Answer Engine Optimisation
ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity. More homeowners are asking AI tools for contractor recommendations every month. AEO is how your business becomes one of the answers.
WHAT IS IT?
Answer Engine Optimisation is the practice of structuring your website so AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity can read it, trust it, and cite your business when homeowners ask questions.
Search is changing. When someone asks ChatGPT 'who should I call for a roof inspection in Denver' or when Google shows an AI summary instead of ten blue links, the game is no longer about ranking. It is about being the business the AI mentions in its answer.
AEO is still new. Most contractors are not doing it, and most agencies selling it are overpromising. The honest version is simpler: it is good SEO done properly, plus a layer of structured data and content formatting that AI tools can read. The contractors who get the foundation right now will be the ones showing up when the rest are invisible.
What You Get
Structured data markup on every page (organisation, services, FAQs, reviews, location) so AI tools can parse who you are, what you do, and where you operate. Without this, you are guessing whether they can even see you.
Every service page and blog post written in the format AI tools extract from. Direct answers in the first sentence, clear question-based headings, and the kind of plain-language explanations homeowners actually search for.
Research into the real questions your customers type into ChatGPT and Google AI. Then the FAQs, service pages, and content built around those questions so you are the source the AI reaches for.
Your business name, services, location, and reputation aligned across your site, your Google Business Profile, directories, and review platforms. AI tools trust brands that look consistent everywhere they appear.
AEO vs. traditional SEO
What optimising for AI answers adds on top of search that stops at Google's blue links.
Built for
Content
Structured data
Research
Entity clarity
When AI answers
How It Works
AEO only works on a site built for it. That means clean code, fast loading, proper heading structure, and a content model AI tools can parse. This is baked into every website we build, so you start with the foundation that AEO actually needs.
Full JSON-LD schema implementation across the site. Organisation, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, and Article markup so AI tools know exactly what your pages are about and who stands behind them.
Service pages, FAQs, and articles written answer-first, in the plain language homeowners actually use with AI. No jargon, no filler. Content structured so AI tools can pull out clean, citable answers.
AI search is moving fast. We track where your business is appearing in AI answers, where competitors are showing up instead, and adjust content and structure as the platforms evolve. This is not a one and done job.
FAQs
Both, honestly. AI search is real and growing fast. ChatGPT handles hundreds of millions of queries a day, and Google shows AI summaries on more than half of searches. That part is not hype. What is hype is agencies promising guaranteed citations in ChatGPT or selling AEO as some mystical new skill. The actual work is structured data, clear content, and solid technical foundations. It is the same fundamentals good SEO has always cared about, adapted for how AI reads the web.
No, and anyone telling you AI is killing Google is exaggerating. A homeowner whose pipe just burst at 2am is still opening Google Maps, not ChatGPT. Traditional search is still the largest channel for contractor leads. AEO is a layer on top, making sure you show up in the growing share of searches where AI delivers the answer instead of a list of links.
Honestly, no. Real AEO needs structured data across every page, content written for AI extraction, clean code, fast loading, and proper technical foundations. Most existing sites, especially template builders like Wix or GoDaddy, cannot support this properly. I only take on AEO work when I'm building or rebuilding the website, because I need control of the site to deliver it.
No. Nobody honest does. AI tools decide which sources to cite based on their own ranking systems, and those change constantly. What I guarantee is that every signal AI tools actually look at (schema, content structure, entity consistency, technical health, authority signals) gets pulled properly. Citations follow when the foundation is right.
Faster than SEO in some ways, slower in others. Schema and structure get read by AI crawlers within weeks. But building the kind of authority and content depth that gets consistently cited takes time, typically 3 to 6 months before you see meaningful visibility in AI answers, longer in competitive areas.
Closely related but not identical. SEO is about ranking in Google's blue links. AEO is about being cited when AI tools generate answers. The foundations overlap heavily: clean code, good content, authority, consistent business information. AEO adds a layer on top: structured data calibrated for AI, answer-first content formatting, and entity clarity across the web. When we build a site, we do both. They reinforce each other.
Honest answer: the contractors investing in AEO now are the ones who will be visible in 2 years when AI search is the default for a bigger share of homeowner queries. Waiting until it is mainstream means catching up to competitors who already built the foundation. That said, if your website is fundamentally broken or your Google Business Profile is empty, fix those first. AEO is the layer on top of the basics, not a replacement for them.
Keep Exploring
Let's talk about how AEO fits into your website and your long-term visibility.