Learn · AEO
How to get your business recommended by AI
To get your business recommended by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, strengthen the signals they rely on to judge local businesses: review volume and recency, an accurate Google Business Profile, consistent listings across the directories they trust, clear structured data (schema), and helpful content that matches the questions customers ask. Then measure it — scan your business across the AI engines, fix the highest-impact gaps first, and re-scan to confirm it worked.
What is AI search visibility?
AI search visibility is how often AI assistants recommend your business when people ask them questions — the AI-era version of ranking on Google. Instead of appearing in a list of links, the goal is to be the business the AI names in its answer. This practice is called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), or GEO for generative engines.
How do AI assistants decide which businesses to recommend?
AI assistants recommend businesses by drawing on what they’ve learned about them from across the web — reviews, business listings, structured data, content, and third-party mentions — and matching that to the question asked. An assistant is more likely to name a business it sees described consistently, reviewed well, and cited often as relevant to that query.
How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?
The fastest way to check is to run an AI-visibility scan: it asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews the real questions your customers ask and shows whether your business is named. Asking once yourself isn’t reliable — AI answers vary by phrasing and change over time.
What makes AI recommend a local business?
Research suggests AI assistants weigh a handful of signals most heavily for local businesses: reviews, an accurate Google Business Profile, consistent directory listings, structured data, relevant content, and freshness. No single tactic guarantees a recommendation; the businesses AI names tend to be strong across several at once.
How do I improve my AI visibility, step by step?
Improve AI visibility by fixing the highest-impact gap first, then re-checking — not by doing everything at once. A prioritized playbook beats a long checklist: address the one or two signals most likely to move your score, confirm they worked on the next scan, then move to the next.
How is AEO different from traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO aims to rank your page in Google’s list of links; AEO aims to make an AI assistant recommend your business in its answer. They overlap — strong reviews, listings, and content help both — but AEO cares about being named in a synthesized answer, not just appearing in a results list.
What doesn’t work? (myths to skip)
Skip the tactics that don’t move AI recommendations: keyword stuffing, spammy mass directory submissions, fake reviews, and “AEO hacks” that promise instant ranking. Fake or manipulative signals risk penalties and erode the trust that makes an AI confident to recommend you in the first place.
Key takeaways
AI search visibility = how often AI recommends you; it’s measurable.
The engines reward consistent, well-reviewed, well-described businesses.
Check it with a scan, fix the top gap, re-scan to prove it worked.
A prioritized playbook beats a 50-item checklist. Avoid fake tactics — they backfire.
FAQ
People also ask
What is AI search visibility?
AI search visibility is how often AI assistants recommend your business when people ask them questions — the AI-era version of ranking on Google. Instead of appearing in a list of links, the goal is to be the business the AI names in its answer. This practice is called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), or GEO for generative engines.
How do AI assistants decide which businesses to recommend?
AI assistants recommend businesses by drawing on what they’ve learned about them from across the web — reviews, business listings, structured data, content, and third-party mentions — and matching that to the question asked. An assistant is more likely to name a business it sees described consistently, reviewed well, and cited often as relevant to that query.
How do I check if ChatGPT recommends my business?
The fastest way to check is to run an AI-visibility scan: it asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews the real questions your customers ask and shows whether your business is named. Asking once yourself isn’t reliable — AI answers vary by phrasing and change over time.
What makes AI recommend a local business?
Research suggests AI assistants weigh a handful of signals most heavily for local businesses: reviews, an accurate Google Business Profile, consistent directory listings, structured data, relevant content, and freshness. No single tactic guarantees a recommendation; the businesses AI names tend to be strong across several at once.
How do I improve my AI visibility, step by step?
Improve AI visibility by fixing the highest-impact gap first, then re-checking — not by doing everything at once. A prioritized playbook beats a long checklist: address the one or two signals most likely to move your score, confirm they worked on the next scan, then move to the next.
How is AEO different from traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO aims to rank your page in Google’s list of links; AEO aims to make an AI assistant recommend your business in its answer. They overlap — strong reviews, listings, and content help both — but AEO cares about being named in a synthesized answer, not just appearing in a results list.
What doesn’t work? (myths to skip)
Skip the tactics that don’t move AI recommendations: keyword stuffing, spammy mass directory submissions, fake reviews, and “AEO hacks” that promise instant ranking. Fake or manipulative signals risk penalties and erode the trust that makes an AI confident to recommend you in the first place.
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