Best AEO and GEO Consultants for Small Business: How to Choose

A year ago almost nobody sold answer engine optimisation. Now every SEO agency has added AEO and GEO to its menu, and plenty of new firms exist only to sell it. That's good news, because small businesses need the help. It's also confusing, because the labels are new, the results are hard to see, and it's easy to buy a monthly report that never changes what AI says about you.

This guide explains what an AEO or GEO consultant does for a small business, the kinds of provider you'll come across, what good work looks like and how to check someone before you hire them. I offer this service myself, so I'll say where I fit near the end and give you the questions I'd expect you to ask me.

What do AEO and GEO consultants do?

Answer engine optimisation (AEO) and generative engine optimisation (GEO) both aim at the same outcome: when someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google's AI features a question you should be the answer to, your business gets named, quoted or linked. AEO is usually used for answer-style results such as AI Overviews and featured answers. GEO is the broader work of being cited by large language models. In practice a good consultant does both.

The work itself is a mix of things you'll recognise from SEO and things that are new:

• Finding the questions your buyers ask AI tools and checking what the answers say today.
• Writing pages that answer those questions clearly in the first lines, so an AI system can lift the answer.
• Making your business easy to identify: consistent name, services and facts across your site and profiles.
• Structured data, such as FAQ and organisation markup, so machines read your pages correctly.
• Earning mentions on the sites AI tools already trust and cite in your niche.
• Tracking whether you're named over time, question by question.

The kinds of AEO and GEO provider you'll meet

SEO agencies that have added AEO and GEO

Many established agencies now offer AI visibility alongside classic SEO. The upside is solid technical knowledge. The thing to check is whether they've changed how they work or just renamed the package.

AI search specialists

Newer firms focus only on AI answers. They often have their own tracking and strong opinions on what moves citations. Ask to see results for businesses your size, because some are built for large brands.

Visibility tools with a service attached

Some tracking platforms offer done-for-you help. They're good at measurement. Make sure someone will write and fix things, not only report on them.

Independent consultants

One person, or a small team, who'll audit what AI says about you, fix your pages and build the content and mentions that change the answer. This suits small businesses that want a single accountable person.

How do you choose an AEO or GEO consultant for a small business?

These checks will sort most providers in one call.

1. Ask them to show you what AI says about your business today. A good consultant runs your real buyer questions through the main AI tools before they quote you anything.
2. Ask what they'll change in the first month. You want named pages and named fixes, not a list of principles.
3. Ask how they track results. The honest answer is question by question across several AI tools, repeated over time, because answers vary from day to day.
4. Ask about their own visibility. If they can't get themselves cited, be careful about paying them to get you cited.
5. Watch for guarantees. Nobody controls what an AI model says. Anyone promising a fixed position is guessing.
6. Check that the work stays yours. Pages, markup and content should live on your site and stay there.

If you're still unsure which label you need, my explainer on AEO vs GEO sets out the difference in plain English.

What good AEO and GEO work looks like in practice

The best work is unglamorous. It's rewriting a service page so the first sentence answers the question a buyer asks. It's making sure your business is described the same way on your site, your profiles and the directories in your sector. It's publishing clear, useful answers to the questions your customers ask before they buy, and getting talked about on sites that AI tools already rely on.

Good work also accepts that AI answers move. One week you're named, the next week you're not, then you're back. A consultant worth hiring tracks the trend over many questions and many runs, rather than celebrating or panicking over a single screenshot.

Red flags when hiring an AEO or GEO agency

• A monthly report with no changes to your site.
• Promises of a guaranteed spot in ChatGPT answers.
• Mass-produced pages that all say the same thing with a different town or keyword.
• Advice to buy mentions or fake reviews. It risks your reputation and your search visibility.
• No plan for your existing service pages, which are usually the pages AI should be quoting.

Where I fit as an AEO and GEO consultant

I'm Lilach Bullock, a British AI marketing consultant with 21 years in marketing. I built, scaled and sold a digital marketing agency, I've partnered with brands including Twitter, Dropbox, IBM, monday.com and Greenpeace, and Forbes listed me in the Top 20 Social Media Power Influencers. My Get Cited by AI work is exactly this: getting businesses quoted, linked and recommended inside the answers AI engines give back, for buyers in the UK, the US and worldwide.

You can read how my generative engine optimisation service works. If you'd like to plan it yourself first, my GEO strategy guide sets out a step-by-step plan.

Choosing an AEO or GEO consultant: the short version

Pick someone who starts by showing you what AI says about you now, changes real pages in the first month and measures across many questions over time. Then give them one clear goal, such as being named for the three questions your best customers ask, and judge them on that.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an AEO consultant and a GEO consultant?

AEO focuses on answer-style results such as AI Overviews and direct answers. GEO covers being cited by AI models such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. Most good consultants do both, because the same pages and signals feed both.

Do small businesses need AEO or GEO?

If your customers ask AI tools who to hire or what to buy, yes. Small businesses can win specific questions in their niche because AI tools often cite clear, focused pages over big generic ones.

How long does AEO or GEO take to show results?

Page fixes can be picked up within weeks, but AI answers change from day to day. Judge progress over a couple of months and across many questions rather than on one check.

Can an AEO consultant guarantee my business appears in ChatGPT?

No. Nobody controls what an AI model says. A good consultant improves the odds and shows you the trend, question by question.

Is AEO different from SEO?

It overlaps a lot. Strong SEO pages are often the ones AI tools quote. AEO adds answer-first writing, clear business facts and tracking of AI answers on top.