SEO, AEO and GEO: How to Get Found on Google and Quoted by AI

For twenty years, "getting found online" meant one thing: ranking on Google. You'd type a question, get ten blue links, and click one.

That's changing. Today a customer might ask ChatGPT, "What should I look for in a family dentist in Burlington?" They might see Google's AI-generated answer at the top of the results before any links. They might ask Gemini or Perplexity to compare three local contractors.

Three acronyms have appeared to describe how businesses show up in all these places. They sound like jargon, but the ideas behind them are practical.

The three acronyms, in plain English

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is about ranking in traditional search results: the list of links on Google and Bing, plus the local map pack.

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is about being the direct answer: the featured snippet at the top of Google, the response a voice assistant reads aloud, or the source behind an AI-generated summary.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is about being mentioned, recommended and cited by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode when they write an answer.

They're not three separate strategies. They're layers of the same one. The foundations of good SEO are also the foundations of AEO and GEO. What changes is how you write and structure information so machines can understand it, trust it and quote it.

Why this matters for local businesses

AI answers don't replace local search. People still look at maps, reviews and websites before choosing who to call. But AI tools increasingly shape the shortlist. If an assistant recommends three businesses and you're not one of them, you may never get the chance to compete.

The good news: AI tools draw on the same sources Google does. Your website, your Google Business Profile, your reviews and what other sites say about you. Businesses that already have strong, consistent, genuinely helpful information online have a head start.

What to do: the foundations (SEO)

These matter for all three.

• A fast, mobile-friendly website that search engines can easily crawl. (See why slow websites lose customers.)
• A separate page for each main service, and for each main area you serve if the content is genuinely different.
• Clear page titles and headings that describe what each page is about.
• A complete, active Google Business Profile. Our 20-minute audit covers the essentials.
• Consistent business details everywhere: the same name, address and phone number across your site, social profiles and directories.
• Reviews, steadily and honestly earned.

What to do: make answers easy to find (AEO)

Answer engines look for content that answers a question clearly and directly.

• Answer first, explain second. If a page is about "How much does a furnace replacement cost in Hamilton?", give a clear answer or range in the first couple of sentences, then explain what affects it.
• Use questions as headings. Phrase subheadings the way customers actually ask.
• Add a genuine FAQ section to service pages, built from real questions your team hears.
• Use lists and tables for steps, comparisons and pricing factors. They're easy for both people and machines to read.
• Add structured data. Schema markup like LocalBusiness and Service helps search engines understand who you are and what you offer. Google now shows FAQ rich results only for a narrow set of authoritative sites, but structured data still helps machines interpret your pages.

What to do: become citable (GEO)

AI assistants favour information that is specific, consistent and backed up by other sources.

• Be specific. "We've repaired over 2,000 vehicles in St. Catharines since 2012, with a 12-month parts and labour warranty" is more quotable than "We provide quality service." Only publish claims that are true and that you can stand behind.
• Publish original information. Your real prices or price ranges, your process, what a typical job involves, local conditions you know about. AI tools have read the generic advice a thousand times; your first-hand experience is what makes you worth citing.
• Show who's behind the business. Real names, qualifications, licences and photos signal expertise and trust.
• Get mentioned elsewhere. Local news, community organisations, industry associations, supplier directories and partner businesses. Mentions on reputable sites help AI tools confirm you're a real, established business.
• Don't block the crawlers you want to be found by. Check that your robots.txt isn't accidentally blocking search engines or the AI search crawlers that fetch pages to answer questions.
• Don't ignore Bing. Some AI assistants draw on Bing's search index, so set up Bing Webmaster Tools and submit your sitemap.

How to measure it

Measuring AI visibility is still imperfect, but you can start with:

• Referral traffic in your analytics from sources like chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com
• Asking the assistants yourself. Every month, ask a few AI tools the questions your customers would ask, such as "best [service] in [your city]", and note whether you're mentioned and what's said about you.
• Google Search Console, for the queries and pages that bring you search traffic

Don't chase tricks

Every shift in search brings a wave of shortcuts: hidden text for AI, mass-produced pages, fake reviews. They tend to stop working, and some can get you penalised. The approach that lasts is the boring one: be genuinely useful, be specific, be consistent, and make your information easy to read.

That's the approach behind our SEO, AEO and GEO service. We fix the technical foundations, structure your pages so they're easy to quote, and build the local signals that help both search engines and AI assistants recommend you.

Curious how AI tools describe your business right now? Get in touch and we'll show you.