Impulsa · Understand it without jargon
AEO: when someone asks an AI, your business is the answer
You have already asked the AIs for a recommendation. But have you ever wondered whether, when someone looks for a business like yours, the AI answers with your name?
What you'll take from this
- The huge difference between showing up in a list and being THE answer
- Why preparation beats luck when it comes to the AI recommending you
Think about how people search today. Before, they opened a search engine and chose among several results. Now many simply ask an AI: who does this near me? And they trust the answer that arrives, almost as if they were asking a trusted friend.
Being THE answer is like the salesperson pointing straight at your door and saying: that is where you solve it.
Showing up in a long list is like being on a shelf at the back of the store. There you are, but no one reaches you. Being THE answer is like the salesperson pointing straight at your door and saying: that is where you solve it. The difference between one and the other is huge.
AEO means optimization for answers. Instead of fighting for a little spot in a list, the focus changes: getting the AIs to clearly understand what you do, for whom and where. A Profound study on how AIs cite sources shows why this matters: ChatGPT cites fewer than 8 names per answer on average, so being one of those few is worth far more than being on a long list.
Source: Profound on how AIs cite sourcesIt is like teaching the AIs to recommend you. If your business information is confusing, scattered or incomplete, the AI hesitates and recommends someone else. If it is clear and organized, it chooses you with confidence. It is not luck, it is preparation.
The first step is simple and does not weigh on your day: finding out what the AIs already know, or do not know, about your business today. Only after seeing it with your own eyes can you correct the course.
Did that land?
What is the difference between showing up in a list and being THE answer?
Find out now what ChatGPT, Gemini and the leading AIs answer when asked about your business: request the MerbIQ diagnosis.
Continue the course
What is GEO? The storefront that AIs see
GEO is the way to get AIs to know and recommend your business. It is like that old job of showing up on Google, but now the search happens inside the AIs. When someone asks them who to recommend, you want to be the answer. That is what GEO is about.
SEO, GEO and AEO: the three odd acronyms explained with a bakery
SEO, GEO and AEO seem like a thing for techies, but they are simple. Each one deals with how people and AIs find you. I explain them with the story of a neighborhood bakery, without hard words. At the end, one small action to step out of the shadow.
Where do AIs get what they say about your business?
When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or the leading AIs about a business like yours, they do not make it up. They read your Google listing, your reviews, your social media and your website. If those sources are empty or messy, the AI does not know what to say about you. And it does not recommend what it does not know.