What does the tune-up cost?

Assistants rarely found a reliable tune-up price, so they told customers to ask for the total price up front. Some also asked whether there is a separate service-call or membership fee.

23% of the answers (62 of 265) brought this up.

Ask for a quote up front, since tune-up prices vary.

How are problems found during the visit handled?

Some answers told customers to ask whether repairs found during the tune-up are quoted separately and need their approval. Customers wanted to know the visit would not turn into a repair they did not agree to.

5% of the answers (13 of 265) brought this up.

Ask for the total tune-up price, whether the visit includes combustion/safety testing, and whether any repairs require separate approval.

What the assistants couldn’t find

In 35 of the 265 answers, the assistant said it couldn’t find or confirm something it needed about a company. By assistant: Claude in 35 of its 96, ChatGPT in 0 of its 121 and Google AI Mode in 0 of its 48. As we asked it, Claude usually says what it couldn’t confirm; ChatGPT and Google AI Mode seldom do, so these counts mostly show what Claude couldn’t find. Most often:

• A phone number or other way to reach the company: 29 answers
• Reviews it could check: 10 answers
• When the company could do the work: 5 answers
• A price or how the job is priced: 5 answers
• Whether the company serves the customer’s town or ZIP code: 4 answers
• A license or insurance it could check: 4 answers

Phone numbers were what assistants most often could not find for this job, and many could not verify reviews. A page with a working number and a clear way to book a heating tune-up answers what they kept telling customers to look up.

I didn't find phone numbers for most of these companies.

Where the assistants sent people

Each answer linked to the pages the assistant relied on. Of the 217 ChatGPT and Claude answers about furnace maintenance, this is how many linked at least once to each kind of site:

• A contractor’s own website: 100% (216 answers)
• A directory or review site such as Yelp, Angi or the BBB: 59% (129 answers)
• A manufacturer or home-improvement guide: 26% (57 answers)
• A Google search or Maps page: 3% (6 answers)
• An official license lookup: 3% (6 answers)

A contractor’s own website was the page linked most often, so your site is usually what the customer is sent to read.

Google AI Mode works differently. In 67% of its 48 answers, the links opened Google’s own listing for a business rather than a website. There, your Google Business Profile is the page the customer sees, so it needs the same facts as your site.

The checks behind every recommendation, applied to furnace maintenance

Can the customer reach a person?

Phone numbers were what assistants most often could not find. Some pages offered only a contact form, or showed a manufacturer's general line instead of the local dealer's number.

29 of the 265 answers about furnace maintenance, 29 of them from Claude, said the assistant couldn’t confirm this. In our July–August study across eight trades, it cost a business its place in 147 of the 290 conversations where it came up.

What do recent customers say?

Assistants often found only reviews the company published itself, and could not confirm independent ratings.

10 of the 265 answers about furnace maintenance, 10 of them from Claude, said the assistant couldn’t confirm this. In our July–August study across eight trades, it cost a business its place in 139 of the 569 conversations where it came up.

Can you schedule the job when the customer needs it?

Customers often wanted a tune-up within the month, before cooler weather. Some answers warned that schedules fill as the first cool days arrive.

5 of the 265 answers about furnace maintenance, 5 of them from Claude, said the assistant couldn’t confirm this. In our July–August study across eight trades, it cost a business its place in 185 of the 657 conversations where it came up.

Source: How we research what AI assistants recommend.

Your furnace maintenance page checklist

Work through this list on your furnace maintenance page. Each item answers something the assistants looked for above.

1. Use “furnace maintenance”, “furnace tune-up” or “heating maintenance” in the page title, the main heading and the first paragraph.
2. Give the price of a single furnace tune-up and of any plan, and say what the plan adds.
3. List the heating systems and fuel types you maintain, and say which ones you do not.
4. State which safety checks are part of a furnace tune-up, and how results are reported to the customer.
5. Publish the actual checklist for a furnace tune-up, and say whether it covers heating, cooling or both.
6. State the flat price of a furnace tune-up, and any fee that is charged on top of it.
7. Say how findings are written up, that repairs are quoted separately, and that nothing is done without the customer's approval.
8. Put your own working phone number and a booking link on the furnace maintenance page.
9. Link to your recent reviews on Google or another independent site, and point to ones that mention a tune-up.
10. Say how far ahead tune-ups are booked in the fall, and how a customer picks a time.

Going further: let assistants see real openings

For planned work like furnace maintenance, a useful opening says whether it is for an assessment or the job itself, and whether the customer’s address is covered.

Merchant Context builds custom integrations with scheduling software so customers and AI assistants can read your current availability. Where your system records the job type, service area, duration and crew capacity, the integration can show those details with each opening, so an assistant can match it to the request instead of guessing.

We scope each connection to the software and data you actually have. A displayed opening is not a confirmed booking: the customer still confirms through your normal booking process, and the information is only useful while it is fresh.

Source: Merchant Context: custom integrations in the AEO service · checked 2026-10-14.

Questions owners ask

What does a furnace tune-up include?

Answers about this job most often mentioned the filter, blower, thermostat and electrical checks, and on a gas furnace the burners, heat exchanger and carbon monoxide checks. Tune-ups differ by company, so the page should publish its own checklist.

Is a furnace tune-up different from a furnace repair?

Yes. A tune-up checks and cleans the system on a schedule. A repair fixes a fault the customer reports or the technician finds. Assistants told customers to ask whether any repair found during a tune-up is quoted separately and needs approval.

Do heat pumps and electric furnaces need a tune-up too?

Assistants told customers with a heat pump or electric heat strips to ask for a heating system tune-up and say which system they have. The checks differ from a gas furnace, so the page should say what it checks on each.

Which AI assistants did you test?

ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode. Between September 3 and October 14, 2026, they answered 265 questions about furnace maintenance: ChatGPT 121, Claude 96, Google AI Mode 48.

Will these changes guarantee a recommendation?

No. Nobody can promise that. These changes supply what the assistants were looking for in our research. Whether they move recommendations for your business is something to measure after they go live.

See it on your own website

Send us your website address and we’ll make a free preview of your homepage, rewritten so customers and assistants can find your furnace maintenance answers. You pay only if you accept it: $2,000 a month, month to month, with no build fee.

Get your free homepage preview

Source: Merchant Context: the current website offer · checked 2026-10-14.

Keep reading

• AI search optimization and websites for HVAC companies.
• Which services need their own page on a contractor website?