AEO — Answer Engine Optimisation — is SEO for AI assistants. When a Suffolk customer asks ChatGPT "who's a good plasterer near Stowmarket?" or Google's AI Overviews "what does a small business website cost in Ipswich?", the AI often doesn't hand them ten blue links. It gives them an answer, sometimes naming a few businesses. If your business isn't in that answer, you're easy to miss.
Nobody can guarantee what an AI assistant will say. What you can do is make it easy for them to understand what you do, where and for whom. Here's how.
1. Answer the question in the first paragraph of the page
Old SEO: bury the answer in a wall of text so they have to read everything to get it. New AEO: lead with the answer in 40–60 words, then expand. Like the first paragraph of this article. AI assistants look for a direct answer, and a page that gives one cleanly is easier for them to use.
2. Use schema.org structured data — properly
FAQPage schema, Service schema, LocalBusiness schema, HowTo schema. These aren't SEO extras any more — they're one of the ways AI assistants and search engines work out what your page is. Without them, you're asking the AI to guess. With them, you're telling it. Every site I build includes structured data suited to the business.
3. Name your business, your town and your service in plain English
"AJH Technology is a one-person web design, brand and video business in Suffolk." That sentence opens the answer box on my homepage, and the same wording is in the homepage's structured data. It says who I am, where I am and what I do, with no room for guessing. Write the same kind of sentence for your business, and use it on your homepage, in your schema and in your FAQ.
4. Build a Questions People Ask section on every page
Not just the homepage. Every service page. Five or six real questions a real customer would ask, each with a direct, named answer in 50–100 words. Wrap them in FAQPage schema. In my view it's one of the most useful AEO changes you can make.
5. Get specific about local — towns, postcodes, area names
"Suffolk" is too broad. It helps to name the specific towns you work in: Stowmarket, Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Sudbury, Woodbridge, Felixstowe, and where relevant the neighbourhood or business park. If you serve a specific area, name it.
6. Make the pricing transparent and machine-readable
"Get in touch for a quote" gives AI assistants nothing to work with. They can't tell anyone what you charge. Publish your pricing — even a range — and wrap it in Offer or OfferCatalog schema. You don't need to publish every line item. You just need to give the AI something to anchor to.
7. Update dates and keep content fresh
AI assistants appear to favour recent, maintained pages. Add dateModified to Article and case study schemas. Update your homepage at least quarterly. Publish a useful article now and then. A site that's clearly looked after is a better signal than one that isn't.
The bottom line for Suffolk small businesses
A lot of local businesses haven't thought about this yet, so acting early gives you a head start. The work is small, and it helps with ordinary Google search too. None of it guarantees an AI assistant will mention you — but it makes sure they can understand what you do.
Want me to look at how your existing site does on this? Ask for a free website check.