What AI search optimization is
AI search optimization is the work of making your brand the source AI tools trust and repeat. When someone asks an assistant for “the best HRIS for a 200-person company” or “a good dentist in Oakland,” the answer names a few brands and links a few sources. If you’re not one of them, you’re invisible to that buyer, no matter where you rank on Google.
AI answers are built differently from search results. Google’s AI Mode, for example, breaks one question into many sub-questions, a process called query fan-out, and pulls passages from many pages to answer them. Winning means covering a topic deeply, structuring content so each section stands on its own, and being mentioned on the third-party sites AI tools trust.
How I measure your AI visibility
You can’t improve what you can’t see, so every engagement starts with measurement:
- Prompt testing: up to 20 prompts your buyers actually ask, run across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
- Mentions vs. citations: whether the answer names your brand, links your site as a source, or does both.
- Share of answer: how consistently you appear across repeated runs, measured with ShareOfAnswer.is, a free tool I built.
- Competitor share of voice: who gets named instead of you, and which sources the AI cites for them.
- AI referral traffic: a GA4 segment for visits from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
What I do to win AI answers
- Map the fan-out. I use QueryFanOuts.com on your Search Console data to find the sub-questions AI tools generate, then find which ones your content misses.
- Build answer-ready content. Direct answers up top, clear definitions, comparison tables, FAQs and short self-contained sections that AI tools can lift and cite.
- Raise content quality. Pages are graded against Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines with SearchQualityGrader.com and improved for experience, expertise and trust.
- Earn third-party mentions. Directory listings, citations, press releases and, on the Authority plan, “best of” list placements, which AI tools often cite.
- Fix the technical basics. AI crawler access (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended), schema markup, entity consistency and fast pages.
Want the playbook? AEO.so is my free knowledge base of 134 expert-validated AEO tactics.
AI search and SEO work together
AI answers lean on pages that already earn trust in search, so I don’t treat this as a separate channel. Every done-for-you campaign targets keywords on Google and an equal number of AI prompts each month, with one plan and one report.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between AEO, GEO and SEO?
SEO earns rankings in search results. AEO (answer engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization) earn mentions and citations inside AI-generated answers. The skills overlap, which is why I run them as one program.
Which AI platforms do you track?
ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
How long does it take to show up in AI answers?
It varies by topic and competition. AI answers can change from one run to the next, so I report on consistency over time rather than a single result.
Can you guarantee my brand will be cited?
No. AI answers change constantly and no one controls them. I commit to the work and report transparently on mentions and citations every month.
Find out where you stand in Google and AI search
Book a free 25-minute strategy call. I’ll review your site, a few competitors and the prompts your buyers ask before we talk.