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Team Empathy  ·  Search & AI Search Strategy

You own the map.
Now own the answer.

A Search and AI Search strategy for DC Installation Services

Getting DCIS recommended on ChatGPT

Canterbury, New Zealand   |   Prepared for Jason, Wayne and Tania  ·  July 2026

1. Executive summary

The short version. Three years in, we have made DCIS one of the most visible heat pump installers on Google Maps in Canterbury. That is done, and it is working: you now rank in the top three across a large share of the region, and your profile drives real calls. The opportunity now sits one layer out. When a Canterbury homeowner searches "heat pump installation christchurch" or asks ChatGPT for the best installer, they find Heat Force, Beattie Air and Enviro Master, not you. That demand is real, high-intent, low-difficulty and almost entirely unclaimed. This is what we have built, what is still on the table, and what it is worth.
Three things to know
$144K
new install work a year on the table at the mid case, from organic and AI search
15–18×
more organic traffic each installer AI recommends captures than you today
39%
of the Christchurch map you now own for "heat pump servicing", up from 8%
45 / 100
AEO readiness today, Certified is 80

Everything here is real. Map-pack, calls and reviews from your Google Business Profile Your data, rankings and traffic from your Search Console and Analytics Your data, search volumes and competitor footprints from Ahrefs Ahrefs, forward figures modelled from those inputs Modelled.

2. The results we have already driven for you

When someone in Canterbury pulls out their phone and searches for a heat pump service, you now show up in the top three across a large and growing share of the region. This is the work paying off.

8% → 39%
of the map where you rank top 3 for "heat pump servicing"
2% → 32%
same for "home ventilation system", a roughly sixteen-fold lift
+123%
more phone calls in March 2026 than the month before, directions up 116%
100+
five-star Google reviews, every one replied to
Map search termTop-3 coverage at kickoffTop-3 coverage now
heat pump servicing8%39%
home ventilation systemunder 2%32%
heat pump service24%45%
heat pump repair25%44%
air conditioning service28%43%
heat pump installation42%46%

Coverage measured across a fixed 169-point grid of your Canterbury service area, kickoff baseline to June 2026. Your average position in classic Google results also lifted over the same window, from around 37 to the mid-teens. Google Business Profile under-counts real calls, so these are the floor. Your GBP + Search Console

3. The opportunity you are missing: search and AI

Here is the honest picture, and it is the exciting part. You win on the map, the layer we manage. On the two layers we do not yet, classic organic search and AI answers, you are close to invisible, and that is where a growing share of heat pump buyers now decide.

~32 / mo
organic search visits to your site today, only for your name and two blog posts
4
visits from AI assistants last quarter, near zero, the fastest-growing layer
4,010 / mo
Canterbury heat pump searches you are not winning, at low difficulty
The installers AI names today, and where you sit
InstallerDomain authorityOrganic visits / moRanking keywordsRead
Enviro Master11551140Widest footprint, AI-cited
Heat Force3.956942Most organic traffic, AI-cited
Beattie Air1749757Strongest authority, AI-cited
DC Installation Services3.43213Invisible for the money terms
Your white space. For "best heat pump installer Christchurch", AI answers cite Heat Force, Beattie Air and Enviro Master on heritage and volume. Your 100-plus five-star reviews are not referenced at all, and no one owns the "Mitsubishi Electric specialist Canterbury" or "heat pump installer Rolleston" lane, despite that being exactly who you are, Canterbury's only dedicated Mitsubishi-only installer. That lane is yours to claim before a competitor does. Ahrefs Site Explorer, NZ

4. Your search and AI market, laid out

The keywords: what Canterbury searches every month
What buyers searchNZ searches / moDifficultyYour rank
heat pumps christchurch40017Not ranking
heat pump service christchurch2502Page 4
heat pump installation christchurch20019Not ranking
ducted heat pump christchurch20016Not ranking
heat pump servicing / specials christchurch200 eachlowNot ranking
heat pump / specialists christchurch150 each31 / lowNot ranking
maintenance / replacement christchurch100 eachlowNot ranking
Rolleston / Selwyn / Canterbury geo-tail~250 combinedlowNot ranking

Around 4,010 searches a month across 75 real Christchurch, Canterbury and Rolleston heat pump, ventilation and air-conditioning terms, before Maps-native searches and AI. Difficulty is low, mostly 2 to 31, these are unclaimed positions, not hard ones, and the commercial value is high (advertisers pay 1.30 to 3.00 US dollars a click). You rank for none of them. Ahrefs, NZ, July 2026

The AI prompts: what buyers now ask ChatGPT and Google AI
Prompt territoryWhat it capturesEst. prompts / moAI live?
Best installer, ready to buybest / recommended / reliable heat pump installer Christchurch and Canterbury~1,000–1,400Yes, cites rivals
Service, repair, maintenanceheat pump service near me, why is my heat pump leaking, servicing cost~700–1,000PAA + forums
Which heat pump, MitsubishiMitsubishi vs others, best brand for Canterbury winters, single-brand specialist~500–800PAA + forums
Ventilation and Lossnaybest home ventilation system NZ, Lossnay for a Canterbury home~300–500Yes
Rolleston and Selwynheat pump installer Rolleston, Selwyn, North Canterbury~150–300White space

Prompt demand is anchored to the keyword volumes with a conservative AI fan-out uplift, so treat it as a floor, not a ceiling. Directional, plus or minus 50 percent. Your current mention rate in these answers is effectively zero. Modelled from Ahrefs anchors

5. The opportunity, in dollars

The opportunity
~$144k / yr
Mid case, new install work, range ~$72k to $216k
Timeframe
6–12 months
Compounds, and does not switch off
Data confidence
All real inputs
Ahrefs demand plus your own GBP, Search Console and Analytics

The chain is simple. Around 4,010 people search these terms in Canterbury each month. Strip out the searches that go to ads, the Maps pack and AI answers, and the purely informational ones, and roughly one in five is a winnable organic click, a pool of about 800 a month. Your three cited competitors already capture 500 to 570 of those between them. Reaching that level, then pushing past it with AI answers, is the opportunity.

CaseExtra clicks / yr (search + AI)Enquiries / yrJobs / yrNew work / yr
Conservative2,400 (200/mo)7229~$72,000
Mid4,800 (400/mo)14458~$144,000
Upside7,200 (600/mo)21686~$216,000

Chain: extra clicks won, times a 3 percent enquiry rate, times a 40 percent close rate, times a conservative 2,500 dollar average install job. The winnable pool is about 800 clicks a month and you capture around 32 today; the mid case is simply reaching what your competitors already capture. This is new organic and AI work, on top of the Maps engine we already run. Confirm your real average job value and close rate and it becomes exact. Your figures to confirm Modelled

The mid case, arriving over the year
$0k$40k$80k$120k$160kYou own the systemTodayMonth 3Month 6Month 9Month 12$144K/yr new work, the mid case

New install work per year from organic and AI search, the mid case, phasing in as the engine relights: roughly 10 percent live by month 3, 35 percent by month 6, 70 percent by month 9, all of it by month 12. This sits on top of today's Maps performance. Directional. Modelled

The prize · dream outcome
Be the installer Canterbury finds first
On the map, in search, and in the AI answer. Around $144k a year of new install work at the mid case, on top of today's Maps performance.
×
Perceived likelihood
High
We already made you number one on the map. Difficulty on the money terms is low (2 to 31), the rivals are beatable, and you have 100-plus reviews and a genuine Mitsubishi specialism that AI favours.
Time delay
6–12 months
Search, content and AI compound across the year.
×
Effort from you
Minimal
Reviews, photos and sign-off, then done for you.
=
HIGH VALUE
A big prize, highly likely given what we have already proven, over a sensible horizon, with almost nothing asked of you.

6. How AI-ready you are today

We score every brand out of 100 against our AEO Maturity Model: four pillars, Technical, Content, Authority and Measurement, each out of 25. Certified is 80 out of 100, the standard we build clients to.

DCIS today45/100
Emerging
Technical13
Content10
Authority12
Measurement10
Certified target80/100
Where we take you
Technical20
Content20
Authority20
Measurement20

You have real Authority already (100-plus reviews, a genuine local reputation), let down by content an AI cannot read (no llms.txt, no structured data for your Mitsubishi specialism or finance option, thin location pages) and no measurement of organic or AI visibility. These are quick to fix and exactly what the plan closes. Live crawl + Ahrefs + your data

7. The six-month transformation

Keep winning the map, and claim search and AI on top. We relight the paused engine: an llms.txt and schema that tell AI you are Canterbury's Mitsubishi specialist, answer-first pages for the money terms and for Rolleston and Selwyn, a review and content engine, and a live scoreboard so organic and AI visibility is visible month to month. We move through the phases as your site is ready, not on a stopwatch: foundations, then own your territories, then authority and compounding.

The full breakdown, deliverables, your time commitment and pricing live in The offer tab.

Appendix: where the numbers come from

Search volumes from Ahrefs (NZ, July 2026); they exclude Maps-native searches and AI prompts, so they understate true demand. Footprints from Ahrefs Site Explorer, subdomains mode, NZ. Map-pack coverage, calls and reviews from your Google Business Profile via our Enzo reporting; rankings and traffic from your Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4. AI-prompt volumes are modelled from the keyword anchors with a conservative fan-out uplift, directional plus or minus 50 percent. AEO score from our AEO Maturity Model against a live crawl of dcis.co.nz plus Ahrefs authority. The dollar model uses a 3 percent enquiry rate, a 40 percent close rate and a conservative 2,500 dollar average install job, all to be confirmed against your real figures; revenue figures are directional, not a guarantee of results.

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