Search is no longer limited to a list of blue links. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and other answer engines can research a subject, compare options and present a direct response before a user visits a website. That changes how brands need to think about visibility, authority and content.
I help businesses improve their visibility across AI-powered search and answer engines. My AEO and GEO consultancy combines more than 20 years of SEO experience with technical analysis, content strategy, structured data, entity optimisation and practical AI-native workflows.
The objective is not to chase every change in terminology or optimise for an unknowable algorithm. It is to make your organisation, expertise and information easier for both people and machines to find, understand, trust and use.
What are AEO and GEO?
Answer Engine Optimisation, or AEO, focuses on making content suitable for direct answers. That includes conventional search features such as featured snippets and People Also Ask, as well as voice assistants and AI-generated responses.
Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO, focuses more specifically on visibility within generative AI systems. The goal is to increase the likelihood that a brand, product, service or source is accurately represented, cited or recommended when an AI platform constructs an answer from multiple sources.
The terms overlap, and neither sits apart from SEO. Strong technical foundations, clear information architecture, useful content, credible expertise and consistent brand signals remain essential. AEO and GEO extend that work to the ways information is extracted, combined and presented in answer-led search experiences.
A practical AI search strategy
AI search creates new questions, but the starting point should still be commercial. Which audiences matter? What questions influence consideration and purchase? Where does your business have genuine expertise? Which platforms and search experiences are relevant to the customer journey?
I use those questions to build a prioritised strategy rather than a generic checklist. The work may involve improving important service pages, developing authoritative supporting content, clarifying brand entities, addressing technical barriers or creating a repeatable way to monitor how the business appears in generated answers.
AEO and GEO audits
An AEO and GEO audit assesses whether search engines and AI systems can access, interpret and confidently use your content. It brings together technical, editorial, entity and reputation signals rather than relying on a single visibility score.
A typical audit can cover:
- Visibility across relevant AI answers, Google AI features and answer-led results
- Competitor inclusion, citations and recurring source patterns
- Crawlability, indexation, rendering and access to important information
- Content structure, answer clarity and suitability for extraction
- Entity definition, brand consistency and relationships between people, services and topics
- Structured data and machine-readable context
- Evidence of expertise, first-hand experience, trust and editorial accountability
- Content gaps across informational, comparison and decision-stage questions
- Measurement options, monitoring limitations and reporting priorities
Findings are prioritised by likely impact, effort and dependency. You receive a practical plan that can be used by SEO, content, PR, product and development teams, with clear ownership rather than a list of observations without a route to implementation.
Content designed for answers and decisions
Content becomes easier to retrieve and cite when it answers a specific need clearly, uses a logical structure and supports important claims with credible evidence. That does not mean reducing every page to short definitions or writing formulaic copy for machines.
I help content teams map real customer questions to the right pages, distinguish between subjects that need a concise answer and those that require depth, and organise information so that key facts do not disappear inside vague introductions. The work can include service pages, product and category content, expert guidance, comparison pages, FAQs and original research.
The emphasis remains on usefulness and accuracy. A page should be valuable to the reader even if an AI system never cites it.
Technical foundations for AI visibility
An answer engine cannot use information it cannot reliably access or interpret. JavaScript rendering, weak internal linking, conflicting canonicals, accidental crawl controls and poorly structured templates can limit AI visibility for the same reasons they restrict traditional organic search.
I review the technical path from discovery and rendering through to indexation and extraction. This can include HTML structure, semantic headings, structured data, author and organisation markup, page relationships, feeds, sitemaps and controls affecting automated access. Recommendations are grounded in how the website actually works and what your team can implement.
Entities, expertise and trust
AI systems need to resolve what an organisation is, what it does and whether the available information is dependable. Inconsistent brand descriptions, unclear authorship and unsupported claims can make that harder.
I help businesses strengthen the connections between their brand, people, services, products and areas of expertise. That may involve improving About and author pages, standardising key facts, making evidence and sources more visible, aligning owned profiles and using appropriate schema. The aim is not to manufacture authority. It is to communicate real authority clearly and consistently.
Monitoring AI search visibility
AEO and GEO measurement is less mature than conventional search reporting. Generated answers can vary by platform, prompt, location, personalisation and time, while referral data does not show every interaction. A single visibility figure can therefore create false confidence.
I build a proportionate monitoring framework around the questions and platforms that matter. This can combine prompt tracking, citation and mention analysis, Search Console data, analytics, brand demand and assisted-conversion evidence. The purpose is to identify patterns, test whether changes are improving representation and connect activity to business outcomes where the data allows.
AI-native workflows for SEO and content teams
I also help teams use AI within their own delivery. I have built custom GPTs and agentic workflows for keyword research, competitor analysis, content planning, reporting, quality assurance and knowledge sharing.
These systems work best when the purpose, source material, review process and boundaries are clear. I can identify where automation will save time, design the workflow and put controls around accuracy and consistency. The goal is to make experienced people more effective, not to create large volumes of interchangeable content.
How I can support your business
- One-off AEO and GEO audits
- AI search strategy and prioritised roadmaps
- Content and entity optimisation
- Technical SEO and structured-data recommendations
- Competitor, prompt and citation analysis
- Measurement and reporting frameworks
- Training for SEO, content and leadership teams
- Custom GPTs and agentic workflow design
- Ongoing consultancy and implementation support
I can deliver the work as a focused project or as part of a wider SEO and digital marketing programme. I work directly with internal specialists, agencies and senior stakeholders, translating an emerging area into clear decisions and realistic actions.
Frequently asked questions
Is AEO or GEO replacing SEO? — No. The interfaces and sources of traffic are changing, but technical accessibility, relevant content, authority and user value remain fundamental. AEO and GEO build on those foundations for answer-led and generative experiences.
Can you guarantee that an AI platform will cite my website? — No. Generated answers are variable and controlled by third-party systems. I can improve the signals, content and technical conditions that support visibility, then measure the evidence available.
Do we need to create completely new content? — Not always. Existing pages may already contain valuable expertise but present it unclearly. The best starting point may be restructuring, consolidating or strengthening what you already have before adding new pages.
Which AI platforms should we optimise for? — That depends on your audience, market and customer journey. I prioritise the search and answer experiences that are relevant to the business rather than treating every platform as equally important.
Improve your visibility in AI-powered search
If you need to understand how AI search is changing visibility in your market, or want a practical plan for AEO and GEO, get in touch. I’ll help you identify the opportunities, the technical and content work required, and a sensible way to measure progress.