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Why AI recommends some your business and ignores the rest (GEO / AEO)
Search is splitting in two. Google still returns ten blue links, but a fast-growing share of buyers now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews or Gemini directly — and the AI answers with two or three named businesses, not a page of options. If you are not one of those names, you are invisible at the exact moment of intent. Optimizing for that is called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) or AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).
It is a different game from classic SEO. AI models name businesses they see repeatedly and consistently cited across the sources they trust — structured data, authoritative directories, review corpora, and answer-first content. Three levers move the needle for your business:
1. Structured data the model can read
LocalBusiness / Organization + FAQ schema (JSON-LD) so engines can extract your services, service area, and answers without guessing.
2. Presence in the sources AI trusts for this category
The specific directories, review sites and listings an AI leans on when recommending your business — consistent name/address/phone and category signals give the model something to cite.
3. Answer-first, entity-rich pages
Pages that state the answer up front with real specifics and credentials (E-E-A-T) — the content models lift verbatim into recommendations.
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Enter your company name. We ask the AI the real buyer questions for your industry in US and score you 0–100 on whether it names you.