Getting found: small-business SEO and the new world of AI search
Being online isn't the same as being found. Here's what actually moves the needle for a local business on Google — and what GEO, showing up in AI answers, means for you now.
Having a website is not the same as being found. Plenty of perfectly good small-business sites sit on page five of Google and never get seen, while a worse competitor with better fundamentals takes the calls. The good news: a lot of small-business SEO is just doing the basics properly — which most sites don't. The newer news: there's now a second front, AI search, and it's worth getting ahead of.
SEO: the fundamentals that actually move the needle
Ignore the jargon and the agencies promising magic. For a local business, a handful of things do most of the work:
- Speed and mobile. A fast site that works on a phone ranks better and converts better — it's foundational, not optional.
- Clear pages that answer real searches. The words people actually type to find a business like yours, answered plainly on your site.
- The local signals. A properly set up Google Business Profile and consistent business details across the web decide a lot of local rankings.
- Structure Google can read. Sensible page titles, headings, and clean markup so search engines understand what you offer.
GEO: showing up in AI answers
GEO — generative engine optimisation — is the newer cousin of SEO. More and more people don't scroll a list of links any more; they ask ChatGPT, or read Google's AI overview at the top of the results, and act on the answer. GEO is about making sure your business is something those AI tools can understand, trust, and quote when someone asks 'who's a good [your trade] near me'.
The encouraging part is that a lot of GEO overlaps with good SEO: clear, accurate, well-structured information about what you do, who you serve, and where. Do the fundamentals well and you're already most of the way there. The point of doing it now is that it's early — the businesses that structure their information clearly today are the ones AI tools will lean on tomorrow.
What to expect, honestly
Getting found takes time. Setup work — fixing the foundations, the local listings, the on-page content — takes a few weeks. Meaningful ranking improvements usually take a few months. Anyone selling you overnight page-one results is selling you something. But the fundamentals compound: get them right and you keep getting found long after the work is done.
If you're not showing up when customers search for what you do, I can do the practical, honest fundamentals — SEO from £200, GEO from £250, depending on your site and market. Tell me your business and where your customers are, and I'll scope it.