In 2018 I make many money with very simple trick using Google search and local business page. I do not have real business but I can rank on number one and sell the customer phone calls to real plumber. This is call rank and rent and today I want explain how to do this step by step and also how you can do same trick today for AI like Chat GPT and Perplexity because now everyone search use AI not Google search anymore. You can make money from this arbitrage opportunity if you understand how the system working.
Here is step by step how I did the rank and rent website before in 2018 which still work a little bit today if you try hard.
Step 1: You must find the keyword and buy exact match domain.
For example you want to target plumber in Dallas. You must find name like DallasPlumberPros.com. If your brand name have the keyword inside the domain name, Google algorithm will give you extra boost. This is much better than if you have name like BrothersServices247.com because your domain have the exact keyword that people type when their pipe is broken. Go to Namecheap or GoDaddy and search for domain that has city name and service name.
Step 2: Build simple website very fast.
You do not need beautiful design. I build my website in only two hours. You just make homepage, contact page, some service pages, and some blog posts. You write content with SEO keyword. You put images of plumbing, put some simple video, and make some links. The content must look real but you do not need to spend many days to make it.
Step 3: Create fake Google My Business listing.
Now the name is Google Business Profile. You go there and register new business with your fake brand name, for example Dallas Plumber Pros. You must put address. Because you do not have real office, you can use your home address, your friend address, or family member address. Customer will not come to your house because plumber is service business, the plumber go to customer house.
Step 4: Verify the business address.
Google will send you physical postcard to the address you put in the profile. The postcard have secret code inside. You must wait some days for postcard to arrive. When you get the postcard, you open it and copy the code, then you type the code inside your Google Business Profile dashboard. Now your business is verified and you can show up on the Google Map Pack.
Step 5: Get tracking phone number.
You cannot use your personal phone number because you do not want to answer plumber call. You go to CallFire or other cheap virtual phone website. You buy local phone number that have same area code with your city. In the CallFire setting, you make rule that every time someone call this number, it will automatically redirect the call to a real plumber phone. CallFire also can record the call so you have proof that you send real customer to the plumber.
Step 6: Rank the website on Google.
To make your website go to page one, you must do local SEO. For Google organic search, you build some backlinks from other local websites or blogs. For Google Map Pack, you must add many keywords in your business profile description, upload some photos of plumbing tools, and get some reviews. Because your business name has exact match keyword, it is very easy to rank high and beat competitors that already business for ten years.
Step 7: Partner with real local business.
When your website rank high, you will start getting many phone calls from people who have broken pipes. You look on Google for local plumbers in Dallas who have bad website or no rank. You call them and say you have free leads. You say you rank number one and have customer calling every day. Many plumbers will think this is scam because they do not understand internet. But some plumbers will say yes. You send them free calls for three days to prove it.
Step 8: Choose your payment model.
After the plumber see your calls are real, you make deal. You can use retainer model where they pay you fixed money every month, for example five hundred dollar per month to keep the phone redirect to them. Or you can use commission model where they pay you money for every lead that convert to real job. I do this with electrician also and get paid commission for every job they finish.
Now, this old trick is good but today Google is very smart. If you try to verify fake business now, Google will ask for video verification. They want to see your office, your work van with logo, and your business license. It is very hard to make fake profile now. But do not worry because today we have new opportunity with AI and LLM like Chat GPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Grok. This is call LLM brand monitoring or Generative Engine Optimization.
Here is step by step how you can do this new AI arbitrage trick and charge business five thousand dollar per month.
Step 1: Find a client who want to show up in AI answers.
You find business like e-commerce store that sell gardening kits or software company. You tell the owner that many people now search on Chat GPT instead of Google. If someone ask Chat GPT what is best gardening kit, and Chat GPT did not say their brand, they lose many customers. You offer them service to make their brand show up in AI search recommendations.
Step 2: Make list of important search prompts.
You sit with the client and make list of all questions that customer might ask to AI. For example, best gardening kit for kid, easy gardening tools for old people, or organic garden starter pack. You need at least fifty prompts that are very related to what the client sell.
Step 3: Search the prompts in all big AI models.
You type all the prompts into Chat GPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google Gemini. You write down what brands are recommended by the AI. You check if your client brand is there or not. Usually, the client brand will not show up, and other competitor brands will show up instead.
Step 4: Find the sources of the AI information.
AI do not make up information from nothing. They search the internet to find what blogs, news sites, or forums are talking about gardening kits. In Perplexity or Chat GPT, you can see small links next to the text. These are the sources. You click all the sources to see why competitor brand is there. Usually, it is because competitor is mentioned in listicle blog post like ten best gardening gifts in 2024.
Step 5: Put your client brand in the sources.
Now you have two ways to make your client show up. First, you contact the owner of the blog or website that AI use as source. You ask them how much money they want to put your client brand in their list. Because your client pay you five thousand dollar every month, you have budget to pay these blogs. Second, you can write your own article on high authority website or Medium and optimize it so AI will crawl your article and use it as new source.
Step 6: Update the check and show client progress.
Every week you search the prompts again on the AI. When the AI start recommending your client brand because you already update the source website, you take screenshot. You show the client that now Chat GPT recommend their product when people search for beginner gardening kits. The client will be very happy and keep paying you.
In conclusion, search engine optimization is always changing but the core business is always the same which is sending customers to businesses. In 2018 you can do this easily with fake local business profiles on Google Maps, but today the big opportunity is helping brands get recommended by artificial intelligence like Chat GPT. If you follow the steps for LLM brand optimization, you can build a very good modern marketing agency.