Get found
When a guest asks an AI where to eat, three names come back. Yours isn't one of them.
Guests used to search on Google and look through page one. Now they ask an AI and get a list of three names back. Being on page one no longer means you are on that list.
Book a meeting →This is where you want to be
This is where it is decided: one question, and a few names come back.
Where can we eat well tonight in the centre? One of us is vegetarian.
Thinking
Three worth a look:
Short menu, two proper vegetarian dishes. Still room around half seven.
Changing menu, vegetarian on request. Book through their site.
On the water, vegetarian set menu. Free from 8pm.
Would you like me to book one?
Based on websites, Google profiles and review sites
And your venue?
Where can we eat well tonight in the centre? One of us is vegetarian.
Three worth a look. Your venue: short menu, proper vegetarian dishes, and tables still free around half seven. Then two others a few streets away.
Whether your name appears here depends on what the rest of the web says about you, and on whether an AI can read it.
What has changed
Ranking well in Google is no longer the same as being found. They have become two different things, each with its own rules.
- 88%
- of businesses are invisible in ChatGPT, including ones sitting on page one of Google.
- 0%
- median domain overlap between what GPT-4o answers and Google’s top ten.
- 14.2%
- conversion from AI search traffic, against 2.8% from organic search.
Figures: AiOClicks
Three places a guest looks for you
Google, the map and the AI answers all work differently. Here is what we do on each of the three.
Most guests still type their question in. And a business that is weak here does not get named by an AI either, because an AI leans largely on the same sources.
- Technical SEOCrawlability, site structure, indexing and load time.
- On-page & keywordsPages and copy that match what guests with a table in mind actually type.
- Keyword researchWorking out which searches your place can be found for, and which of those are worth the effort.
- Link building & citationsEditorial placements, guides and references from your own region and trade.
- Core Web VitalsLCP, CLS and speed: the scores Google measures your site against.
- Multilingual contentOver seventy languages. Guests search in their own, so the answer has to exist in it.
Google Maps
For a hospitality business the map is usually the busiest front door: "restaurant near me", a blue dot, three names. That is where the table is chosen, not on page one.
- Google Business ProfileCategory, description, services, attributes and questions filled in and kept current.
- Local keywordsBeing found for what people nearby really type, per neighbourhood and per occasion.
- Photos, menu & hoursThe three things a guest opens first, and the ones most often out of date.
- Citations & NAPThe same name, address and phone everywhere. Differences cost you map position.
- Reviews & questionsA natural flow of reviews, and answers the next guest reads too.
- Map performanceHow many people see you, call, ask for directions, and what that does month on month.
ChatGPT, Gemini & AI Overviews
More and more guests ask an AI and get a shortlist of three back. You are on it or you are not; there is no second page.
- GEOGenerative Engine Optimization: describing and structuring your business so an AI dares to recommend it.
- AEOAnswer Engine Optimization: answering the questions guests actually ask, so you are the source.
- AI OverviewsThe answer Google puts above the organic results: its own contest, with its own winners.
- Schema & structured dataMachine-readable facts about your kitchen, price range, opening hours and booking.
- Your place as an entityA recognisable brand in knowledge graphs, guides and trusted third-party sources.
- Checking what is said about youWhat an AI tells people about your business today, and where that picture comes from.
The venue guests find online is the venue that fills up.
What it gets you
- You come up when someone asks an AI for a restaurant in your area
- You keep your place in Google, even when the rules shift again
- Guests from abroad find you in their own language
- Your profile is right, so people stop calling to ask your opening hours
- Ad budget goes to the weeks where it matters
- One party watching the whole picture instead of four separate suppliers
See where you stand
AiOClicks runs a free analysis of your visibility, in Google and across the AI platforms.
Free analysis →