Answer Engine Optimization
Get named when your customers ask AI who to call.
We track your prompts every week across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini, publish content engineered for citation, and build the entity signals answer engines check before they will recommend a business.
Included in every Intleacht package. The website rebuild comes first.
Book a Strategy CallWhat is answer engine optimization?
Answer engine optimization is the practice of making a business citable by AI systems like ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini when a customer asks them for a recommendation.
It works on four things an answer engine checks before naming any business: entity authority, schema markup, content structure, and citation consistency across third-party sources.
When a homeowner asks ChatGPT who the best roofer in Dallas is for storm damage, or asks Google AI Overviews where to get an HVAC system inspected this week, AEO decides whether your business is one of the companies named. If it is, the customer clicks through or saves your number. If it is not, that customer never learns you exist.
Cited, or invisible
There is no second page of AI results. There is no scroll-and-discover. An answer engine names two or three businesses and the customer calls one of them. The outcome is binary, and unlike a ranking drop, there is no warning when you fall out of it.
Answer engines do not choose those businesses at random. They cite based on entity authority, factual accuracy, citation consistency across third-party sources, and direct-answer content patterns they can quote cleanly. A business with a beautiful website and no entity signals gives an answer engine nothing to work with.
Our AEO program runs continuously from the day your new website launches. We track your prompts weekly to see exactly where your business is mentioned and where competitors are cited instead. We publish content targeting the specific questions your customers ask AI. We build the citation and entity signals that make an answer engine confident enough to name you. Every action is measured against your citation rate, so you see the work land in real time rather than at the end of the program.
What's included every month
Every Intleacht package includes the same eight deliverables every month. We do not unbundle services and we do not negotiate scope down to reduce price. The eight work together — each one reinforces the others, and removing any one measurably reduces results. What changes between packages is volume, not scope.
AI prompt tracking
We track industry-specific and location-specific prompts for your business every week across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini. You see exactly where your business is named, where competitors are named instead, and where the citation gaps are. Starter tracks 50 prompts against 10 competitors; Growth and Dominance track 100 against 25. This is the data layer that drives every other decision in your program.
AEO articles
Articles published on your website every month, each engineered for citation. Topics come straight from your prompt tracking data — we write what your customers are actually asking AI, in the format answer engines reliably quote. Every article includes direct-answer paragraphs, question-led headings, an FAQ section, and schema markup. Starter delivers 8 a month. Growth and Dominance deliver 16.
Directory citations
Citations every month across high-trust directories: industry-specific listings, regional business associations, review platforms, and authoritative local directories. Citations reinforce your name, address, and phone consistency across the web — the foundational data answer engines cross-check before naming any business in a local recommendation. Starter builds 5 a month, Growth and Dominance build 10.
Authority citations
Listings and profiles with the manufacturers, certification bodies, and trade associations you already belong to and have never leveraged. A roofer certified by a major manufacturer, listed in that manufacturer's contractor directory, is a materially stronger entity to an answer engine than one who is not. We find every affiliation you hold and make sure it is publicly verifiable.
Schema markup maintenance
We monitor and expand your schema as your business grows. New services get Service schema. New locations get LocalBusiness schema. New team members get Person schema. As Schema.org publishes new specifications and answer engines change how they read markup, we adapt yours to match — every month, without you asking.
Entity definition monitoring
We check your entity consistency across the web every month. If a directory has the wrong phone number, a third-party site lists an old address, or a review platform misspells your business name, we find it and fix it. Entity drift is the silent killer of AI visibility, and most businesses have no idea it is happening to them.
Google Business Profile management
Weekly posts, photos, categories, and services kept current, plus map pack competitor research. Customer reviews answered in your brand voice. Your profile is one of the highest-weight third-party sources an answer engine checks when confirming a local business is real, active, and well regarded.
Monthly reporting and diagnostic
One report every month showing citation rates across all four engines, prompt-level performance, competitor citation tracking, traffic growth, and schema health. You also receive a scored 7-Pillar AI Visibility Diagnostic — a breakdown of exactly where your foundation is strong, where it is weak, and what moved since last month.
How AEO is priced
AEO is included in all three packages, on a six-month term billed monthly: Starter at $1,500 per month, Growth at $3,000, or Dominance at $6,000.
Every package also includes the one-time $5,000 website rebuild — $2,500 at signing and $2,500 when we ship the site. The rebuild comes first, because the AEO work depends on the foundation it creates.
Packages run six months because AEO compounds. Six months is the shortest window in which that compounding becomes measurable and stable.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions about AEO
What is answer engine optimization?
Answer engine optimization is the practice of making a business citable by AI platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini when customers ask them for a recommendation. It works on entity authority, schema markup, content structure, and citation consistency across third-party sources — the four things an answer engine checks before naming any business.
Why isn't a good Google ranking enough?
Because a ranking and a recommendation are won differently. A ranking puts you on a page of results the customer still has to work through. An AI recommendation names a handful of businesses and the customer calls one. Rankings are won with keywords and traffic signals; citations are won with entity recognition, factual consistency, and content structured so an answer engine can quote it directly. A business can sit on page one of Google and never be named by ChatGPT.
How long does it take to see results from AEO?
Citation rates typically begin improving within the first 60 to 90 days as optimized content publishes and answer engines re-crawl your rebuilt website. Compounding growth becomes clearly measurable by months four through six. We track every metric weekly across all four engines and report monthly, so you see progress as it happens rather than at the end of the program.
Which AI platforms do you optimize for?
ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini. These four account for the overwhelming majority of AI-driven business recommendations in home services. Each uses different signals, so the work covers entity authority for ChatGPT, schema and local data for Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Google's broader knowledge graph for Gemini.
Can I get AEO services without the website rebuild?
No. AEO depends on technical foundations that have to be built into the website from the start — schema markup, content structure, entity definitions, and on-page semantic patterns. We tested optimizing existing client websites for a year and consistently produced worse results than rebuilding from scratch. Every Intleacht engagement begins with the rebuild, and it is included in all three packages. No exceptions.
How much does AEO cost?
AEO is included in all three packages on a six-month term, billed monthly: Starter at $1,500 per month, Growth at $3,000 per month, and Dominance at $6,000 per month. Every package also includes a one-time $5,000 website rebuild covering up to 30 pages, paid $2,500 at signing and $2,500 when we ship the site. Additional pages are $100 each.