AEO and GEO: getting found in AI search.

What changed in B2B buyer research

A growing share of B2B research now starts as a question to ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity ('best B2B web design agencies in Leeds', 'Duda vs Webflow for an agency site') rather than a Google query. The engine answers with a synthesis and a handful of citations. If you are not in the citation set, you were never considered.

The economics differ from SEO: volumes are lower but the engine pre-qualifies and pre-sells. Buyers arriving from AI answers convert at noticeably higher rates because they arrive shortlisted.

What AI engines actually cite

Engines quote pages they can parse into confident statements. In practice that means: the first sentence under a heading answers the heading, facts (prices, locations, client names, metrics) are stated plainly and consistently across the site, FAQs are written as real questions with self-contained answers, and the site declares itself via schema and llms.txt.

Marketing prose is the enemy. 'We deliver transformative digital experiences' gives an engine nothing to quote. 'B2B websites from £4,500, built in Leeds, with case studies at +128% organic sessions' gives it everything.

• Answer-first paragraphs under every H2
• Question-shaped H3s with 2 to 4 sentence answers
• Named entities: clients, prices, places, platforms, metrics
• Consistent facts sitewide (one price, one address, one claim)
• FAQPage, Service, Organization and Article schema
• llms.txt manifest at the site root

How to measure it

Define the prompts your buyers plausibly ask, run them across the major engines on a schedule, and record which brands get mentioned and which URLs get cited. Track share of answer by topic month over month, the way you track rankings. This measurement is the core of our AI visibility service, from £850 a month, reported alongside the actions taken.

Where to start

Restructure your highest-value service pages first: answer-first openings, real FAQs, schema. Then fix consistency (your price, address and positioning should match everywhere). Then measure. Or start with our £1,500 Action Plan, which includes an AI search readiness review of your current site against this exact checklist.