AI search optimisation, so the answer names you.
People now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Google's AI Mode who to call, what it costs and who is good. Those tools name a handful of businesses and skip the rest. We work on the signals that decide which side of that line you land on, for service businesses, professional firms and online stores across Australia.
Answer engine optimisation is included in SEO from A$890/month, ex GST. Month-to-month, no lock-in.
Who's a good accountant in Geelong for a small business?
The AI answers- 1.Firm A: often recommended for sole traders, strong reviews.
- 2.Firm B: mentioned in local business press, fixed-fee packages.
- 3.Firm C: clear pricing page, specialises in trades.
Three names, no list of ten links. If you are not one of them, the customer never sees you.
Search has not gone away. It has split. The same customer might start in Google, check ChatGPT, and ask Perplexity for a shortlist, and each one decides who to mention in its own way.
Our view, from the SEO work we run for Australian businesses.
people use ChatGPT every week, and more of them ask it who to hire.
OpenAI DevDay, Oct 2025click rate on Google results when an AI summary showed, against when it did not. Fewer clicks go to fewer businesses.
Pew Research Center, Jul 2025more visibility in generated answers when pages added citations, quotes and statistics, in a research benchmark.
Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024Any business whose customers ask before they buy.
Four things decide whether an AI names you.
Every engine weighs them differently, but none of them skip these. We work on all four every month.
Make your business unambiguous.
AI tools answer "who should I use" by matching a question to businesses they are confident about. We remove the doubt.
- Complete, verified Google Business Profile
- Organization and LocalBusiness structured data with sameAs links
- Identical name, address and phone across directories
- Wikidata and industry listings where you qualify
- An about page that states who you are, where and since when
Be the business other sites mention.
Generated answers lean on what third parties say about you, not just what your own site says.
- A steady flow of genuine Google reviews
- Mentions in local and industry publications
- Links from suppliers, associations and partners
- Comparison and "best of" pages that include you fairly
- Answers on forums your customers already read
Measure it like any other channel.
You cannot improve what nobody checks. We test and report AI visibility monthly next to your rankings.
- A fixed set of buyer prompts run across each engine
- Which competitors get named instead of you, and why
- ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot referrals in GA4
- Leads attributed to AI referrals in your CRM
- Month-on-month change, in plain English
Write pages an AI can lift an answer from.
Engines quote passages, not whole pages. Each section has to stand on its own and be worth quoting.
- An answer in the first two sentences of each section
- Real prices, timeframes and named sources
- FAQ blocks that match how people actually ask
- Author and experience signals on every article
- Crawler access checked for every AI bot that matters
Where each one gets its answers.
Block the wrong crawler and you disappear from an engine without anyone noticing. These are the ones we check on every site.
| Engine | Reads from | Crawler we check | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google's normal search index | Googlebot | No extra requirements beyond being indexed and eligible to show, per Google. |
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI's search crawler plus partner search results | OAI-SearchBot | GPTBot is for training. OAI-SearchBot is the one that decides whether you can appear in search answers. |
| Perplexity | Its own index, cited inline | PerplexityBot | Lists its sources next to the answer, so a citation can also bring a visit. |
| Microsoft Copilot | The Bing index | Bingbot | Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow get new pages in faster. |
| Gemini | Google Search grounding | Googlebot | Google-Extended controls training use only, not whether you appear. |
| Claude | Web search when it is switched on | Claude-SearchBot | ClaudeBot is training; Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User are search and fetching. |
Two names, one job.
Our take: the inputs are the same for both: a clear entity, other sites vouching for you, quotable pages and open crawler access. Splitting them into two retainers mostly splits the invoice. We run them as one program inside SEO and report on both.
| AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Stands for | Answer engine optimisation | Generative engine optimisation |
| Engines | Google AI Overviews, featured snippets, voice assistants | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Claude |
| What wins | Short, direct answers to a specific question, usually lifted from one page. | Longer written answers blended from several sources, often with a shortlist of businesses. |
Check any page in one click.
Our AI Visibility Check Chrome extension scores the page you are on out of 100 for AI readability. It runs in your browser and needs no sign-up.
- Which AI crawlers your robots.txt allows or blocks
- Whether the site has an llms.txt file
- Structured data found on the page
- Page basics an engine needs to quote you
A written audit of where AI mentions you, and where it does not.
No call required. Tell us your business and the questions your customers ask. We send back a written audit within 3 business days.
What supports AI search visibility.
Sections written to be quoted, in every piece we write
Learn more →Crawlability, indexing and clean structured data
Learn more →GBP and local entity signals feed AI local answers
Learn more →Earn the third-party mentions AI answers draw on
Learn more →Common questions about AI search optimisation
What is answer engine optimisation?+
Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the work of getting your business named and cited when someone asks an AI tool a question, such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot or Claude. It covers how clearly the engines understand who you are, what other sites say about you, whether your pages can be quoted, and whether their crawlers can reach you at all.
Is AEO different from SEO?+
It is an extension of SEO, not a replacement. Google says there are no special requirements for AI Overviews beyond being indexed and eligible to appear in search, and that structured data and llms.txt files are not required. The same useful content, crawlable site and third-party reputation lift both. What AEO adds is testing prompts across engines, entity work, and writing sections that stand on their own.
What is the difference between AEO and GEO?+
The terms overlap and most people use them interchangeably. AEO usually means direct answers: AI Overviews, featured snippets and voice. GEO (generative engine optimisation) usually means chat tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude that write a longer answer from several sources. We run them as one program because the inputs are the same.
How do I know if AI tools mention my business?+
We run a fixed set of the questions your customers ask across each engine every month and record who gets named. We also track referrals from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and copilot in GA4, so you can see the visits and enquiries, not just the mentions. To check one page yourself, our free AI Visibility Check Chrome extension shows whether AI crawlers can read it.
How much does answer engine optimisation cost?+
It is part of our SEO service, which starts from A$890 a month ex GST, month-to-month with no lock-in. We do not sell it as a separate line item because the work that earns AI citations is the same work that earns rankings.
Can small businesses compete in AI search results?+
Yes, particularly for local and niche questions. AI tools that recommend local businesses lean on Google Business Profile, reviews, directories and local pages, which is ground a well-run small business can win against a bigger competitor with a weak local presence.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?+
Crawler access and Google Business Profile fixes can show within weeks. Being cited on competitive questions depends on content and third-party mentions, which takes months, the same timeline as SEO. Engines that search live, such as Perplexity and ChatGPT search, tend to reflect changes sooner than ones that rely on training data.