Short answer: AEO, answer engine optimization, is making sure AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers name your business when a customer asks who to hire. More homeowners now ask AI instead of scrolling search results. If AI doesn't know you, you're left out of the answer even when your Google ranking is fine.
How AI decides who to recommend
When someone asks "best carpet cleaner in Richmond VA", an AI assistant with web search looks for businesses it can understand and verify. In practice that favours businesses whose website states clearly what they do and where, whose details match across directories, that answer common questions directly, and that other trusted sites mention and review.
AEO vs SEO
They overlap, and good SEO helps. SEO targets a position in a list of links. AEO targets being quoted in a single answer, which leans harder on structured data, direct answers on your pages, consistent facts across the web, and third-party mentions.
A checklist for home services businesses
- Say what you do and where, plainly. One page per service, and a clear service area (towns and counties, not just "local").
- Add structured data. LocalBusiness (or a more specific type) with your name, phone, address, hours and area served.
- Answer common questions on your site. An FAQ with direct answers, marked up as FAQPage.
- Keep your details identical everywhere. Same name, phone and address on Google Business Profile, Yelp, BBB, Angi and industry directories.
- Earn reviews. Recent, specific reviews on the sites AI reads.
- Get mentioned. Local news, chambers, suppliers and trade associations linking to you.
- Let AI crawlers in. Check that robots.txt doesn't block GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Google-Extended.
- Add an llms.txt. A short plain-text summary of your business at yoursite.com/llms.txt.
- Keep a sitemap. So new pages are found quickly.
- Check again. Ask AI the questions your customers ask, every month, and track who gets named.
Common questions
What is AEO?
AEO (answer engine optimization) is making your business the one AI assistants recommend. SEO aims for a ranking in a list of links; AEO aims to be named in the answer itself.
Is AEO different from SEO?
They overlap. Good SEO helps AEO. AEO leans harder on structured data, direct answers on your pages, consistent facts about your business across the web, and mentions on sites AI trusts.
How can I tell if ChatGPT recommends my business?
Ask it the questions your customers ask, with your trade and town, and see who it names. Our free AEO Check does this automatically with live web search and ranks what to fix.
See where you stand in about a minute. Our free AEO Check asks AI real customer questions for your trade and area, shows who gets named, and ranks the fixes. Or read how we handle AEO for home services companies.
Run the free AEO Check →