AI Search Optimisation (AEO) · UK-wide
AI Search Optimisation: Get Recommended by ChatGPT and AI Overviews
AI search optimisation — also called AEO, answer engine optimisation — is the work of making your business the one AI assistants name when someone asks for a recommendation. Azizi Technologies makes your site readable, quotable and citable by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot.
A growing share of customers no longer search — they ask. “Who's the best plumber in Bradford?”, “how much does local SEO cost in the UK?” The assistant answers with two or three named businesses, and the customer rings one of them. There is no page two to be on.
Getting named in that answer is a different job from ranking on Google, and most agencies selling it have not done it to their own websites. This one has.
What’s included
What's included in AI search optimisation?
The roadmap
Your roadmap, phase by phase
What Azizi Technologies actually does for AI Search Optimisation (AEO), in the order it happens — and how long each part takes.
Phase 1
Free AI visibility audit
We ask the major assistants what they say about your service in your area, and show you the answer they give today. Most UK small businesses are not mentioned at all — and it is usually fixable.
Phase 2
Access and structure
First we make sure the machines can read you: crawler permissions, server-rendered content, structured data and an honest llms.txt. Nothing else works until this does.
Phase 3
Make the pages quotable
Then the writing changes. Answer-first blocks, questions answered in the first sentence, comparisons as tables, and at least one line per page that names your business as the subject — because assistants quote sentences with named entities, not sentences that say “we”.
Phase 4
Measure and repeat
Assistant answers get re-checked monthly and reported alongside your Google rankings, so you can see where you are being cited and where a competitor still owns the answer.
How long does AI search optimisation take?
Access and structural fixes land immediately — crawler permissions, schema and llms.txt are live the day they ship.
Assistant answers update on their own schedule, not yours. Expect the first changes in citations within one to three months as models and their retrieval indexes refresh.
Being named consistently rather than occasionally takes longer, because it depends on the same signals as ordinary trust: a clear entity, consistent details and content that genuinely answers the question.
This work compounds with local SEO rather than competing with it. The same structured, honest, well-marked-up pages serve both.
Good to know
What is AEO and how is it different from SEO?
AEO — answer engine optimisation — is the work of being the source an AI assistant uses when it answers a question, rather than a link in a list of ten. SEO earns a position; AEO earns a citation.
The overlap is large but not total. Both need crawlable, fast, well-structured pages and a trustworthy business behind them. AEO adds specific requirements: content written so a single block can be lifted and still make sense, structured data that states plainly what you are and where you work, and a consistent description of your business repeated across every surface so models learn the entity rather than guessing at it.
Good to know
Why do most AEO services not work?
Because the majority are SEO retainers with the label changed. Check the agencies selling AEO: do they have an llms.txt, FAQPage markup on the pages that need it, and answer-first copy that a model can quote? Many do not. Selling the service and doing it are still far apart.
Azizi Technologies runs every one of these measures on this website — the AI crawler permissions, the auto-generated llms.txt, the answer capsules, the schema — which is a much better demonstration than a case study.
Good to know
Does AI search actually send customers yet?
For some businesses meaningfully, for others not yet. It would be dishonest to claim otherwise, and we will tell you plainly which category you are in at the audit rather than selling you a service you do not need today.
What is already true is that the work is not wasted either way. Every measure listed here — server-rendered content, valid structured data, clear answers to real questions, consistent business details — improves ordinary Google performance as well. AEO done properly is not a bet on the future; it is good technical and editorial hygiene that happens to also win citations.
Straight from the source
Where this guidance comes from
We don’t ask you to take our word for it. These are the primary sources behind how ai search optimisation (aeo) actually works — read them yourself.
- Google Search Central — AI features and your website (opens in a new tab)
Google's documentation on how AI features in Search use content, and what site owners can do to stay eligible.
- Google Search Central — Creating helpful, reliable content (opens in a new tab)
The same helpful-content guidance that underpins ordinary rankings also shapes what assistants can safely cite.
Side by side
SEO and AEO compared
| Traditional SEO | AI search optimisation (AEO) | |
|---|---|---|
| What you win | A ranked position in a list of links | A citation inside the answer itself |
| Where the customer sees you | Google results page or map pack | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot |
| What decides it | Relevance, links, proximity, reviews | Readability by crawlers, quotable structure, entity clarity |
| Key assets | Pages, profile, citations, reviews | Answer capsules, schema, llms.txt, consistent entity |
| How progress is measured | Rankings and map grid positions | What assistants say when asked, checked monthly |
| Timescale | Three to six months typically | One to three months for first citation changes |
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers, no small print. If yours isn’t here, ask — you’ll get the same plain English.
What is answer engine optimisation (AEO)?
AEO is the work of making your business the one an AI assistant names when a customer asks for a recommendation. It combines crawler access, structured data, an honest llms.txt and answer-first writing so tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews can read, understand and quote you.
Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?
No, and nobody honestly can — the assistants control their own answers and change them without notice. What we can do is remove every technical reason you are not citable and make your pages the easiest correct answer available. The audit shows what they say today.
Is AEO worth it for a small local business?
Increasingly yes, particularly for services people ask about conversationally — trades, clinics, professional services. But it varies by sector, and we will tell you at the audit if AI search is not yet sending meaningful volume in your market rather than selling it regardless.
Do I need to choose between SEO and AEO?
No — they share most of the same foundations. Fast, server-rendered pages with valid structured data and genuine answers help both. AEO adds quotable structure and entity consistency on top, so it is normally run alongside local SEO rather than instead of it.
How much does AI search optimisation cost?
A fixed monthly fee with no lock-in contract, or a one-off structural build if you only want the foundations in place. The free AI visibility audit establishes what the assistants currently say about you first, so the quote is fixed against a known scope.
Guides
AI Search Optimisation (AEO) guides, in plain English
What Is AEO (AI Search Optimisation)?
What answer engine optimisation (AEO) is, how it differs from SEO, and why UK businesses should care about AI search visibility. Free ranking audit.
Read the guide
How Do You Get Cited by ChatGPT and AI Overviews?
Practical steps to improve your chances of being cited in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and similar tools. No hype, just what actually helps. Free audit.
Read the guide
AEO vs SEO: What Do Local Businesses Actually Need?
AEO vs SEO for UK local businesses: what each does, where they overlap, and how to prioritise without chasing hype. Book a free ranking audit.
Read the guide
Schema and Answer-First Content for AI Search
How JSON-LD schema and answer-first page structure help AI search cite your business accurately. Practical UK guidance. Free ranking audit.
Read the guide
Common AEO Mistakes UK Small Businesses Make
Five AEO mistakes UK small businesses make, from FAQ spam to skipping SEO basics, and what to do instead. Honest guidance. Free ranking audit.
Read the guide
Keep exploring
Related services and locations
The honest bit
Why businesses trust Azizi Technologies
No lock-in contracts
Leave with 30 days' notice
Free ranking audit
See your position before you spend
Founder-led
Overseen by Aziz, not an account layer
1-business-day reply
Every enquiry, usually sooner
Client results and reviews are published here as campaigns mature — only real numbers, with permission. No borrowed stats, no invented ratings. Who runs Azizi Technologies.
Get a free AI Search Optimisation (AEO) audit
See where you stand today and exactly what it would take to rank — free, honest, no obligation.
- 1We check where you rank on Google Maps across your area.
- 2We show you what the businesses above you are doing better.
- 3You get a clear, priced plan — take it or leave it.