A practical business guide by Arun Agrawal
AI Search for Manufacturers
What Google and ChatGPT can read about your factory, and how to fix it
Your licence number is on every bar, board and pipe you sell. A buyer, Google or an AI assistant looking you up reads what is written down, and your website is the one place you control completely.
Is your licence number there?
- 126-page book
- Free PDF
- No registration
- Technology entrepreneur since 1986
- Founder & CEO, EbizIndia
- M.E., Jadavpur University (Gold Medal)
- TiE Charter Member
- Speaker at NASSCOM, TiE, ICAI and MCCI events
Written for manufacturers who sell through dealers and to projects
In eleven short chapters, AI Search for Manufacturers follows what a buyer checks before shortlisting a maker: what you make, in which grades and sizes, to which standard, under which licence, who runs the company, where to buy and how soon. It shows how to put each answer on your website in words.
Nothing in it promises a ranking. Every check can be done on your own phone, and the brief at the back is written for your own web team.
Particularly useful for
- Plywood, laminate and panel makers
- Pipe, fitting and water tank makers
- TMT bar, structural steel and steel pipe makers
- Roofing sheet and panel makers
- Solar module makers
- Any manufacturer that sells on grade, size, standard and licence
The idea at the heart of the guide
The Licence Line
A home builder asks first whether a brand is genuine, and an engineer asks for the standard. The proof of both is the IS number and the BIS licence or registration number. On the 30 websites read for this guide, none of the 19 that claim ISI or BIS printed that number as text on the pages read. A number that exists only inside a photograph of a certificate cannot be copied or searched.
The licence line is one line of text beside each product: the IS number, the CM/L or R-number, the plant it belongs to, and how to verify it on BIS CARE. The guide shows how to write it, and what else a buyer checks before a maker goes on the shortlist.
- 0 of 19
- websites that claim ISI or BIS printed the licence or registration number as text, on the pages read
- 5 of 30
- product pages gave the grade, the size and the standard together as text
- 13 of 30
- first main headings said what the company makes
A check of 30 regional Indian manufacturers’ websites, run for this guide on 5 October 2026. One day, between 8 and 24 pages per site; images, PDFs and scripts were not read. Method and limits are at the back of the guide.
Don't just read it. Use it.
The guide is built to be worked through. It comes with the checks, plans and sheets a business owner can use without outside help.
Working sheets, free to download
- Dealer fact sheet Chapter 2. One page of correct brand, grade and licence facts for your dealers, with a list of who has it Download Dealer fact sheet
- Product page worksheet Chapters 4 to 6. What every product page needs, and the parameters to publish for each of the five trades Download Product page worksheet
- Facts card Chapters 6 and 9. One version of every company fact, a licence register and a check of every listing Download Facts card
- Buyer question bank Chapter 7. Every buyer question in the buyer’s words, who asks it and where the answer lives Download Buyer question bank
- Prompt test sheet The Prompt Test. The questions to ask the assistants, a log of every run and a count of how often you were named Download Prompt test sheet
- Enquiry log Chapters 8 and 11. Every enquiry, the kind of buyer and how they found you, with a monthly summary Download Enquiry log
- Quick check and 90-day plan Chapter 11. The 40-point check scored each quarter, and the 90-day plan with a name against each task Download Quick check and 90-day plan
What's inside
- Before You Start
- 1Who Asks a Machine About Your Product
- 2If You Sell Through Dealers
- 3What a Machine Finds on Your Website
- 4Say What You Make
- 5Specifications on the Page
- 6Proof a Buyer Can Verify
- 7The Questions Buyers Ask
- 8A Door for Each Buyer
- 9Marketplaces, Official Lists and Your Name
- 10Trade Press, Video and What Others Write
- 11The Machinery, the Measures and Your 90 Days
At the back
- Sector Sheet: Plywood and Panels
- Sector Sheet: Pipes and Water Tanks
- Sector Sheet: TMT Bars and Structural Steel
- Sector Sheet: Roofing Sheets and Panels
- Sector Sheet: Solar Modules
- All the Quick Checks
- The Prompt Test
- A Brief for Your Web Team
- About the 30-Site Check
- Glossary
- About the Author
- Work With EbizIndia
Inside the guide
- What a website can and cannot do when you sell through dealers
- Specifications on the page, and what to do with the 85 MB catalogue
- The licence line: IS number, CM/L or R-number, and how a buyer verifies it
- The questions buyers ask, in their own words, and where the answers go
- Five sector sheets, each with a complete model product page
- A 40-point check, a 90-day plan, and a brief you can hand to your web team
About Arun Agrawal
In 2007 he founded EbizIndia Consulting Pvt. Ltd., which builds custom software and websites for companies in India, the UK and the USA, and runs its own SaaS products, WedPlan and CTRACKER. He holds a Master of Engineering from Jadavpur University, where he was awarded the Gold Medal, is a Charter Member of TiE, and has spoken at events hosted by NASSCOM, TiE, the ICAI and MCCI.
His work today covers custom business software, SaaS applications, workflow automation, AI-enabled business systems, and how businesses get found and chosen now that buyers ask Google and AI assistants before they ask anyone else.
His guides set out the frameworks he uses in that work, in plain language for business owners.
Kept up to date
The guide is revised as Google and the AI assistants change how they choose which businesses to name. The PDF always stays at the same address, so the copy you download, or a link you share, is always the latest edition.
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First edition
- The first edition. Facts, standards and platform details checked in October 2026.
| Title | AI Search for Manufacturers: What Google and ChatGPT can read about your factory, and how to fix it |
|---|---|
| Author | Arun Agrawal |
| Publisher | EbizIndia Consulting Pvt. Ltd. |
| Edition | First edition, October 2026 |
| First published | 6 October 2026 |
| Pages | 126 |
| Format | Book (PDF, free) |
| Language | English |
Questions about the guide
Is the guide free?
Yes. The full guide is a free PDF on this page, with no form to fill in and no registration. The working sheets are free as well.
Which manufacturers is it written for?
Indian manufacturers who sell through dealers and to projects. The examples and the five sector sheets cover plywood and panels, pipes and water tanks, TMT bars and structural steel, roofing sheets and panels, and solar modules. The method applies to other trades that sell on grade, size, standard and licence.
Do I need technical knowledge to use it?
No. It is written for owners and managing directors, and every check can be done on your own phone. A Brief for Your Web Team turns the website work into a list your web team can work through, with a way to see that each item is done.
Does it promise that ChatGPT or Google will recommend my company?
No. Nobody can promise that. The guide shows which facts a buyer checks, which of them were missing from the manufacturers’ websites read for it, and how to write them where a buyer, Google and the AI assistants can read them.
What is the licence line?
One line of text beside each product on your website: the IS number, the BIS licence (CM/L) or registration (R) number, the plant it belongs to, and how a buyer can verify it on BIS CARE. Chapter 6 of the guide shows how to write it.
What is the 30-site check?
For this guide the websites of 30 regional Indian manufacturers, six in each of the five trades, were read on 5 October 2026. The results are in Chapter 3 and the method and its limits are at the back of the guide. The sites are not named.
Where are the working sheets the guide mentions?
The dealer fact sheet, product page worksheet, facts card, buyer question bank, prompt test sheet, enquiry log and the quick check with the 90-day plan are free to download on this page, under “Working sheets, free to download”.
How is it different from Invisible to Prominent?
Invisible to Prominent covers online visibility for any business. This guide is for manufacturers only, and follows what an industrial buyer checks: grades, sizes, standards, licence numbers, dealers and delivery.
Want to know where your own business stands?
You can run every check in the guide yourself, with the sheets above.
If you would rather have an outside view of your website and online presence, EbizIndia prepares an AI Search Visibility Blueprint: a detailed report on where your business stands with Google and the AI assistants, where it is being left out, and what to fix first.