AEO / GEO. Since 2010.
Answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO). Roughly half of Google searches now end without a click. The answer appears at the top, the person reads it, and nobody visits a website. Rankings put you in the list under that answer. AEO/GEO puts your name inside it. We run both, on the same pages, in the same weekly cycle.
iHost Digital's AEO/GEO service gets businesses cited in Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity for the queries that produce customers. The work covers structured data, entity clarity, direct-answer content, and brand mentions across the sources these engines read. Included in the Growth and Scale marketing plans from $4,500 per month, alongside SEO, local SEO, and paid ads.
Who it's for
The report said position 3 and the phone got quieter. That is what happens when Google answers the question above your listing. The ranking is still doing its job. The answer box is taking the click before the list gets a turn. Adding citation work to the SEO you already do closes that gap.
Customers say they found you through ChatGPT, or that Google told them a competitor was the best option in town. You are not sure how either happened, or how to influence it. That is what AEO/GEO fixes, and it is cheaper to fix now than after a competitor becomes the default answer.
What you get
We check the 20 queries that produce customers and record whether you are cited, a competitor is cited, or nobody is. Then we work the gap.
The same 20 queries, asked the way a customer asks them, on each engine. Who gets named, which pages get quoted, and what those pages have that yours do not.
Structured data that tells machines exactly who you are, what you do, where, for how much. Provider, service, offer, and FAQ markup validated on every money page.
Each money page opens with a one-paragraph answer a machine can quote and a person can trust. Questions phrased the way customers phrase them, answered in the first sentence.
Directories, review sites, industry publications, and the pages Google and ChatGPT keep quoting for your category. We get you named there with consistent facts.
For each engine: queries checked, where you were cited, where a competitor was, what changed since last month, and the next three fixes. Alongside your regular rankings report.
Google started answering the question at the top of the page. ChatGPT and Perplexity answer it without a results page at all. The person gets what they needed and never visits a website. Roughly half of Google searches now end this way.
For a business that has only worked on rankings, the position is still there and a share of the traffic is not. The listing sits under an answer that already solved the problem. The report still says page one. Fewer people scroll to it.
The addition is to become the source the answer quotes. That takes pages a machine can read without guessing, facts about your business that match everywhere they appear, and content that answers the exact question in the first sentence. That is AEO/GEO. It is built on the same pages SEO already touches, which is why the same team does both.
A citation compounds. Once ChatGPT or Google AI names you as the answer for a query, a competitor cannot buy the spot the way they can buy an ad placement. It has to be earned the same way you earned it. Ads still win the person ready to call today; the citation wins the person deciding who to trust. Growth and Scale run both.
How it works
Week 1
01
Top 20 money queries run through Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. Baseline recorded: cited, competitor cited, or nobody. This is the number we report against.
Week 2
02
Direct-answer openers, FAQ blocks, and validated structured data on the 5 to 10 pages that make you money. Entity facts made identical everywhere.
Week 3
03
New pages or sections for the questions where nobody is cited yet. Short, specific, quotable. Built to be the source, not a summary of one.
Week 4
04
Same 20 queries, same engines, against the week-one baseline. What moved, what did not, and the plan for month two.
Proof
Real engagements, described by sector rather than name. Numbers come from Search Console, GA4, or the ads account. Nothing rounded up.
Enterprise HR services firm, national multi-metro footprint
Built the website and took 4 service lines to #1 local rankings across the firm's regional offices. Engineering, local SEO, and on-page delivered as one end-to-end engagement, not three hand-offs.
Engineering + Local SEO + On-page · Multi-year
D2C sports nutrition brand
Built the site and drove 6x revenue growth over 36 months against well-funded category incumbents. Engineering, SEO, and paid search delivered as one stack, not three vendors.
Engineering + SEO + Google Ads · 3 years
DTC health-tech brand, specialty wellness
Held 3.7 ROAS for 18 consecutive months on paid media in a narrow-audience category where most agencies burn budget on broad-match. Account structure, audience testing, and creative ops run by one team.
Google Ads · 18 months
Pricing
Fixed monthly price
Included in Growth and Scale
Full AEO/GEO is part of the Growth ($4,500/mo) and Scale ($9,500/mo) marketing plans alongside SEO, local SEO, content, and paid ads. Starter includes an AEO/GEO audit and roadmap. It is not sold as a standalone add-on because the fixes live in the same pages SEO already touches, and one team working both is faster than two vendors working one each.
Six checks: your site, your rankings, whether ChatGPT and Google AI cite you (AEO/GEO), your Google Business Profile, your ads, and your conversion path. PDF in your inbox within 1 business day.
Prefer to talk? (801) 810-8869. Business hours, a person answers.