AI SEO services: get found when your customers ask AI.
When customers ask AI who to hire, it answers with two or three names. We help you become one of them. We find out where you stand, show you what the AI is reading when it names someone else, and give you a short list of what to change. You make the changes from your list; we re-check every month to see if they worked. Start with a free check.
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the work of getting a business named inside the answers AI assistants give, so customers who ask AI can find it. It covers how clearly and consistently the business is described everywhere AI reads: its own website, its Google Business Profile, reviews, directories and trade listings. Those descriptions are what get repeated back to customers.
Also sold as AEO, GEO, and answer engine optimization
Four names, one job. Which one an agency uses tells you when they started, not what they do.
| Term | Also sold as | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| AI SEO | Also sold asAI search optimization | What it meansGetting named in AI answers. The phrasing the market has settled on, and the one we use. |
| AEO | Also sold asAnswer engine optimization, AEO services, AEO agency | What it meansThe same work, named after the answer the assistant gives instead of a list of links. |
| GEO | Also sold asGenerative engine optimization, GEO agency, GEO services | What it meansThe same work again, named after the generative models doing the answering. |
| LLM SEO | Also sold asLLM optimization | What it meansThe same work, under a name that is falling out of use. Listed so you know it is not a different service. |
These are the same service. Nobody has agreed on a name yet because the work is about eighteen months old. If someone quotes you separately for AEO and GEO, that is a pricing decision, not a technical one.
Ranking on Google helps. It isn't the whole answer.
For local businesses, Google's AI answers lean on your Google Business Profile, and Google says the usual search basics still apply to its AI answers. Other AI assistants rely more on your website, review sites and directories. So good Google work helps, but a business can rank well and still go unnamed. That gap is what we measure.
| Search engine | AI assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| What your customer gets back | Search engineA ranked list of links to choose from | AI assistantOne answer, naming two or three businesses |
| Where you can still be found | Search enginePage two, page three, further down | AI assistantNowhere. You were either named or you were not |
| What decides it | Search engineIn local results: relevance, distance and how well-known you are, which includes your reviews and Google profile | AI assistantHow clearly the web describes you: your site, your Google profile, review sites and directories |
| How you check where you stand | Search engineType the keyword, count the positions | AI assistantAsk it, and read the answer. That is what the free scan does |
What you get, in order
Three steps. The first is free and takes about a minute.
See where you stand
FreeWe put the questions your customers ask — "who is the best", "who should I hire" — to Perplexity and Gemini while you wait. You see the full answer from each, including who got named instead of you. No account, no card.
Get your list
$99 / monthThe monthly audit asks more AI assistants, grades what's keeping you out of the answer, and turns it into a short checklist of changes in an order that makes sense. The first month is the full audit.
You make the changes, we re-check
IncludedEvery month after the first, we ask the same questions again, so you can see whether your changes worked. It's the only honest way to know.
What the research actually says
Researchers at Princeton found that writing a page for how generative engines read it can raise how visible that page is inside AI answers by up to 40%.
GEO: Generative Engine Optimization — Aggarwal et al., KDD 2024
We do not have a number of our own yet, and we are not going to invent one. We have run a single scan we can verify end to end. When there are enough of them to say something true about how the average small business scores, we will publish it with the sample size attached.
The free check shows where you stand. The audit gives you the list.
The first month is the full audit: more AI assistants, a grade on what's keeping you out, and your list of changes. You make the changes; every month after, we ask the same questions again so you can see whether they worked.
Start with the free checkCommon questions
What do AI SEO services actually do?
They help customers find you when they ask AI for a recommendation. In practice: measure whether AI assistants name your business for your trade and area, work out what they're pointing at when they name a competitor, and give you an ordered list of what to change. You make the changes; we measure again the next month to see whether they worked.
Is AI SEO the same thing as AEO and GEO?
Yes. Answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization and LLM SEO all describe the same work under different names, and the industry has not finished arguing about which one wins. If an agency presents them to you as separate products with separate prices, ask what is actually different about the work.
Is AI SEO the same as regular SEO?
They're related, not the same. Search hands your customer a ranked list. An AI assistant hands back one answer naming two or three businesses, and everyone else is left out. Good SEO — especially a current Google Business Profile and honest reviews — gives AI more to work with, but it doesn't decide the answer on its own.
Does my Google ranking affect what AI says about me?
Partly. For local businesses, Google's AI answers lean heavily on Google Business Profiles, and Google says the usual search basics still apply to its AI features. Other AI assistants rely more on your website, review sites and directories. The only way to know where you stand is to ask the AI and read the answer, which is what the free check does.
How much do AI SEO services cost?
The check is free — one live scan per email every 30 days, no card and no sales call. The monthly audit is $99 a month. The first month is the full audit, and every month after that re-scans you so you can see whether the work moved the number rather than taking our word for it.
Can you guarantee my business will be recommended?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. Nobody controls what these models say. What we can do is tell you exactly where you stand today, show you the answers word for word, and tell you what the engines are pointing at when they name somebody else instead of you.
Do you work with businesses outside Madison, Wisconsin?
Yes. The scan and the audit are national — the engines get asked about your city, whatever city that is, and the questions are the ones your customers would type. Consulting is delivered by video, so where you are does not change what you get.
Nathaniel Crowell
Founder, Brinlock
I built the scanner this page links to. It asks live AI engines about a business and reports what they said, including the parts an owner would rather not read.
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