Wednesday Website Wisdom: Get Your Small Business Found on AI LLM Searches

Zander | March 11, 2026

I shared a post a few weeks back on LinkedIn about our 8 Pillars of an elite digital presence for small businesses, and I’ve gotten a lot of questions about how this relates to businesses being found via AI searches. If you’re a small business owner or marketing lead, this breakdown is for you.

The 8 Pillars of an Elite Small Business Digital Presence

But before I dive in, you’ve probably seen buzz about GEO / AEO / AIO. Some folks use these interchangeably, but there are actually some minor nuances in each acronym’s definition.

Definitions of GEO / AEO / AIO

GEO = Generative Engine Optimization. This is when AI LLMs cite your business as a reputable source based on the information it can determine about you.

AEO = Answer Engine Optimization. Basically, you’re trying to have your business cited when AI answers simple questions.

AIO = AI Optimization. Much broader and a little more up for interpretation. My definition is that AIO refers to optimizing your entire digital presence so that AI can properly read and understand who you are and what you do. AIO is a key building block of GEO and AEO that ensures you provide better information from your company’s marketing assets to LLMs.

Why GEO Matters Most

AIO is quickly becoming essential (let me know if I should post deeper about this later), and AEO can be important for certain niches, but for most small businesses, you want to solve for GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.

Optimizing your business for GEO is how you get cited when people ask ChatGPT for “best real estate agents in Charleston” or “top 3 yacht brokers on the east coast”. And according to Semrush, leads recommended from AI are 4.4x more likely to close (aside: …wow). That high likelihood makes sense to me, as the savviest users are using these tools to self-qualify as your ICP and, more importantly, disqualify your competitors.

Searching the Internet is Changing…

Search is changing, but I come bearing good news: The fundamentals for showing up on the internet are largely the same as they always have been. Google said it themselves in their recent conference: “Good SEO is Good GEO“. With this in mind, I often use SEO and GEO interchangeably, because these 8 Pillars are largely the same for both – and the levers we pull are the same as well.

However, based on my research, I have seen a few subtle nuances between AI and search engines. AI is overindexing (compared to search engines) toward a few key pillars.

What AI LLMs Favor More Than Search Engines for Your Small Business

1. If you’re serious about GEO, your informational website pages must be best-in-show.

LLMs are hunting through your site to find your capabilities, niches, and portfolio quickly. Services, Portfolio, Capabilities, Locations, etc. They don’t scan like crawlers, and look instead for highlights. Consistently ensure these pages are accurate and optimized with at least annual attention, with language & keywords clearly geared toward your ICP. I also recommend making sure your web developer has LLMS.txt installed on your site. LLMS.txt is a type of website file designed to help AI quickly gather context on your website. While LLMs are not yet consistently using this file during their searching, based on what I’m seeing, I predict that LLMS.txt will become more crucial as the technology develops and it becomes more prevalently adopted. Plus, it’s simple & easy to install.

2. What people say about you is much more important than what you say about you.

Your website content, structure, and performance are the anchors, and the rest of the web agreeing with you helps AI check its work. NAP consistency on your citations & directories is paramount. Reputable backlinks are rocket fuel. It takes additional investment, but control these off-site narratives! Which leads into point #3…

3. Testimonials and reviews are the most important (and easiest) thing you can do for GEO

This has always been true for SEO, but based on my research, it’s becoming the most important. For most small businesses, the customer experience is the most important differentiator, and AI bots understand that. Continue gathering more excellent, well-written 5-star reviews from your best customers wherever you can get them (GBP, Yelp, Houzz, Angi, etc.) and make sure they’re on your website, too. When you ask LLMs to “show their work” on business rankings, testimonials & reviews are consistently the #1 criteria. Don’t leave money on the table by not baking the review request into your business’s delivery process.

All this being said, don’t underestimate the other pillars not mentioned. Now more than ever, your business’s digital presence holistically across the web matters to search (and to your potential customers). I offer these nuances only to help sift through your business’s digital noise and focus your efforts on moving the needle.

And (shameless plug) if this has made you curious in a (free!) SEO / GEO audit for your business, let me know 🙂 Colophon customer or not, Charleston or not, we’re here to help your small business.

Written in March 11, 2026 By

Zander

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