When Someone Asks AI Who to Call, Be the Name It Gives
People ask ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Claude for recommendations before they ever open a website. We make sure your business is the one those answers name, and we tie it to the local SEO that feeds it.
Roughly half of US Google searches now show an AI Overview.
Source: Google, February 2026Question-style searches ("who," "what," "how") trigger an AI answer 60% of the time.
Source: Pew Research Center, 2025Only 17% of AI Overview citations come from pages ranking in the organic top 10.
Source: BrightEdge, February 2026Search Moved. Most Marketing Plans Stayed Put.
There is no second page in an AI answer.
Five years ago the job was simple. Rank on page one, earn the click, win the patient or the client. That path still exists, but a growing share of your buyers never walk it. They type a full question into Google and read the AI summary at the top. They open ChatGPT and ask it to recommend a dentist, a bookkeeper, an acupuncturist, a consultant. They get three names and pick one.
If your business is one of those names, you win a lead that never saw a competitor. If it is missing, you lose a lead you never knew existed.
Here is the part most agencies skip: the businesses AI recommends are chosen on different signals than the ones Google ranks. Structure, consistency, third-party mentions, and how clearly your content answers the question all matter more than keyword density ever did. Only 17% of AI Overview citations come from top-ten pages. A strong SEO program helps, and it is no longer enough on its own.
AI Search Optimization closes that gap. It makes your business legible to the systems people now ask first, and it keeps compounding while competitors wait to see if this is real.
SEO, AEO, GEO. Here Is What Each One Actually Does.
You will hear all three terms, sometimes for the same thing. They overlap, and they pull on different levers. We run all three as one program because the work feeds itself.
| Traditional SEO | AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) | GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank your pages in Google and Bing results | Get your content pulled as the direct answer | Get your brand cited or recommended inside AI-generated responses |
| Where it shows up | Organic listings, map pack | Featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice results, AI Overview source cards | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode |
| What the content looks like | Keyword-targeted pages, local landing pages, Google Business Profile | Question headings, concise answers, FAQ and HowTo schema | Authoritative, entity-rich content plus mentions on sites AI trusts (Reddit, directories, press, YouTube) |
| How it is measured | Rankings, clicks, calls | Snippet and PAA wins, answer appearances | Citation frequency, share of voice, AI referral traffic |
| How it drives revenue | Click to site to lead | Trust built before the click | Named as the recommendation before a search even happens |
SEO is the foundation, AEO captures the answer, GEO earns the recommendation. Skip one and the other two work harder for less.
This Is What It Looks Like When It Works
We do not talk about AI visibility in theory. Here are two of our clients being named, unprompted, by the AI tools their customers use.
Both results came from the same system: clean site structure, answer-first content, consistent entity data across the web, and steady third-party mentions. The same program drives the traditional SEO wins on our case studies page, including a dental startup that hit the number one map pack spot in 60 days and a counseling practice that went from 100 to 170 calls a month in the same window.
The Work Behind Getting Named
AI search rewards businesses that are easy to understand, easy to verify, and mentioned in the right places. Our program builds all three. Here is what that means in practice, split by the two disciplines you will see on your monthly plan.
AEO: Become the Direct Answer
Answer engines and Google's AI features pull from pages that answer a specific question cleanly. We restructure your highest-value pages so they qualify.
- Question-based headings mapped to what your customers actually ask
- Answer-first formatting with the response in the first two sentences
- FAQ, HowTo, Service, and LocalBusiness schema on every relevant page
- Featured snippet and People Also Ask targeting for your service and location terms
- Entity cleanup so your name, address, services, and people match everywhere Google looks
- Conversational and voice-style query coverage
GEO: Become the Recommendation
Large language models recommend businesses they trust, and trust comes from what other sources say about you. GEO builds that footprint.
- Monthly citation tracking across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews
- Topical authority content that establishes you as the source in your category
- Third-party presence where models actually look: Reddit, industry directories, YouTube, local press
- Earned mentions and digital PR aimed at the outlets your target queries already cite
- Entity relationship mapping across your people, services, locations, and partners
- Technical readiness for AI crawlers, including llms.txt and clean semantic markup
Curious how AI describes your business right now?
Our free LLM Visibility Check shows whether ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI mention you, what they say, and who they name instead.
How the First 90 Days Run
You will know what is happening every week. Here is the sequence.
Audit
We test how ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI respond to the questions your customers ask, then map where you appear, where competitors appear, and why. You get a written report with a prioritized fix list within the first two weeks.
Roadmap
We turn the audit into a month-by-month plan: which pages get restructured, which questions get new content, which schema goes live, which third-party placements we pursue first.
Build and optimize
Our team executes. Page restructures, schema, new content, GBP updates, citation and mention work, all tracked in a shared task list you can see any time.
Monitor and adjust
AI results move faster than rankings. We track citations monthly, report what changed, and shift the plan toward what is producing mentions.
Monthly report, monthly strategy call, quarterly review of the roadmap. You always know what we did, what moved, and what comes next.
Why Businesses Pick CNV for AI Search
You get the tracking, included
Every plan includes Search Atlas LLM Visibility tracking. You see citation counts and share of voice by platform every month, without paying for a separate tool.
SEO and GEO run as one program
Most agencies bolt AI search onto an SEO retainer or sell it as a separate line. We plan both together because the same content, schema, and authority work feeds both. One plan, one team, one report.
We know your vertical
Dental practices, healthcare, legal, counseling, and professional services make up most of our book. We know which questions your patients and clients ask AI, and we know the compliance lines that matter.
The people on the call do the work
CNV is a small senior team. The strategist who scopes your plan runs your account. There is no handoff to a junior you never met.
Is This the Right Fit?
AI search optimization compounds, so it pays off best for businesses with a foundation to build on.
You are a strong fit if:
- Your customers research before they buy (dental, legal, healthcare, home services, B2B, considered ecommerce)
- You already have a website with real service content and a Google Business Profile
- You want more than a rankings report and are willing to publish content and be quoted
- You can commit to six months. Citations build over time and stick once earned.
Probably not the right time if you launched your site last month with three pages, or you need leads inside 30 days. Start with our SEO or paid search work and add AI visibility once the foundation exists.
Simple Plans. AI Visibility Built In.
Two plans, both monthly, both including tracking and reporting. We recommend six months to see citations move meaningfully. Most clients see measurable changes in AI mentions within 60 to 90 days.
Local Growth
For businesses that need to win the map pack and page one first.
$1,499 / month
- Google Business Profile management and optimization
- Local SEO: on-page, technical, citations, NAP consistency
- Review reply strategy
- Monthly rank tracking and report
- Monthly strategy call
Best for: single-location practices and local service businesses building their search foundation.
Start With Local GrowthLocal Growth + AI Visibility
Everything in Local Growth, plus the full AEO and GEO program.
$2,499 / month
- Everything in Local Growth
- AI Visibility Audit and prioritized roadmap
- AEO page restructuring, answer-first content, and schema
- GEO authority content and third-party mention program
- LLM Visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews
- Monthly citation report and strategy call
Best for: businesses that want to be named in AI answers and own their local search results at the same time.
Book Your Free AI Visibility CallMulti-location, national, or ecommerce? Pricing scales by location and scope. Already a CNV client on Full Stack or SEO? AI Visibility can be added to your current plan. Either way, start with a call. Talk through a custom scope
Questions We Hear Before Every Engagement
What is the difference between AI search optimization and regular SEO?
SEO gets your pages ranked in Google and Bing results. AI search optimization gets your business named inside the answers that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI features generate. The two share a foundation, and AI answers rely on extra signals like third-party mentions, entity consistency, and how directly your content answers a question. We run both together because each makes the other work better.
What is the difference between AEO and GEO?
AEO targets structured answer spots inside search engines: featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice results, and AI Overview source cards. GEO targets the recommendations that large language models generate in conversation. AEO is about being extracted. GEO is about being cited and recommended. Your plan includes both.
Which AI platforms do you cover?
ChatGPT (including its web search), Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Claude, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and Gemini. We track all of them monthly and adjust as new platforms gain real usage.
How long until we see results?
Structural work like schema and answer-first rewrites can change how AI describes you within a few weeks. Meaningful, repeatable citations usually show up in 60 to 90 days, and authority-driven recommendations keep building through months four to six. That is why we recommend a six-month commitment.
Can you guarantee we show up in ChatGPT?
No one can guarantee an AI citation, the same way no one can guarantee a ranking. What we can do is systematically build the signals these systems use to choose sources, track the results every month, and shift effort toward what is producing mentions. The screenshots above are what that looks like in practice.
How do you measure success?
Citation frequency by platform, share of voice against competitors for your target questions, referral traffic from AI tools, and the leads and calls that follow. Every report ties the AI metrics back to the local SEO metrics you already track.
What does the monthly work actually look like?
A shared task list you can open any time, a monthly report covering rankings, GBP, and AI citations, and a monthly strategy call. Content and page changes go live on your site through the month. Third-party mention work runs in the background and shows up in the report as placements land.
Do I still need regular SEO?
Yes, and it is built into every plan. Strong organic and Bing rankings are one of the inputs AI tools use when they search the web for answers. Dropping SEO to chase AI visibility would undercut the thing you are trying to build.
Does this work for niche or highly local businesses?
Often better than for broad ones. A niche has fewer credible sources for AI to choose from, and a local business competing in one city faces a smaller field than a national brand. Being the clearly documented expert in a specific place or specialty is exactly what AI tools are looking for.
Who is on my account?
A senior CNV strategist who plans your program and runs your monthly call, supported by our SEO, content, and technical team. The person who scopes your engagement stays on it.
Someone Is Asking AI for a Recommendation in Your Category Right Now
Every month you wait, a competitor's name gets a little more familiar to the systems your customers trust. Every month you invest, yours does. Let's find out where you stand and what it takes to move.
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