Short answer: AEO (answer engine optimisation) is making your pages answer the questions people ask, so Google's AI answers and tools like ChatGPT can quote you. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the broader version of the same idea for AI-generated results. For a local service business, both come down to clear service pages, direct answers, structured data and a well-kept Google Business Profile — not a new product.
If you've had an email or a cold call lately promising to get your business "into ChatGPT", you've probably met these two acronyms. They sound like a whole new discipline you need to pay for. For a local service business, they mostly aren't.
Here's what they actually mean, what changes on your website, what you can safely ignore, and what it costs.
SEO, AEO and GEO in one paragraph each
SEO (search engine optimisation) is being found in ordinary Google results — the list of links and the map. It comes down to focused pages, a fast mobile site and clear signals about what you do and where you do it.
AEO (answer engine optimisation) is about the answers that now sit above those links: Google's AI Overviews, featured snippets and voice assistants. These pull a short, direct answer from a page that explains something clearly. AEO is writing so that your page is the one they can quote.
GEO (generative engine optimisation) covers the tools that write a whole answer for someone — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode. When someone asks "who's a good electrician in The Gap?", these tools lean on facts they can find and check across the web: what your business does, where it works, and whether other sources agree. GEO is making those facts easy to find and consistent everywhere.
Notice how much the three overlap. All of them reward the same thing: a website that says clearly what you do, where you do it, and answers the questions your customers actually ask.
What actually changes on a local business website
Very little that a well-built local site shouldn't already have:
- Direct-answer blocks. Open your key pages and guides with a two- or three-sentence answer to the main question, like the one at the top of this page. It's what AI tools quote, and it helps a hurried reader too.
- FAQs with schema. A short set of real questions customers ask, answered honestly, plus FAQ structured data — a small block of code that labels each question and answer so search engines and AI tools can read them reliably.
- One page per service. A focused page for each service you want to be found for gives Google and AI tools a clear match for a specific question, instead of one page trying to cover everything.
- Named service areas. The suburbs and regions you genuinely work in, written into your page copy — not a list of forty places you've never been.
- Local business schema. Structured data that states your business name, services, service area and contact details in a format machines read without guessing.
- Consistent name, address and phone. The same details on your website, Google Business Profile, social pages and directories. AI tools cross-check sources, and mismatches make them less confident about naming you.
- A well-kept Google Business Profile. Current hours, the right categories, real photos and replies to reviews. Google draws on it heavily for local answers, including its AI ones.
None of that is exotic. It's good local SEO done properly, with a little extra care about answering questions directly.
What you can ignore
- One-off "AI visibility" scores. Some tools run a handful of questions through ChatGPT and give you a score out of 100. AI answers change from one ask to the next, so a single snapshot tells you very little. If you track it at all, track the same questions over several months and look at the trend.
- Keyword stuffing for chatbots. Repeating "best plumber Brisbane" down a page, or hiding text meant only for bots, doesn't help. AI tools favour clear, specific writing — the same thing your customers want.
- "GEO packages" that are just SEO. If the inclusions are page titles, content, schema and a Google Business Profile tidy-up, that's local SEO with a new label. It's worth doing, but it isn't worth paying twice for, or paying extra for the acronym.
How to tell if it's working
- Search Console. Google's free Search Console shows which searches your site appears for and where it ranks. Google has also begun rolling out a generative AI performance report there, showing how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. It counts appearances only, and not every site has it yet.
- Brand searches. If more people search for your business by name, more people are hearing about you — whether from an AI answer, your Google profile or word of mouth.
- Enquiry quality. Ask new enquirers how they found you. People who arrive from an AI recommendation often turn up already half-decided. Better-fit enquiries are the measure that matters.
Give it a few months. Search and AI tools take time to re-read your site and trust what it says.
What it costs with Local Enquiry Co
We don't sell a separate AEO or GEO product, because the groundwork is the same. Local SEO Foundations is a one-off job from $600, sized to how many services and areas you have. It covers page structure, direct answers, FAQs, structured data and Google Business Profile guidance.
To keep improving after that, Care + Local SEO is from $399 a month, and Always-On — which adds monthly AI-visibility tracking and a list of improvements for you to approve — is from $550 a month. Full inclusions are on the packages page. All prices are in AUD, and there are no lock-in retainers.
A few common questions
Is AEO different from SEO? Only slightly. SEO is about being found in search results; AEO is about being the page an AI answer or voice assistant quotes. The groundwork is the same — clear pages, direct answers and accurate structured data — so a well-built local site does both.
Do I need a separate page for AI search? No. AI tools read the same pages Google does. What helps is a clear page for each service you offer, with a direct answer near the top — see do you need a separate page for each service.
Will my business show up in ChatGPT? Sometimes. It depends on whether the tool can find clear, consistent information about you across your website, Google Business Profile, directories and reviews — and on how the question is asked. Nobody can guarantee a mention, but the groundwork above gives you a fair chance.
The honest bottom line
AEO and GEO are useful names for something real: more people now ask AI tools to recommend a local business. But for a local service business, the answer isn't a new product. It's a clear website with one page per service, direct answers to real questions, accurate structured data and a Google Business Profile you keep current. Get that right and you're set up for Google, its AI answers and the chatbots alike.
Not sure where your site stands? Tell us about your business and we'll tell you honestly what's worth doing — no hard sell.