INSITE ADVICE optimizes St. Louis business websites so they can be found, quoted, and cited in AI-generated answers, not only in Google’s regular results. That includes Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. AI SEO is included in our SEO plans, so the same team that works on your rankings also prepares your pages for AI search.
More people now ask an AI tool who to hire instead of scrolling through ten blue links. Those tools pull short, clear passages from pages they trust and name the business behind them. Our job is to make your pages the clearest, best-supported answer available.
What Is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the work of making a website easy for AI search tools to find, understand, and cite as a source in their answers. You will also see it called answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO). The three names describe the same goal.
How is AI SEO different from traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO aims for a high position in a list of links. AI SEO aims for your page to be one of the few sources an AI tool quotes or names in its answer. The foundation is the same: a page has to be crawlable, indexed, and trustworthy before any AI tool will use it. What changes is how the page is written and structured.
What makes a page more likely to be cited?
A direct answer early on. The question the searcher asked is answered in the first few sentences, not after an introduction.
Passages that stand on their own. Each section can be quoted without the surrounding page and still make sense.
Specific facts. Prices, process steps, names, locations, and dates instead of general claims.
Visible proof. Who wrote or reviewed the page, real client results, and recognition with sources.
Accurate structured data. Schema that describes the business, its people, and its services exactly as the page shows them.
For a deeper look at the concept, read our guide to generative engine optimization strategy.
Which AI Search Tools Does AI SEO Cover?
AI SEO at INSITE ADVICE covers the five AI tools people use most to find businesses. Each finds sources in its own way, so each needs its own checks.
| AI tool | How it finds sources | What we check |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Uses Google’s regular search index. Google says no special AI-only markup is required. | The page is indexed, eligible to show a snippet, and answers the query clearly |
| ChatGPT search | Crawls public sites with OpenAI’s search crawler, OAI-SearchBot | OAI-SearchBot is not blocked in robots.txt |
| Perplexity | Crawls with PerplexityBot to surface and link sites in its answers | PerplexityBot is not blocked in robots.txt |
| Claude | Searches the web and cites the sources it uses | The page is public, crawlable, and quotable |
| Gemini | Google’s AI assistant, which draws on web results | The same foundations as Google search |
None of these platforms publishes a formula that guarantees a citation. The work focuses on what each one says it needs, plus the content qualities that make a page worth quoting.
How Does INSITE ADVICE Optimize Pages for AI Search?
We optimize pages for AI search in seven steps, starting with a measured baseline so every change can be checked later.
- Citation baseline. We ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google the questions your customers ask, without naming your business, and record who gets cited.
- Search Console review. We check which pages Google already shows for those questions, and whether two of your pages compete for the same search.
- Page audit. Each priority page is scored on how directly it answers the question, how quotable its passages are, and how well its claims are supported.
- Answer-first rewrites. We rewrite pages to lead with the answer and add the facts AI tools quote: pricing, process, service areas, and real results.
- Structured data. We set up schema that describes your business, people, and services consistently across the site, and validate it with Google’s Rich Results Test and the Schema.org validator.
- Crawler access. We confirm that the crawlers AI tools use can reach your pages.
- Re-test. We run the same questions again 30 to 60 days after changes go live and compare the results to the baseline.
How Much Does AI SEO Cost?
AI SEO is included in INSITE ADVICE’s SEO plans at no separate charge. The same account manager and team that handle your search rankings also handle AI search, because both depend on the same pages, content, and technical foundation. See our St. Louis SEO services for what an SEO plan includes.
We Test This on Our Own Site First
Every step on this page is one we also run on insiteadvice.com.
In October 2026, we tested our marketing consulting page across five AI tools with a question a small business owner might ask: who to call for marketing help in St. Louis. Google’s AI Overview named INSITE ADVICE first under “Who to Call” and cited our marketing consulting page as a source.
We re-test our own pages 30 to 60 days after each round of changes, the same way we do for clients.
What We Don’t Promise
No agency can guarantee that an AI tool will cite your website. Google, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic decide which sources their tools use, they don’t publish a formula for it, and answers vary by person, location, and day.
What we can do is remove the reasons a page gets passed over: unclear answers, missing facts, unsupported claims, blocked crawlers, and conflicting structured data. Then we measure the results the same way each time, so you can see what changed.
AI SEO FAQs
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the work of making a website easy for AI search tools to find, understand, and cite as a source in their answers. It is also called answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO). The three names describe the same goal.
Is AI SEO different from regular SEO?
AI SEO builds on regular SEO rather than replacing it. A page still has to be crawlable, indexed, and trustworthy. AI SEO adds answer-first writing, quotable passages, specific facts, and consistent structured data so AI tools can use the page as a source.
Which AI tools does INSITE ADVICE optimize for?
INSITE ADVICE optimizes for Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. Each tool finds sources differently, so we check each one separately.
How much does AI SEO cost at INSITE ADVICE?
AI SEO is included in INSITE ADVICE’s SEO plans at no separate charge. The same team that handles your search rankings also prepares your pages for AI search.
Can you guarantee my business will be cited by ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews?
No. No agency can guarantee an AI citation, because the platforms decide which sources to use and do not publish a formula. INSITE ADVICE removes the reasons pages get passed over and measures results against a baseline so you can see what changed.
How long does AI SEO take to show results?
We re-test pages 30 to 60 days after changes go live. AI tools refresh their sources on their own schedules, so results can take longer for some pages and platforms.
How do you measure AI SEO results?
We ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google the questions your customers ask, without naming your business, and record which sources are cited. We run the same questions before and after changes and compare the results.
Find Out If AI Tools Mention Your Business
Want to know whether AI tools mention your business today? The first step is a conversation about your website, your customers, and the questions they ask.
Call 314-621-6888 or contact INSITE ADVICE to get started.