AEO, answered

AEO is the work of making sure that when someone asks an AI assistant or a search engine's AI answer a question like "who's a good plumber near me?", your business is one of the ones it names. Instead of competing for a spot in a list of links, you're competing to be part of the answer.

The places your customers now ask questions: Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search, Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and voice assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.

SEO (search engine optimization) tries to get your website ranked high in a list of search results. AEO tries to get your business mentioned or quoted in the answer itself. They overlap: answer engines still rely on the basics of good SEO, such as a fast, clear, well-built website. AEO adds content written to answer real questions directly, and details that help AI understand exactly who you are, what you do and where.

When someone asks an assistant for a recommendation, it usually names only a handful of businesses, and many people act on that answer without clicking through to compare. If your business isn't in the answer, you may never get the chance to win that customer.

Mostly the same things a careful customer would: a website that clearly says what you do, where you work and how to reach you; behind-the-scenes labels on your site (structured data) that spell out your services, service area and hours; an accurate, active Google Business Profile; recent reviews and how you respond to them; and the same name, address and phone number everywhere your business appears.

It's built into Total Digital Foundation. We build your website around the questions your customers actually ask, add structured data so answer engines can read your details, keep your Google Business Profile accurate and active, reply to every review, and keep your business details consistent across your website, your Google listing and your social profiles.

No, and be wary of anyone who does. Each answer engine decides for itself what to say, and the answers change over time and from person to person. What we can do is make your business clear, trustworthy and easy for answer engines to understand, which gives you a much better chance of being named.

It varies. Some fixes, like correcting your hours or details, can show up within weeks. Building a strong presence in answers takes longer, typically months, because answer engines update what they know on their own schedules.

We keep a list of the questions your customers are likely to ask, check regularly whether and how the major assistants mention your business, and look at your Google Business Profile's search and call numbers alongside your website visits.

AI companies use automated crawlers to read websites. Blocking them keeps your content out of their systems, but it also makes it less likely they'll mention or recommend you. For most local businesses that want to be found, letting them in makes sense. We'll explain the tradeoff and set it up the way you choose.

Mostly, yes. GEO (generative engine optimization), "AI SEO" and "LLM optimization" are other names for the same goal: being visible in AI-generated answers. The terms are new and people use them loosely.