AI SEO explained: how businesses get named by AI

By Joshua Albanese, the King of AI SEO · Founder of Spearleaf · Updated 16 October 2026

What AI SEO is

AI SEO is the work of improving how often, and how well, a business appears in answers from AI assistants: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity and the assistants built into phones and browsers. When a customer asks "who is the best roofer in my city?", the assistant reads the web and answers with a few names. AI SEO is everything that makes your business one of them.

It is also called answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO). The names differ; the job is the same.

How an AI decides which businesses to name

No AI company publishes a recipe, so be wary of anyone who claims one. But the way these assistants work is well understood. When search is switched on, the assistant runs searches, reads the pages it finds, and writes an answer from what those pages say. A business is likely to be named when:

• It is easy to identify. The same name, address, phone number and description everywhere it appears.
• Its own site says plainly what it does and where. "Emergency roof repair in Tampa" in words, not buried in an image.
• Other sites vouch for it. Reviews, local news, best-of lists, directories and partners that mention it by name.
• The evidence is recent and consistent. Old, conflicting or thin information makes an assistant hedge or skip you.

AI SEO and classic SEO

AI SEO builds on SEO rather than replacing it. The assistants lean on the same signals Google has used for years: a clear website, a strong Google Business Profile, reviews and mentions. What changes is the prize. A search results page shows ten links and a map. An AI answer shows two or three names. Being fourth is the same as not being there. AI SEO vs SEO, AEO and GEO goes deeper.

What the work looks like

1. Check where you stand. Ask the assistants the questions your customers ask and save the answers with the date. How to check your business on ChatGPT.
2. Fix your identity. One set of facts on your site, your Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, Yelp and your industry's directories.
3. Say it plainly. Pages for each service and each place you serve, each answering the questions customers ask in the first two sentences.
4. Earn mentions. Reviews, local press, lists and partners. The assistants trust what others say about you more than what you say about yourself.
5. Check again. Answers move week to week. The work is staying named, not being named once.

The full map of where AI answers come from is in the realm of AI SEO.

Questions