Answer engine optimization sounds abstract until you see it in action: someone asks ChatGPT a question, and it names a specific London business by name instead of suggesting they "search online." This guide covers the practical, local-specific work behind earning that mention.
AEO, defined practically
Answer engine optimization is the practice of structuring your content, data, and online presence so AI tools - ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews - cite your business directly as the answer to a relevant question, rather than requiring the searcher to click through and decide for themselves. Our general AEO overview covers the broader concept; this post focuses on what's specifically local to a London, Ontario business.
Start with the actual questions your customers ask
Before touching your website, list the 10-15 real questions customers ask before hiring you - pricing questions, timeline questions, service-area questions, "do you handle X" questions. This list becomes the backbone of your AEO work, since every page rewrite and FAQ section should map back to one of these actual questions rather than a generic keyword.
Rewrite key pages to directly answer, not just describe
Most business websites describe rather than answer: "We provide quality service you can trust" tells an AI system nothing quotable. "We offer same-day emergency plumbing repairs across London, St. Thomas, and Strathroy" gives it a specific, citable fact. This is the single highest-impact change most London businesses can make for AEO, and it applies across every AI tool at once rather than requiring platform-specific work.
Back it up with structured data
LocalBusiness, FAQPage, and Review schema give AI crawlers a machine-readable version of the same facts your human visitors read, reducing the risk of misinterpretation. Every post on this blog carries this structure - you can view the source of any page to see the pattern in practice.
Build consistency across the wider web, not just your own site
AI tools cross-reference multiple independent sources - your website, your Google Business Profile, review platforms, local directories - before confidently citing a business. Consistent NAP data and a genuine multi-platform review presence matter here in exactly the same way they matter for traditional local SEO; see our NAP consistency guide for the specifics.
Consider an llms.txt file
A plain-text summary of your business, services, and key pages at your site root, built for AI crawlers rather than human browsers. It's not a guarantee, but it's a low-effort way to remove ambiguity - this site runs one at bradlexseo.com/llms.txt as a working example you can reference.
Getting started
Most London businesses have never checked what AI tools currently say about them - a genuinely useful first step. Our AI search optimization service covers this full process, and a free SEO audit includes an AI visibility check as part of the review.