SEO, GEO and AEO: Be Found When People Search

The Difference Between SEO, GEO and AEO

They look like separate jobs, but rest on the same foundation: a site that is technically crawlable, content that is clear and trustworthy, and business details that are consistent everywhere.

• SEO (search engine optimization): being found in search results such as Google's — technical foundation, content and page structure
• AEO (answer engine optimization): being shown as the direct, short and correct answer to a question — featured snippets, voice search, Q&A content
• GEO (generative engine optimization): being cited as a source in generative answers such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI summaries

What We Do

Work starts with an audit of your site's current state; then we put the changes with the most impact in order.

• Technical SEO audit and fixes: speed, indexing, sitemap, crawl errors
• Keyword and intent research: searches with buying intent come first
• On-page optimization: titles, descriptions, heading hierarchy, internal links
• Content plan and production: Q&A structure, sourced, with a named author
• Structured data (schema): the appropriate business, service and article schemas
• Google Business Profile and local SEO: business name, address and phone consistent everywhere
• AI crawler access to the site: robots.txt and access decisions settled together

How We Measure

On the SEO side we track Google Search Console (impressions, clicks, average position) and Google Analytics (organic sessions, leads), and match form leads to their source. On the GEO side we ask a set of predefined questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity at regular intervals and record whether the brand is mentioned. This is not an automatic or exact metric; it is a way to track direction, and the report presents it that way.

How Long Does It Take?

SEO takes effect over weeks and months, not days. Technical fixes show up faster; content and trust show up slower. Because timing depends on your sector's competition and your site's starting point, we don't promise a timeline; we share a realistic one after the first audit.

How the Work Runs Month to Month

The biggest waste of budget in SEO comes from work that is done once and then dropped. A one-off audit gives you a list of problems; what changes rankings is that list being worked through month after month.

The work cycles in four steps. The first month is an audit: technical faults, current rankings, which searches competitors are ahead of you on. Then the highest-impact work is prioritised — on most sites what sits at the top of that list isn't content but technical debt (slow pages, content that isn't indexed, broken redirects).

The following months are implementation and measurement: the month's work is done, the result is reported from Search Console data, and the next month's priorities are updated against that data. The report arrives at month end and states what was done, what changed and what comes next.

Google Business Profile and Local Search

For a local business the fastest gain usually isn't on the website, it's in the Google Business Profile. For searches like "hairdresser near me" the map box sits above the organic results and takes most of the clicks.

The work here isn't technical, it's about consistency: the business name, address and phone number being written identically everywhere (website, profile, directories, social media). When Google sees the same business written in different ways, it can't be sure which is correct, and that lowers confidence.

There is concrete work on the profile itself too: choosing the right category, the service list, opening hours, real photographs, the Q&A section and replying to reviews. Collecting reviews is your job; we design how and when you ask together. We don't commission fake reviews and we don't recommend them.

• Business name, address and phone identical everywhere
• Correct category, service list and opening hours
• Real photographs and the Q&A section
• A routine for replying to reviews — no fake reviews
• LocalBusiness schema on the website

How to Write Content That Gets Cited in AI Search

For an AI model to cite you, your content needs one quality: it has to be quotable. That is the opposite of writing long and ornate.

The format that works in practice is this: ask the question plainly in the heading, answer it in the first two sentences, then go into detail. If a model (or a featured snippet) is going to take a paragraph from your page, that paragraph has to make sense on its own. An answer that only becomes clear after five paragraphs doesn't get quoted.

The second requirement is credibility signals: the author should be identifiable, claims should be sourced, figures should carry their date. A sentence beginning "studies show" with no source is worthless to both a reader and a model. We apply the same rule on our own site, which is why you won't find an unsourced figure on any of our pages.

• Question in the heading, answer in the first two sentences
• Self-contained, quotable paragraphs
• Named author, sourced claims, dated figures
• Marked up with appropriate schema (FAQPage, Article, Service)

What We Need From You

SEO isn't work that can be carried out one-sidedly. There are three things we need, and without them the work slows down.

First, access: to the site (or to whoever built it), to Google Search Console and Analytics, and to the Business Profile. If these don't exist we set them up, but ownership stays with you — we don't open accounts in our own name and leave you locked out.

Second, subject knowledge: for the content we write to be accurate, someone who knows your business has to answer questions. A dental clinic's treatment process or a security firm's installation steps aren't things that can be guessed correctly from outside.

Third, speed of approval: if prepared content waits weeks for sign-off, the month's work doesn't flow. Settling the approval process upfront beats arguing about delays later.

• Access: site, Search Console, Analytics, Business Profile (ownership stays yours)
• Someone who knows the business answering content questions
• Content approvals returned within a reasonable time
• The business's own effort in collecting reviews

What We Don't Do

SEO is a field full of methods that work in the short term and penalise the site in the long term. We state upfront which jobs we don't take on, because these are usually the ones most often offered.

We don't buy links and we don't join link networks. Google prohibits this explicitly, and when it is caught the loss is far larger than the gain. We also don't use keyword stuffing, hidden text or doorway pages.

We don't commission fake reviews. We don't guarantee rankings, traffic or sales — Google decides rankings and nobody can promise them. We don't guarantee that AI models will mention you either; answers change over time, so we do and measure the controllable parts.

• Buying links, link networks (PBNs)
• Keyword stuffing, hidden text, doorway pages
• Fake reviews and fake business listings
• Guarantees of ranking, traffic, sales or "AI will mention you"

What You See in the Report

A report isn't a list of work done; it's a record of what changed. When the two get confused, the agency demonstrates effort while the client can't tell what they gained.

From Search Console you get impressions, clicks, click-through rate and average position — the searches where you appear but aren't clicked are especially valuable, because that's usually the fastest area of gain. From Analytics you get organic sessions and whether those sessions turned into a form submission or a call.

On the GEO side we ask a predetermined set of questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity at regular intervals and record whether the brand is mentioned. We state plainly that this isn't an automated or exact metric: it's a directional check, not a measurement guarantee.

• Search Console: impressions, clicks, CTR, average position
• Searches where you appear but aren't clicked (fastest area of gain)
• Analytics: organic sessions and conversion into enquiries
• GEO tracking: mentions on a set list of questions — indicative, not exact