SEO & AI search

Search engine optimization for small businesses

Two things have to happen before a stranger hires you. They have to find you, and then they have to believe you. Search engine optimization is how I handle the first one, across Google's results, the map pack, and now the AI answers that increasingly sit above both.

What SEO means here

I do search engine optimization for small businesses. That covers two jobs that people often split apart and I do not: ranking your website for the searches that bring paying customers, and ranking your business in Google Maps and the local three-pack when someone nearby searches for what you do.

Those two jobs share a foundation. Clean pages that Google can read, content that answers a real question, and credibility it can verify somewhere other than your own website. Get that right and both sides move. Skip it and no amount of tactics holds.

Every engagement starts with a free consult and a look at where you actually stand today, before anyone talks about a plan.

Services

Seventeen ways this gets done

Grouped by what you are actually trying to fix. Start with whichever one describes your problem.

AI search

  • 01

    AI Overview optimization

    Get your pages picked up in Google's AI Overviews and cited by ChatGPT and other AI tools. Also called generative engine optimization (GEO) or answer engine optimization (AEO): same goal, different name.

  • 02

    AI citation building

    Earn the mentions and links AI tools actually pull from, so your business gets named when people ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini for recommendations in your industry.

  • 03

    AI search visibility audit

    Find out whether your business shows up when people ask AI tools what you do, see who is beating you there, and get a fix-it plan ranked by what moves the needle fastest.

  • 04

    Answer-ready content writing

    Content written and formatted so AI assistants and search engines can pull it out and quote it directly: clear direct answers up front, real specifics, no fluff to wade through.

Troubleshooting

  • 01

    SEO audit

    A plain-English review of what is holding your site back, with a prioritized fix list covering technical issues, content gaps, and local signals.

  • 02

    Competitor analysis

    Find out why competitors outrank you in Maps and search, and get a plan to close the gap on their categories, content, and links.

On-site fixes

  • 01

    Technical SEO

    Fix what stops Google reading your site properly: indexing errors, broken links, duplicate pages, slow pages, and mobile problems.

  • 02

    On-page SEO

    Tune each page's titles, headings, content, and internal links so Google can tell what the page is about and which town it serves.

  • 03

    Schema markup

    Structured data that tells search engines your business type, services, service area, and reviews in a format they read without guessing.

Content

  • 01

    SEO content writing

    Service and location page content that is specific, accurate, and built to rank, using real detail from your business instead of filler.

  • 02

    Blog writing

    Articles that answer the questions customers ask before they buy. Written for people first, and planned around what brings in work.

Links and listings

  • 01

    Link building

    Earn links from real local sites: chambers, sponsorships, partners, and local news. No link schemes that put your site at risk.

  • 02

    Citation building

    Get your name, address, and phone listed correctly on the directories that count, so Google and customers see the same details everywhere.

  • 03

    Local listings cleanup

    Track down the wrong and duplicate listings, old phone numbers and addresses, that confuse customers and undercut your local rankings.

Reporting

  • 01

    Rank tracking and geo-grid reports

    See where you rank across your whole service area on Google Maps, not just at your own address, in monthly reports that show what moved.

  • 02

    Google Search Console setup

    Connect your site to Search Console so you can see what you show up for, fix indexing problems, and catch issues early.

  • 03

    Website analytics setup

    See where your visitors come from and which pages turn them into calls and form fills, reported in plain numbers you can act on instead of a dashboard you never open.

How this differs from local marketing

This page is about ranking: your pages in search results, your business in Maps, and your name in AI answers. My local marketing work is about the platforms themselves, keeping your Google Business Profile, your reviews, and your Bing and Apple Maps listings accurate and active. The two feed each other, and they are not the same job.

If you would rather learn to do this yourself than hire it out, that is what consulting is for.

Find out where you actually stand

Book a free consult. I will tell you what is holding you back before you spend anything, including if the answer is that SEO is not your problem right now.

Book a free consult