Getting found in AI answers, not just search results

What changed

Search used to end with a list of links, and your job was to be on that list. Now a good share of questions get answered on the spot, with a handful of sources cited underneath. If your business isn't among those sources, you're invisible for that question even when your website is perfectly healthy.

You'll see this called AEO, for answer engine optimization, or GEO, for generative engine optimization. The names are new and the labels will probably change again. The work underneath is not mysterious.

How these answers pick sources

Nobody outside those companies knows the full mechanics, and anyone telling you they do is selling something. What's observable is consistent:

• They have to be able to read your site. If your pages are blocked, slow, or only appear after scripts run, you're a harder source to use.
• They favor pages that answer the question directly. A page that states a fact plainly, near the top, in normal words, gets quoted more readily than one that buries it in marketing copy.
• They lean on agreement. When your hours, services, service area, and phone number match across your site, your Google profile, and other listings, there's nothing to contradict. When they disagree, you're a risky source.
• They like structure. Clear headings, question-and-answer sections, and structured data all make it easier for a machine to work out what a page says and who it is about.

None of that is a trick. It's the same discipline as good technical SEO, aimed at a different target.

What we do about it

• Make sure the crawlers are welcome. We check what your site tells AI crawlers and make a deliberate decision about each one, instead of leaving a default in place that quietly blocks you.
• Write pages that answer real questions. The questions your customers actually ask, answered in plain language, with the useful part first.
• Add structured data that says what kind of business you are, what you offer, and where you work.
• Line up your facts everywhere. Site, Google Business Profile, other listings. Same name, same hours, same services, same areas.
• Check what the tools say about you. We ask them the questions your customers ask, see who gets named, and look at what those pages do that yours doesn't.

What we won't tell you

We won't promise you a spot in an AI answer. There's no way to buy one, the results move around, and two people asking the same question can get different answers. Anyone guaranteeing you a mention is guessing.

What you'll get from us is the work above, plus a straight report on where you show up and where you don't.

How this fits with the rest

This isn't a separate project bolted onto your marketing. Most of it makes your SEO and local SEO stronger at the same time, because clear pages and consistent facts help both. Your Google Business Profile matters here too, since it's one of the most consistent sources of truth about a local business anywhere online.

If you want the background reading first, our guide on why your website doesn't show up on Google covers the crawling and indexing basics this all depends on.