How is AEO different from SEO?
SEO aims for a high position in a list of search results. AEO aims to be one of the few sources an AI assistant cites in its answer, because the buyer may read that answer and never see a list of links at all.
Why does AEO matter for a local business?
Buyers now ask assistants who to hire, what a job costs, and whether they need a permit. The answer names a handful of businesses and sources. If yours isn’t one of them, you’re invisible for that question, however well your site ranks on Google.
How do AI assistants decide what to cite?
Assistants that search the web read the pages their search returns and cite the ones that answer the question directly and look trustworthy. Pages that answer one question clearly, with specifics such as prices, timelines, and service areas, are easier to cite.
Do AI assistants always search the web before answering?
No. An assistant decides question by question whether to look. When it answers from memory, it is telling you what it learned during training, not what it can find about you today. So an answer that names your business without searching is a sign of past reputation rather than a position you hold, and it can disappear the next time the model is retrained.
Does AEO cover Google’s AI Overviews?
Not directly, and treat anyone who claims otherwise carefully. Google publishes no way for a tool to ask AI Overviews a question and read the answer, so nothing that measures through official interfaces measures it, ours included. The work that earns citations in assistants that do search is the same work that tends to help there: pages that answer one question clearly, on a site that can be read and verified.
How can I tell whether AI search cites my business?
Ask an assistant the questions your buyers ask and look at the sources under each answer, or run a free BusinessPulse snapshot, which asks 20 of them and reports which ones cite your site.