Your customers are asking AI who to hire. Is it saying your name?
More Perth buyers now open ChatGPT or read Google’s AI Overview before they ever scroll a list of blue links. The AI gives them two or three businesses and a reason to call each one. If your business is not in that answer, you were never in the running — and unlike a ranking drop, nothing in your analytics tells you it happened.
AI SEO, also called Generative Engine Optimisation, is the work of becoming one of the businesses the AI names. It is a different job to ranking on Google, and most Perth businesses have done none of it.
What AI SEO actually is, and what GEO, AEO and AIO mean
AI SEO is optimising your business so AI systems can find you, understand what you do, trust the information, and repeat it when someone asks a relevant question. The acronyms all describe slices of the same job:
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| GEO — Generative Engine Optimisation | Getting cited inside AI-generated answers such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews |
| AEO — Answer Engine Optimisation | Structuring content so it can be lifted directly as the answer to a question |
| AIO — AI Optimisation | Broad umbrella term, used interchangeably with the two above |
They are not separate services and any agency charging you three times for them is selling you the same work under different names.
The four places Perth businesses are being missed
Google AI Overviews
The AI block above the normal results. It names a handful of businesses and links them. Appearing here often matters more than ranking first, because it sits above everything.
ChatGPT
Now searches the live web. When someone types "best plumber in Perth" it returns named businesses with reasons. Those names come from what it can read about you elsewhere.
Google Gemini
Built into Search and Android. Pulls heavily on your Google Business Profile, your reviews and structured data on your site.
Perplexity and Claude
Smaller audiences, but heavily used by people researching a purchase properly. Both cite sources, so being quotable matters more than being persuasive.
AI SEO compared to traditional SEO
| Traditional SEO | AI SEO / GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank a page in the results | Be named inside the answer |
| Unit of success | Position for a keyword | Citation for a question |
| What wins | Relevance, links, authority | Clarity, consistency, quotability, corroboration |
| Where the work happens | Mostly on your site | On your site and everywhere else you are described |
| How you measure it | Rank tracking, clicks, impressions | Whether the AI names you, and what it says |
| Does it replace the other | No. AI systems draw on the same signals search engines do. Good SEO is the foundation AI SEO sits on. | |
Find out if AI names your business, in five minutes
Before you pay anyone for AI SEO, check where you actually stand. Open ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, paste these in, and swap the trade and suburb for your own. Nothing here needs an agency.
Tap copy, paste into the AI, replace the bracketed parts:
Reading the results
- You are not mentioned at all. The AI has nothing to work with. Usually an entity problem — your business is not clearly described anywhere it can read.
- You are mentioned but the details are wrong. Old address, services you dropped, a suburb you left. Conflicting information across the web, and the AI picked the wrong version.
- You are mentioned last, with a thin reason. You exist but nothing about you is quotable. Competitors have given the AI something specific to repeat and you have not.
- You are named first with an accurate reason. Nothing to fix. Keep the profile and reviews current.
Run the same prompt twice, a few days apart. These answers vary, and one result is not a pattern.
How we get you cited
Entity clarity
Make it unmistakable what your business is, where it operates and what it does. Consistent naming, address and service descriptions everywhere an AI can read them, so there is one version of you rather than five.
Structured data
Schema markup that states your services, service area, pricing signals and reviews in a format machines read without guessing. The difference between an AI inferring what you do and knowing it.
Quotable content
Pages written to answer real questions in the first sentence, with specifics. AI systems lift direct answers. Copy that takes three paragraphs to reach the point never gets quoted.
Corroboration
AI cross-checks. Your site saying you service Rockingham means little on its own; your profile, directories and reviews saying the same thing turns it into a fact the AI will repeat.
What you get each month
| Report | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Citation tracking | Which AI platforms name your business, for which questions, and where you sit in the answer |
| Accuracy check | What the AI says about you, and whether any of it is wrong or out of date |
| Competitor comparison | Who is being named instead of you, and what they have that you do not |
| Traditional rankings | Map pack and organic positions, because AI systems still draw on them |
No impressions, no reach, no share of voice. Whether the AI names you is a yes or a no, and that is what we report.
Start with the free version
Run the prompts above. If AI already names you accurately, you do not need us. If it does not, tell us what you saw and we will show you why — whether that is a profile issue, an entity issue, or nothing being quotable about your business online. No lock-in contracts.
AI SEO questions Perth businesses ask
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the work of getting your business found, understood and named by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity. Traditional SEO aims to rank a page. AI SEO aims to make your business the one the AI mentions when someone asks a question it answers directly.
Is AI SEO different from GEO?
No. GEO, or Generative Engine Optimisation, is the more precise name for the same work. AEO and AIO are also used. Treat them as one service, not three.
Does AI SEO replace traditional SEO?
No. AI systems draw on the same underlying signals search engines use — your website, your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and what other sites say about you. Weak SEO fundamentals produce weak AI visibility. AI SEO is an additional layer, not a replacement.
How do I know if ChatGPT mentions my business?
Ask it. Use the prompts on this page, run them more than once, and note whether you appear, where in the answer, and whether the details are correct. That is the same check we run, just without the tracking over time.
Why does AI recommend my competitor and not me?
Usually one of three reasons. Your business is described inconsistently across the web so the AI cannot form a confident picture. Or your content states no specifics worth quoting. Or your competitor has more corroboration — profile, reviews and third-party mentions all saying the same thing.
How long does AI SEO take to work?
Faster than traditional SEO in some respects, because AI systems re-read the web frequently and fixing an inconsistent profile can change an answer within weeks. Building enough corroboration to be named consistently takes months, not days.
How much does AI SEO cost in Perth?
It is usually folded into an SEO retainer rather than charged separately, which in Perth generally runs $800 to $3,000 a month depending on scope. Be careful with anyone charging a large premium for GEO as a standalone product — much of the work overlaps with SEO you should already be paying for.
Can I do AI SEO myself?
Some of it. Completing your Google Business Profile accurately, keeping your business details identical everywhere, answering common questions plainly on your site, and maintaining reviews will all help. Where it gets harder is structured data, tracking citations over time, and working out why an AI favours a competitor.