AI Search Optimization
The way people find businesses online has changed. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are now answering your customers' questions directly. Instead of showing a list of ten websites to click through, they deliver one answer with a handful of cited sources. If your business isn't one of those sources, you're invisible to a growing share of your market.
What is AI Search Optimization?
It's called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) depending on where you've heard the term. It's the practice of optimizing your online presence so that AI search tools recognize your business as a credible, citable authority in your field. It builds on the SEO work you may already have in place and adds the additional layer that determines whether AI recommends you or your competitor.
At ProFusion Web Solutions, we've been helping small businesses get found online since 2004. AI search is the next chapter of that work and we're writing the playbook.
Frequently Asked Questions
AI search optimization feels like the wild wild west. There are a lot of "experts" throwing out fear based opinions that just feel shady. Our AEO/GEO and SEO services will always be based on one theory...
If it's good for the end user, it's good for the AI bots and search engines.
If that means adding more social proof, additional clear and unique content, and a new level of transparency in business, we're here for it and here to help you with it.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) builds on top of traditional SEO — it doesn't replace it. If you've been doing SEO well, you already have a foundation. AI search optimization adds the additional layer that determines whether AI tools cite your content as a source. The good news: most GEO best practices also strengthen your traditional SEO at the same time.
Critically, yes. AI search is already the default experience for hundreds of millions of users, and local queries are increasingly being answered by AI tools. When someone asks ChatGPT "who's the best plumber in Bellingham" or searches Google and gets an AI Overview, the businesses that show up in those answers are the ones that prepared for this shift. The window to get ahead of your local competitors is open right now.
Traditional Google search shows a list of links and lets the user decide which one to click. AI search generates one direct answer and cites a small number of sources beneath it. You either appear in that answer or you don't. There's no page two — and ranking number one in traditional search no longer guarantees you'll be included in the AI answer above it.
We audit your current AI visibility, identify the gaps between how you appear today and how you should appear, and build a plan to close them. That includes content restructuring, FAQ development, freshness updates, Google Business Profile optimization, and brand presence building across the platforms AI draws from most.
Some improvements — like FAQ content and freshness updates — can influence AI citations within weeks. Others, like backlink building and brand mention accumulation, compound over 3 to 6 months. We'll track your AI visibility throughout so you can see the progress clearly, not just take our word for it.
Try it yourself: open ChatGPT or Google and ask "who are the best [your service] providers in [your city]." If you're not in the answer, that's your baseline. We can run a full citation audit that shows you exactly where you stand and what it would take to change it.
Answer Engine Optimization Education
Since AEO and GEO are new fields, we've been putting out a lot of educational information to keep our clients as up-to-date as possible. If you're curious about our strategies, looking for some how-to guides, or industry tips, click on the links below. These webinars and blogs will help you understand why AEO is important and how to get started.
AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are changing how people discover businesses. Instead of scanning a list of ten links, users get one AI-generated answer — with a handful of cited sources underneath it. You’re either one of those sources, or you’re invisible in that result.
Google just made the biggest change to search in 25 years — and most small businesses haven’t felt it yet, but they will. In this session, we break down what happened at Google IO 2026, what it means for how your customers find you, and how to build a 60-day AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) plan to start showing up in AI search before your competitors figure out the game has changed.
In this Digital Marketing Breakdown Office Hours Q&A, Patrice from ProFusion Web Solutions answers real small-business questions about what’s changing in digital marketing right now—especially the rise of ads in AI tools, how to use AI without getting overwhelmed, and what to do when a competitor bids on your company name in Google Ads.
let's get going
Ready to Show Up in AI Search?
We've been helping small businesses in the Pacific Northwest get found online for over 20 years. AI search optimization is the next step in that work and now is the time to optimize.
Whether you want a one-time audit to see where you stand, ongoing optimization as part of a broader digital marketing strategy, or somewhere in between, we'll build an approach that fits your business and your budget.