Establish a useful baseline
Choose a fixed set of buyer questions and record the platform, market, date and conditions. Track brand mentions, linked citations and the sources referenced.
AI search optimization · AEO & GEOBe worththe reference.
Give search engines—and people—something useful to work with.
Buyers are asking AI for explanations, options and shortlists. Your business needs a clear story, useful evidence and a way to see where it actually shows up.
Make it clearWho you help.
Make it usefulWhat you know.
Make it credibleHow you know.
A clear answer. A source worth following.
What we do
Carbon’s AI search optimization services combine foundational SEO, clear company and service information, original research and content improvements with repeatable visibility measurement. Often called answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO), the work helps make expertise discoverable and understandable. AI platforms decide which sources and brands appear.
Start with the substance.
More than
a mention.
Appearing in an answer is one signal. Being accurately described, referenced for relevant expertise and considered by a potential customer tells you more.
We start with the questions your buyers ask and the pages that should help answer them. Then we work through the gaps: unclear positioning, inaccessible information, thin evidence, missing commercial details or a website that is difficult to explore.
Make the business easier to understand
Align service descriptions, About and contact information, internal links and relevant structured data with the facts visible on the site.
Give expertise a public home
Turn approved research, case studies and practitioner knowledge into readable answers, examples, tables and methods. Keep important details available as page text.
Review and improve
Repeat the same observations, compare with search and inquiry data, and improve the pages that leave buyers’ questions unresolved.
Three labels. Connected work.
SEO, AEO
and GEO.
These terms describe overlapping work. We keep the brief focused on the outcome and deliverables, so a new acronym does not become a separate bill for the same improvement.
Google says established SEO practices still apply to its AI search experiences. Useful, original content and accessible pages remain central. Read Google’s guidance for generative search.
| Term | What we mean in the work |
|---|---|
| SEO — search engine optimization | Help relevant pages be discovered, indexed and evaluated for the searches your buyers make. |
| AEO — answer engine optimization | Organize useful answers and supporting evidence so people and answer systems can understand and reference them. |
| GEO — generative engine optimization | Evaluate how a business and its expertise appear in generated answers, then address content and evidence gaps. |
Our research. Out in the open.
Show the answer.
Show the working.
Carbon’s B2B buyer-study details page gives the research a readable home beyond the report download. It presents question-specific findings, accessible tables, a methodology summary and an aggregate data download.
That is a concrete example of the publishing work we mean: make the evidence useful enough for someone else to check and reference. It is our own research publication, not a client AI-visibility result.
The finding
Explain what the data says.
Keep the question, answer and relevant base together.
The context
Explain how it was collected.
Show the sample, method and limits that affect interpretation.
The source
Make it easy to inspect.
Link to readable detail and a downloadable aggregate table.
Keep the measures honest.
Visibility.
Then what?
A mention is not a visit, and a visit is not a qualified lead. We report those steps separately. A fixed prompt panel helps compare observations over time; it does not measure every AI answer or every potential buyer.
Search keyword estimates can help identify a commercial topic. They do not tell us how many people ask an exact question in ChatGPT or another assistant.
| Measure | What it tells you | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Brand mention | The brand appeared in an observed answer. | A recommendation, a click or broad market visibility. |
| Linked citation | The answer included a link to a source on your site. | That a buyer followed it or agreed with it. |
| Identifiable AI referral | Analytics recorded a visit with an identifiable AI source. | Every AI-influenced visit; referrals can be incomplete. |
| Qualified inquiry | A visitor contacted you and met agreed fit criteria. | That AI caused the inquiry without supporting attribution. |
Google Search Console’s separate Generative AI report can add Google-specific context. Its impressions also appear in Web totals, so those totals should not be added together. See Google’s report announcement.
Put the work in perspective.
A clear brief.
A useful starting point.
A useful starting scope can combine an existing-site review, a buyer-question panel, evidence priorities and implementation on agreed pages. An ongoing engagement can add content development and repeated measurement. Bring your current content, approved research or work examples, and the questions that come up before a sale.
Carbon works on a project or retainer basis. Projects receive a custom quote based on your needs and timing. Retainers start as low as $5,000/month. Your proposal defines the work, responsibilities and final fee, including how media, production and technology costs are handled.
Bring the right questions.
Use the AI visibility brief to define buyer questions, source material and what the report should measure. Open the editable worksheet in Excel or Google Sheets. No form required.
Build on what works.
A stronger foundation
for discovery.
AI visibility builds on the same business clarity and useful evidence your buyers need. Connect it with B2B SEO, original buyer research, content development and brand messaging.
We agree on the technical, editorial and measurement work together. Your team reviews confidential information and factual claims before anything is published.
Good questions. Clear answers.
Before we get to work.
Here’s how we think about the work.
Do we need separate AEO and GEO programs?
Usually a single brief is the clearer starting point. The terms overlap, and improvements to company information, evidence and useful content can support several discovery experiences. The proposal should explain distinct deliverables rather than multiplying labels.
Can Carbon guarantee that ChatGPT or Google will recommend us?
No. Platforms choose their answers, references and sources, and results vary by question, context and time. We can agree on the work, establish a repeatable measurement approach and report the observations accurately.
Is structured data enough?
No. Relevant structured data should match useful information people can see on the page. It is one part of a clear, accessible site, not a replacement for expertise or evidence.
Do we need a special AI file or schema?
Google does not require a special AI text file or dedicated AI schema to be eligible for its AI search features. We prioritize crawlability, supported information, useful content and appropriate existing structured data.
How do you measure improvement?
We compare a fixed set of buyer questions under documented conditions, recording mentions and linked citations separately. We review that alongside relevant search data, identifiable referral visits and qualified inquiries, with attribution limits stated.
Can you improve pages we already have?
Yes. Clearer service information, documented work, useful comparison tables and better access to research may be the right first improvements. New pages need a distinct purpose and enough original substance to support it.
What do AI search optimization services cost?
Carbon works on a project or retainer basis. Projects receive a custom quote based on your needs and timing. Retainers start as low as $5,000/month. Your proposal defines the work, responsibilities and final fee, including how media, production and technology costs are handled.
Keep exploring
Make the next connection.
Create a reaction
Give them something to reference.
Let’s turn the expertise inside your business into something people can find and use.