Search: SEO, AEO and GEO
When customers ask who to hire, the answer should be you.
Your customers now search in three places: Google’s results, the answers Google writes above them, and AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. We run all of search as one program, so your business ranks in Google, gets quoted in the answer at the top, and comes up by name when someone asks an AI who to hire.
A customer looking for you today might type into Google, read the AI Overview at the top and never click, or ask ChatGPT who to hire and call the first name it gives. Each of those is a search, and each one picks a winner.
The layer machines read
Search engines read a layer of your site that people never see.
Under the words on your pages there’s a second layer written for machines. It says what kind of business you are, where you work, when you’re open, what you charge and what customers think of you. Google and the AI engines read that layer first, and they trust it more when other sites repeat the same facts. When it’s missing or contradicts itself, they have less to go on, and a competitor with clearer facts gets the mention.
Example A plumber in Evanston who covers the North Shore, opens at 7 every morning, charges a set call-out fee and has years of reviews.
Answer engines
Answer engines lift plain facts straight off a page.
When Google writes an AI Overview or answers a voice search, it pulls a short answer from a page it trusts. AEO, answer engine optimization, is the work of being that page: clear questions and answers, facts stated plainly, structured data that labels them, and a site fast enough to be crawled often.
The facts an answer engine looks for: hours, services, reviews, prices and the area you serve.
Three kinds of search, run as one program.
- 01 SEO
- Ranking in Google’s results, through a technically sound site, content that matches what people type, local listings and links from sites that vouch for you.
- 02 AEO
- Being the direct answer in Google’s AI Overviews, featured snippets and voice results.
- 03 GEO
- Generative engine optimization, which means being named, and described correctly, when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity who to hire.
All three draw on your site, what it says and what the rest of the web says about you, so we run them together.
All three engines read the same site and the same reputation, so one month of work moves you in every one of them.
SEO
We do all of SEO.
Most customers still start in Google, and the AI engines search the web too, so a site that’s hard to find in search is hard for them to find. That’s why we do every part of SEO.
- 01
Technical SEO
Crawling, indexing, site speed, Core Web Vitals (Google’s measurements of how fast and stable a page feels on a phone), redirects, and migrations that keep your rankings.
- 02
Content
Pages built around what your customers type, written by people who know the subject, and kept up to date.
- 03
Local SEO
Your Google Business Profile, map rankings, reviews, and the same name, address and phone number everywhere it appears.
- 04
Authority
Digital PR and links from sites your customers already trust.
- 05
E-commerce and multilingual SEO
Product and category pages, product feeds, and every language you sell in.
If your site is being rebuilt, we plan the move so the pages Google already ranks keep their place.
AEO and GEO
How AI answers get written, and how you get into them.
An AI assistant asked about your trade builds its reply from pages it can read, sources it trusts and how often your name shows up next to the right words. GEO is the work on all three.
What customers ask (examples)
- Who should I hire to redo my kitchen in Evanston?
- What’s the best accounting firm for a small manufacturer near Chicago?
- What do people say about the roofers in Skokie?
What we work on
- Pages that answer those questions directly, in the words customers use.
- One consistent description of your business across your site, Google, LinkedIn and the directories in your industry.
- Mentions in the places the engines read: reviews, industry directories, press and forums such as Reddit.
- A monthly check of what each engine says about you, with wrong answers corrected at the source.
Our own page
This page is written for machines too.
Below is the structured data this page sends to Google and the AI engines. It’s the same kind of code we write for clients, and you can check it in your browser’s page source.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@graph": [
{
"@type": "Service",
"@id": "https://www.chicagolandcoders.com/seo-aeo-geo/#service",
"name": "SEO, AEO and GEO",
"serviceType": [
"Search engine optimization",
"Answer engine optimization",
"Generative engine optimization"
],
"description": "One program for all of search: ranking in Google, being the answer in AI Overviews, and being named by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.",
"provider": {
"@type": "Organization",
"@id": "https://www.chicagolandcoders.com/#organization",
"name": "Chicagoland Coders",
"url": "https://www.chicagolandcoders.com/",
"contactPoint": {
"@type": "ContactPoint",
"contactType": "sales",
"url": "https://www.chicagolandcoders.com/contact/"
},
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"addressLocality": "Evanston",
"addressRegion": "IL",
"addressCountry": "US"
}
},
"areaServed": "Worldwide, from Evanston, Illinois",
"url": "https://www.chicagolandcoders.com/seo-aeo-geo/"
},
{
"@type": "FAQPage",
"@id": "https://www.chicagolandcoders.com/seo-aeo-geo/#faq",
"mainEntity": [
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "What’s the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "SEO is ranking in Google’s results. AEO is being the short answer Google shows above them. GEO is being named when someone asks an AI assistant. They share one foundation, so we run them together."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Do I still need SEO if my customers use ChatGPT?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Yes. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity search the web before they answer, and they pull from pages they can find and trust, so a site that’s hard to crawl or rank is hard for them too."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "How long until I see results?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Fixes to a broken site can show within weeks of Google recrawling it. Content and reputation build over months, and we tell you up front which one you’re paying for."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "What does it cost?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "The audit has a fixed price, which we quote in writing before we start. The monthly program is priced from what the audit finds and how hard your searches are to win, and you get that number in writing before you commit to anything. If the scope changes later, we quote the change in writing first. The first conversation costs nothing."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Will rebuilding my site lose my rankings?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Not if the move is planned. We map every page Google ranks to its new address before launch and check the results after."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Can you change what ChatGPT says about my business?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Nobody can edit its answers directly. We correct the sources it reads and track whether the answer changes."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Who owns the accounts?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "You do, from the first day. Search Console, Analytics and your Business Profile stay in your name, and we work in them as users you add, so you decide who has access. If you want to stop, give us 30 days’ notice and we hand over the logins and documentation for everything we set up."
}
},
{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Do you only work in Chicagoland?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Our home base is Evanston, Illinois, and we work with businesses wherever they are."
}
}
]
}
]
}The program
What happens each month.
-
01
Audit
We start with a fixed-price Search & Speed Audit of your rankings, your site’s health and speed, and what AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity say about you today. You keep the ranked fix list whether or not we do the work.
-
02
Fix the foundation
We fix the technical problems, add the structured data, set up your Business Profile and get your facts consistent everywhere.
-
03
Publish and earn
Every month we publish the pages your customers are looking for and earn mentions on sites the engines trust.
-
04
Measure
You get a monthly report in calls, leads and what each one cost, plus where you stand in Google and in the AI answers.
The audit has a fixed price, and you get it in writing before we start. Once the audit shows how much work your market needs, we quote the monthly program the same way, so you know what each month costs before you agree to it. Each quote is fixed for the scope we write down. If the work needs to change, we quote the change in writing before we do it.
Reporting
What we report, and how you can check it.
We set up tracking around how your business gets work, from calls and forms to bookings. Every number in your report shows where it came from, so you can check it yourself.
| Measure | What it tells you | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Calls and form fills from search | Whether search is bringing in work | Tracking built for your business |
| Rankings for your tracked searches | Where you sit in Google for the searches that matter | Google Search Console |
| AI answers that name you | Share of tracked questions where ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or AI Overviews mention you | Questions we track for you |
| Accuracy of those answers | Whether the engines describe you correctly | Monthly manual check |
| Core Web Vitals | How fast and stable your pages feel on a real phone | Chrome UX Report |
Your report fills in each of these from your own accounts, starting with the first month.
Nobody can promise you the top spot on Google or a mention in ChatGPT, because nobody controls either. We promise the work, reporting you can read and a straight answer about what moved.
Questions
What owners ask us first.
What’s the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO is ranking in Google’s results. AEO is being the short answer Google shows above them. GEO is being named when someone asks an AI assistant. They share one foundation, so we run them together.
Do I still need SEO if my customers use ChatGPT?
Yes. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity search the web before they answer, and they pull from pages they can find and trust, so a site that’s hard to crawl or rank is hard for them too.
How long until I see results?
Fixes to a broken site can show within weeks of Google recrawling it. Content and reputation build over months, and we tell you up front which one you’re paying for.
What does it cost?
The audit has a fixed price, which we quote in writing before we start. The monthly program is priced from what the audit finds and how hard your searches are to win, and you get that number in writing before you commit to anything. If the scope changes later, we quote the change in writing first. The first conversation costs nothing.
Will rebuilding my site lose my rankings?
Not if the move is planned. We map every page Google ranks to its new address before launch and check the results after.
Can you change what ChatGPT says about my business?
Nobody can edit its answers directly. We correct the sources it reads and track whether the answer changes.
Who owns the accounts?
You do, from the first day. Search Console, Analytics and your Business Profile stay in your name, and we work in them as users you add, so you decide who has access. If you want to stop, give us 30 days’ notice and we hand over the logins and documentation for everything we set up.
Do you only work in Chicagoland?
Our home base is Evanston, Illinois, and we work with businesses wherever they are.
What do your customers find when they search for you?
Tell us your business and the searches that matter to you. We’ll look at what Google and the AI engines show today and tell you what we’d fix first, even when it’s something you can fix yourself. The first conversation costs nothing.
Start a conversationAsk for a Search & Speed Audit
A person who builds here reads every message, and we reply within one business day.