As a restaurant owner in Japan, I used to think "SEO" was something only big chains with agencies could win. Then customers started telling me they found us by asking ChatGPT "where should I eat near here?" — and I realized the rules had quietly changed.
Quick answer: GEO/AEO (Generative / Answer Engine Optimization) means making your business easy for AI assistants — ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI Overviews — to understand and recommend. You do it by publishing clear, structured, factual answers about your business so the AI can quote you. You don't need an agency. You need a few hours and the right structure.
Why this matters now
More people ask an AI assistant for recommendations instead of scrolling a search page. When they ask "best family-friendly Italian place open late," the AI answers with a short list. If your business isn't legible to that AI, you're invisible — no matter how good your food is. Small local businesses can win here precisely because most haven't started.
The 5 things that actually move the needle
1. Make your basic facts impossible to misread. Name, address, hours, phone, what you serve, price range, and 2-3 things that make you different — written plainly in one place on your site. If your hours say one thing on Google and another on your site, you get dropped.
2. Write in question-and-answer format. AI search rewards content that directly answers real questions. Add an FAQ: "Do you take reservations?" "Are you vegetarian-friendly?" "What's good for a first visit?" Answer each in 1-2 honest sentences. This is the highest-leverage thing most owners skip.
3. Add structured data (schema). Schema is a small block of code that labels your facts so machines read them perfectly. Most site builders have a plugin, or a tool can generate it for you.
4. Keep your Google Business Profile fresh. Photos, hours, and replies to every review (good or bad). Replying in your real voice is a 2-minute habit with outsized payoff.
5. Publish a little, consistently. One useful post a week beats ten posts in a burst then silence.
The mistake I made first
I tried to do all of it at once, burned out, and stopped. What worked was shrinking it to 3 small actions a week and repeating. Boring beats heroic.
FAQ
Is GEO/AEO different from SEO? It overlaps. SEO targets the classic results page; GEO/AEO targets AI assistants and answer boxes. The structured, factual, FAQ-style work helps both.
Do I need to pay for tools? No. You can do all of this manually. Tools just save time.
How long until it works? Weeks, not days. It compounds. The businesses that start now are the ones AI recommends in a few months.
I'm not technical — can I still do this? Yes. I'm not an engineer. If you can fill a form and copy-paste, you can do every step.
I got tired of guessing the "3 things this week," so I built a free tool that picks them and writes them ready to paste — FAQ, review replies, weekly posts. It's free and needs no signup: growl-ai.com. Either way, start with the FAQ on your site this week — it's the fastest win.
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