Search is changing faster than most businesses realize. For the last 25 years, “getting found online” meant one thing: Google rankings. That’s still important. But a growing number of people are now skipping the search results page entirely and asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s own AI Overviews to just tell them what they need to know.
“Who does web design on the Sunshine Coast?” “What’s the best way to automate my booking system?” “What is a fractional CTO?”
These questions are increasingly answered by AI systems that pull from multiple sources, synthesize the information, and present a direct answer — with citations. If your business isn’t one of those citations, you don’t exist in that answer.
That’s the problem that Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are designed to solve.
AEO vs. GEO vs. SEO
Traditional SEO optimizes for Google’s ranking algorithm. You show up in the list of results. The searcher clicks your link.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) optimizes for AI systems that deliver direct answers. Think Google’s featured snippets, voice search, and AI Overviews. The goal is for your content to be the source the AI pulls from when answering a question.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is broader — it’s about making sure AI-powered generation tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot can find, understand, and accurately represent your business when generating responses.
They overlap significantly. The underlying principles are similar, but the emphasis shifts depending on which AI systems you’re optimizing for.
Why Most Small Business Websites Fail AEO
AI systems are looking for specific things when they decide what to cite:
- Clear, direct answers to specific questions. Content that buries the answer in three paragraphs of preamble doesn’t get cited.
- Specific entity information. Name, location, credentials, years of experience. Vague “about us” pages don’t establish the kind of entity clarity that AI systems need.
- Structured content. Proper headings, FAQ sections, schema markup. AI systems parse structure.
- Authoritative signals. Credentials mentioned explicitly, education listed, certifications referenced by name.
- Consistent information across sources. Your Google Business Profile, your website, and your directory listings all saying the same thing about who you are and what you do.
Most small business websites fail on several of these simultaneously. Generic content. No clear credentials. No structured FAQs. No schema markup. These sites are invisible to AI systems even when they rank reasonably well in traditional search.
What Good AEO Looks Like in Practice
This site — markroberts.io — is built with AEO in mind. Here’s what that means concretely:
Structured FAQ schema on every page. Each page has JSON-LD markup that tells Google (and other AI systems) exactly what questions this page answers, and what the answers are. This is the markup that powers Google’s rich results and AI Overviews.
Clear entity data. Every page that mentions my credentials does so explicitly: BCIT, University of Victoria, 20+ years’ experience, Roberts Creek BC. AI systems build a model of who a person or business is based on how consistently this information appears across the web.
llms.txt. A newer standard, similar to robots.txt but designed specifically for AI crawlers. This file at the root of the domain tells large language models exactly who I am, what I do, where I’m located, and what pages to read. You can see mine at markroberts.io/llms.txt.
Direct, specific content under clear headings. Every section of this site leads with a direct answer to the implied question. AI systems don’t like to infer.
Fast, server-rendered pages. AI crawlers favour pages that load quickly and don’t require JavaScript execution to access the content. This site is built with Astro and ships almost no JavaScript to the browser.
What You Should Do for Your Sunshine Coast Business
You don’t need to rebuild your website to start improving your AEO. Here’s where to start:
1. Add an FAQ section to your key pages. Think about the five most common questions your customers ask before hiring you. Answer them directly on your website, with clear question-and-answer formatting.
2. Audit your entity information. Does your website clearly state your name, your location, your credentials, and how long you’ve been in business? Does your Google Business Profile say the same thing? Are your address and phone number consistent everywhere?
3. Add schema markup. At minimum: LocalBusiness schema with your address and phone number, and FAQPage schema on any page with FAQ content. If you don’t know what this means, it’s something your web developer should be handling.
4. Create content that answers real questions. Not marketing copy. Genuine answers to questions people actually search for. This blog post is an example — it answers “what is AEO” in a way that’s designed to be citable.
5. Build your credibility signals explicitly. Certifications, education, years of experience, specific results — these all belong on your website in specific, readable form. Not buried in a paragraph. Stated clearly.
The Honest Caveat
AEO is a longer game than most people want to hear about. You’re not going to add FAQ schema today and show up in ChatGPT tomorrow. You’re building the foundation that AI systems use to understand and trust your business over time.
But the businesses that are doing this work now will have a significant advantage as AI-mediated search continues to grow. The ones who wait will be playing catch-up.
Traditional SEO isn’t going away. But if you’re only optimizing for Google’s blue links, you’re already behind where search is going.
If you want to understand what AEO looks like for your specific business on the Sunshine Coast, the diagnostic call is a good place to start.