AI Search Optimisation
My AI Search Optimisation services help businesses secure visibility in AI-generated search results from platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. As a fast-emerging discipline that overlaps with traditional SEO, it is one I help clients navigate with a clear, practical approach.
What is AI Search Optimisation?
It is the practice of structuring your website, content, and broader online presence so that AI systems are more likely to cite, summarise, and recommend your business when answering questions from prospective customers. You will also see it described as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), and although some consultants may draw fine distinctions between these terms, in practice they all describe the same discipline.
Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on earning rankings within a list of search results, AI search optimisation is about earning citations and mentions within AI-generated answers. Both are important, and the two disciplines are closely linked. Investing in AI search visibility almost always benefits your traditional search rankings too, because the underlying signals (clear content, strong E-E-A-T, structured data, and a credible online presence) are valued by both Google and the major AI platforms.
If you would like to discuss improving your brand’s visibility in AI-generated results, arrange a free initial consultation by completing my quick contact form.
GEO Consultancy Services From £400 p/m
I often include GEO/AEO as part of a broader monthly retainer that may also include assistance with traditional organic search services such as Technical SEO. To discuss a monthly plan, please:
Helping You Get Cited by AI Systems
Getting started with AI search will look a little different for every business, depending on your website’s current authority, your sector, and the questions your target customers are asking. The areas I regularly assist clients with include:
Content structure and clarity
AI systems extract information much more reliably from content that is logically structured and clearly written. I can help you improve heading hierarchy and the use of semantic HTML elements, restructure paragraphs so key answers appear early, introduce bullet lists and structured content where it adds value, and refine your navigation so that both users and AI crawlers can easily find their way around your site.
Semantic depth and entity coverage
AI systems favour businesses that have demonstrable depth across a topic, not just isolated pages. I can help you develop a strategic content plan, build out pillar pages and topic clusters, create author and team member profiles to strengthen your entity signals, develop location pages for offices, shops, or workspaces, and introduce supporting content such as glossaries, indexes, and FAQ sections.
Citations, statistics, and authoritative sources
Citing credible third-party sources is one of the strongest signals you can give to an AI system that your content is trustworthy. AI tools place particular weight on content that is backed by hard evidence, including concrete statistics, original data, and direct quotes from recognised industry experts. I can research authoritative sources and statistics relevant to your industry, identify opportunities to incorporate expert quotes and commentary, weave them into your content where appropriate, and make sure they are marked up correctly so that AI systems can recognise and retrieve them.
Structured data and machine-readable signals
Structured data is essential for AI search visibility. I can apply and refine the schema markup most relevant to your business, including Article, FAQ, HowTo, Product, and Organization schema, among others. I can also review your underlying HTML to make sure it is clean, valid, and easy for both search engines and AI systems to parse.
E-E-A-T signals
Google’s E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is closely aligned with how AI systems evaluate content. I can help you strengthen your E-E-A-T signals by creating proper author bios marked up with Person schema, assisting you with compiling and publishing original research, pulling together case studies and testimonials, and demonstrating the first-hand expertise that already exists within your team.
Conversational and question-led phrasing
AI search behaviour skews towards longer, more conversational queries than traditional search, so content that uses natural language and directly answers specific questions tends to perform best. I use keyword research tools to map out the questions your customers are actually asking, and help you create FAQ sections, helpful guides, and explainer content written in a clear, conversational style.
Crawlability and AI bot access
If AI crawlers cannot access your site, none of the above matters. I will check your robots.txt to make sure you are allowing the right AI crawlers (such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, and others), run scans to identify any technical issues that might block access, and resolve any problems uncovered.
Freshness and maintenance
AI systems strongly prefer to cite fresh, well-maintained content. I can help you put a plan in place to keep your most important pages up to date and make sure the schema markup on your site correctly indicates when content was last modified, so AI systems can see at a glance that your information is current.
Off-site presence and brand mentions
A significant proportion of AI search visibility comes from outside your own website. I will help you build citations in relevant local and niche business directories, identify opportunities for mentions on platforms such as Reddit, Wikipedia, industry publications, and forums, and put a sensible, sustainable off-site strategy in place.
Measurement and ongoing refinement
AI search visibility is constantly evolving, so tracking how you appear in AI-generated answers is essential. I will help you choose the right monitoring tools for your needs, set up prompt tracking so you can see how your business is being represented across the major AI platforms, and run regular GEO audits to identify further improvements and refine the strategy over time.
Why Invest in AI Search Now?
The way people find information online is changing quickly. Increasing numbers of users now go directly to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other AI tools when researching products, services, and suppliers, often bypassing traditional search results altogether. Businesses that establish strong AI search visibility now are well placed to benefit as this behaviour continues to grow.
Just as importantly, the work involved in optimising for AI search overwhelmingly supports your traditional SEO performance too. Cleaner content structure, stronger E-E-A-T signals, well-implemented structured data, and a healthier off-site presence are all things that Google rewards. In other words, AI search optimisation is rarely an either-or decision: it complements and strengthens the SEO work you are already doing.
What My Clients Say
Contact Me – James Hubbard
Send me an email: info@jameshubbardconsulting.co.uk
Call or text: 07850 920369
Why Work With Me?
I’m a highly experienced SEO consultant with a strong grasp of the emerging fields of GEO and AEO. I help clients audit their sites and put in place search strategies designed to deliver long-term organic visibility across both traditional and AI-generated search.
Working with me, you can expect:
SEO best practices applied with AI search in mind
Minimal jargon
Attention to detail
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the common questions I am asked about this service.
What is the difference between SEO, GEO, and AEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the long-established practice of optimising websites to rank well in traditional search results, primarily on Google. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) are newer terms that describe optimising for AI-generated answers, such as those produced by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude.
Will AI search replace traditional search engines?
Probably not entirely, at least not in the short to medium term. What is happening is more of a shift, with users increasingly using AI tools alongside traditional search engines, depending on the type of query. The good news is that the work involved in optimising for one almost always supports the other, so investing in AI search is unlikely to be a wasted effort.
Do I need to choose between SEO and AI search optimisation?
No, and I would not recommend it. The strongest results come from a combined approach that addresses traditional SEO and AI search visibility together. My monthly retainers are structured around exactly this, so you can combine technical SEO, on-page SEO, content marketing, and AI search optimisation in whatever balance makes sense for your business.
How do you measure success in AI search?
Measurement in AI search is genuinely different from traditional SEO, where rankings and click-through rates are the headline metrics. For AI search, the focus shifts to citation tracking (how often your business is mentioned in AI-generated answers), share of voice across the major AI platforms, referral traffic from AI tools, and the consistency and accuracy of how your brand is represented. I will help you choose the right tools and set up the appropriate tracking based on your goals.
Do AI systems use the same content as Google?
Not entirely, although there is significant overlap. Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini draw on Google’s own search index, ChatGPT relies heavily on Bing’s index alongside its own crawler, Perplexity uses its own proprietary index, and Claude tends to fetch content live from the open web. The good news is that the signals these systems reward are largely the same: well-structured content, demonstrable expertise, credible citations, and clean technical foundations. As part of my work, I will help you make sure your site is properly indexed by both Google and Bing, accessible to the relevant AI crawlers, and structured in a way that gives you the best chance of being cited across the major AI platforms.
Can you guarantee my business will be cited by AI tools?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. AI search results are influenced by a wide range of signals, many of which are outside any single consultant’s control. What I can do is help you put the right foundations in place, follow best practice across all the areas that matter, and continuously refine the approach based on what is working. Over time, this consistently leads to improved visibility for the clients I work with.