AEO and GEO don’t have to be complicated! I going to be honest with you — when I first started seeing AEO and GEO pop up everywhere, my immediate reaction was “here we go again.”
Every few years something comes along that’s supposed to make everything we know about getting found online completely obsolete. And every single time, the businesses that come out on top are the ones that were doing the basics properly all along.
This is no different.
AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation. GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. They’re both ways of describing the same thing: making sure your business shows up when someone uses an AI tool like ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI search to find a local product or service.
Yes, it’s a real shift. Yes, it’s moving fast. But if you’re a local business — a plumber, an electrician, a retailer, a tradesperson of any kind — the stuff that’s going to get you found in AI search is mostly the same stuff that was going to get you found in Google last year. You just need to make sure you’re actually doing it.
So what’s actually changed?
When you search for something on Google now, you’ll often see an AI-generated answer at the top before any websites. That’s Google’s AI Overview. And it won’t be long before most searches work this way — Google has already launched AI Mode, where the whole experience is AI-driven rather than just a list of links.
ChatGPT now uses Google Maps as a source for local business information. Perplexity pulls in reviews from Yelp and Google when recommending local businesses. These AI tools aren’t just pulling from one place — they’re cross-referencing multiple sources to decide who to recommend.
That’s actually good news for local businesses. More sources means more ways to be found.
Your Google Business Profile is not optional
I know you’ve heard this before. But research shows that 65% of small businesses still don’t have a Google Business Profile set up properly. That’s staggering.
Google’s AI pulls directly from GBP. ChatGPT uses Google Maps. If your profile is incomplete, out of date, or doesn’t exist — you’re invisible.
This isn’t complicated. Set it up. Choose the right category. Add real photos. Keep the information current. That’s it.
Your listings on other sites matter more than you think
Here’s one that surprises people. Yelp is one of the most consistently cited sources in AI search results. Foursquare — which most people had completely forgotten about — is apparently powering a huge chunk of local results on ChatGPT.
What this means practically: your business name, address, phone number and what you do needs to be consistent across every listing site. Not nearly consistent. Exactly consistent. If your address is slightly different on Yell than it is on Google, that’s the kind of thing that quietly undermines your credibility with AI systems.
Go through your listings. Fix anything that’s wrong or out of date. It’s not glamorous work but it genuinely makes a difference.
Reviews are doing more work than ever
We’ve always known reviews matter to customers. Now they’re also telling AI tools what kind of business you are.
Perplexity is pulling review content directly into its results. That means if your most recent reviews are from 2022, or you’ve got a couple of unaddressed one-stars sitting there, that’s what AI is seeing — and potentially repeating.
Getting reviews needs to be a regular habit, not a one-off push when you remember. Ask every happy customer. Respond to everything, good and bad. If something inaccurate is being said about your business online, address it before an AI picks it up and runs with it.
What about your website?
AI tools favour businesses with clear, useful, up-to-date information on their websites. That doesn’t mean you need a 3,000-word essay on every service you offer.
It means your service pages should actually say what you do, where you do it, and why someone should pick you. FAQs help. Keeping things current helps. If your website still lists services you’ve stopped offering or areas you no longer cover, sort that out. It matters more now than it used to.
Don’t bother looking for shortcuts
People are already trying to find clever tricks to rank in AI search — hiding prompts in website code, stuffing listings with keywords. The experts who track this are pretty unanimous: whatever loophole exists today won’t exist in three months, and if you get caught you’ll be worse off than when you started.
The businesses that are going to do well in AI search are the ones that are trustworthy, consistent, and genuinely useful. That’s always been true. AI just makes it harder to hide if you’re not.
So what should you actually be doing?
If you want to get AI-ready and you don’t know where to start, here’s your list:
- Make sure your Google Business Profile exists and is complete
- Check your listings on Yelp, Bing Places and Apple Maps are accurate
- Make sure your business name, address and phone number are exactly the same everywhere
- Ask your last five happy customers for a review
- Update your service pages so they actually reflect what you do
That’s it. It’s not a dark art. It’s just doing the basics consistently and not letting things go stale.
The businesses showing up in AI search aren’t the ones who’ve cracked some secret code. They’re the ones who’ve been quietly getting on with it.
Not sure where your online presence actually stands?
Get in touch — I’m happy to take a look.