The quiet split in search behaviour
For twenty years, 'being found online' meant one thing: ranking on Google. That single channel has now split. A growing share of high-intent research — 'best dental clinic in Manchester', 'workflow automation partner in the UK', 'voice AI support system near me' — happens inside AI assistants that synthesise an answer instead of listing ten blue links. If your brand is absent from that synthesis, you are invisible to that buyer, no matter how well you rank in classic search.
AEO and GEO, in plain terms
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring your content so AI systems can extract direct, citable answers from it: clean headings, question-led sections, schema markup, concise factual statements. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) goes a step further — it is about becoming a source AI models trust and mention when generating recommendations: consistent entity data, authoritative third-party mentions, llms.txt files, and content depth that earns citations.
What we audit first
When KynoAI runs an AI-visibility audit, we test how a brand appears across multiple assistants for its core commercial queries, then audit the website for machine readability: structured data coverage, crawlability for AI agents, answer-ready content blocks, and entity consistency across directories. The gap between 'mentioned' and 'recommended' is usually a content-architecture problem, not a content-volume problem.
The practical playbook
Start with five queries your buyers actually ask an assistant. Check whether you are cited. Then rebuild your most important pages around direct answers: a one-paragraph summary at the top, FAQ schema, comparison tables, and verifiable claims with sources. Brands that move early are compounding an advantage — AI systems reinforce sources they already trust.