AEO and GEO: how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews

A patient in Chandigarh asks ChatGPT, “Who is a good gynecologist in Chandigarh for IVF?” A family in Hyderabad asks Gemini to compare liver specialists. A homeowner in Florida asks Perplexity for a reliable roofer nearby. In each case the AI tool replies with a few names and a short explanation. If your business is not one of them, you never get the chance to compete.

This is what people now call AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, and GEO, Generative Engine Optimization. The names are new, but most of the work is not. This guide explains how AI tools pick businesses to recommend, and the practical steps I take for clients to improve their chances.

How AI tools decide which businesses to mention

Large language models like those behind ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude do not have a secret ranking of local businesses. When they answer a local question, they typically draw on a combination of:

• Live web search results. Many AI tools search the web and summarise what they find, which means traditional SEO still matters.
• Map and business data. Google’s AI features draw on Business Profile data, reviews and ratings. Other tools use sources like Bing Places, Apple Maps, Yelp or directories.
• Reviews and their content. Tools summarise what reviewers say. Specific, consistent praise, such as “fast replies” or “clear pricing”, often appears in the answer.
• Authoritative mentions. News articles, industry lists, association directories and well-known sites.
• Your own website. Clear statements about who you are, what you do, where and for whom.

The common thread is consistency and clarity. AI tools recommend businesses they can describe confidently. If your details conflict across the web, or no one explains clearly what you do, the safer choice for the AI is to mention someone else.

Step 1: Make your entity information consistent

An “entity” is simply how machines understand your business: its name, type, location, services, people and relationships. Make sure these facts are identical across your website, Google Business Profile, social profiles, directories and any press coverage. Same name, same address format, same phone, same founding year, same description of services. This is the foundation of everything else.

Step 2: Strengthen your Google Business Profile

For local questions, Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini lean heavily on Business Profile data. A complete, active profile with the right categories, detailed services, recent photos and a steady stream of specific reviews is one of the strongest AI signals you can build. My guide on ranking higher on Google Maps covers it step by step.

Step 3: Encourage reviews that describe you

AI tools summarise reviews. If dozens of customers mention “explained everything clearly” or “on time and fairly priced”, those phrases often show up in AI answers. You cannot script reviews, but you can ask customers to mention what they valued. See how to get more Google reviews.

Step 4: Write answer-first content

AI tools and featured snippets favour content that answers a question directly and early. For each important question your customers ask, write a clear one or two sentence answer at the start, then expand. For example:

How much does a root canal cost in Chandigarh? At our clinic a single-sitting root canal costs between ₹4,000 and ₹8,000 depending on the tooth, plus the crown if needed. Here is what affects the price…

Add FAQ sections to service pages, and make sure each answer would make sense if quoted on its own.

Step 5: Add structured data

Schema markup tells machines exactly what your content means. For local businesses the essentials are LocalBusiness (or a more specific type like Dentist or ProfessionalService), Person for key staff, Service for main services, FAQPage for question sections, and BreadcrumbList. This website, for example, uses all of these. Structured data does not guarantee anything, but it removes ambiguity.

Step 6: Build an About page that establishes credibility

AI tools need to understand why you are credible. A detailed About page with your background, qualifications, experience, where you work and links to your profiles elsewhere gives them that context. See my own About page as an example of the structure.

Step 7: Earn mentions in places AI tools trust

Local news coverage, industry association listings, interviews, podcasts, “best of” lists from credible sites and active profiles on relevant platforms all strengthen your presence. Focus on genuine mentions rather than paid placements on low-quality sites.

Step 8: Allow AI crawlers and add an llms.txt file

Check that your robots.txt does not block AI crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended, unless you deliberately want to. Some sites also add an llms.txt file summarising key pages and facts. Its effect is not yet proven, but it is cheap and keeps your information clear. This site has one at /llms.txt.

Step 9: Measure monthly

Every month, ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google the questions your customers would ask, in fresh sessions. Record whether you are mentioned, how you are described and which sources are cited. Over time you will see what changes the answers. I include this check in client reports.

What does not work

• Stuffing pages with “best in city” phrases. AI tools look for evidence, not claims.
• Creating fake reviews or fake listicles about yourself. These are increasingly detected and can damage trust.
• Buying “guaranteed AI ranking” packages. No one controls these answers.
• Thin pages generated in bulk. They add noise without credibility.

The honest summary

AEO and GEO are not a separate discipline from good local SEO. They are local SEO done thoroughly, with extra attention to consistency, clarity and credibility. Businesses that already have strong profiles, real reviews and helpful websites are usually the ones AI tools recommend. My own site is cited in Google AI Overviews for Chandigarh SEO searches, using exactly the steps above.

How each AI tool tends to source local answers

The tools change often, so treat this as a general guide rather than fixed rules. In my monthly testing for clients, the patterns look roughly like this:

• Google AI Overviews and AI Mode lean heavily on Google’s own index and Business Profile data. Strong Maps visibility, reviews and a well-structured website usually carry over directly.
• Gemini draws on Google search and Maps data, and often mentions ratings and review themes.
• ChatGPT with search uses web results, often citing directories, review sites, local news and business websites. Consistent information across those sources matters a lot.
• Perplexity shows its sources clearly, which makes it useful for checking which sites influence answers in your category.
• Voice assistants tend to pick a single answer, often the top Maps result or a featured snippet.

The practical lesson: there is no single place to optimise. The businesses that show up across all of them have strong Google profiles, consistent directory listings, real reviews and websites that answer questions clearly.

Writing content AI tools can quote

Content that gets quoted tends to share a few features:

• The answer comes first. One or two sentences that fully answer the question before any background.
• Specific facts. Prices or ranges, timeframes, locations, qualifications, numbers. Vague claims such as “best quality service” are rarely quoted.
• Clear headings phrased as questions. “How long does a root canal take?” rather than “Our Process”.
• Self-contained paragraphs. Each answer should make sense if lifted out on its own.
• Named authorship. Who wrote or reviewed the content, and why they are qualified.
• Regular updates. A visible updated date and current information.

This is also simply good writing for customers, which is why AEO and good SEO end up in the same place.

Local examples of AEO in practice

Here is how the approach looks for different kinds of business:

• A dental clinic adds treatment pages with clear price ranges, recovery times and FAQs, keeps Practo and Google details identical, and encourages reviews that mention specific treatments.
• An immigration consultant publishes clear, accurate guides on visa processes, shows registrations and credentials prominently, and avoids exaggerated success claims that AI tools may treat with suspicion.
• A restaurant keeps menus, hours and photos current across Google, Zomato and its website, and encourages reviews that mention signature dishes.
• A manufacturer publishes detailed product specifications, certifications and application guides, and keeps IndiaMART and directory listings consistent.

How long AEO and GEO take

AI answers can change faster than traditional rankings, because they draw on live search results and updated data. Some clients see their business described more accurately within a few weeks of fixing inconsistencies. Being recommended consistently for competitive questions usually takes several months of steady work on reviews, content and mentions, similar to regular SEO timelines.

Frequently asked questions

Written by Hemant Chaudhary

Freelance Local SEO and Google Business Profile specialist in Chandigarh since 2011. Top Rated on Upwork with a 100% Job Success Score. More about me.