What should a local business do about AEO?

Answer a complete customer question

Choose questions from real conversations. A customer asking about price may need to understand the factors that change the quote. Someone asking about coverage may need to know whether travel or an initial assessment is required.

Give the direct answer first, then explain the conditions, examples and next step. The page should help the person make progress even if no AI system ever cites it.

Make the business easy to identify

Review how the website describes the brand, services and coverage. Remove contradictions and make the responsible organization and contact route clear.

• Use consistent names and service descriptions.
• Support factual claims with appropriate evidence.
• Identify qualified authors or reviewers when relevant and verified.
• Keep important answers in readable page content.
• Link to the detailed service or guide that explains the subject.

Use the current search guidance

Google's AI-feature guidance says there are no special technical requirements beyond the search foundations it describes. It also says a new AI text file or special schema is not required for those features.

This makes the first priorities straightforward: accessible pages, useful answers and accurate information. Optional files or experiments should not displace the work a customer actually needs.

Use FAQs to resolve practical doubts

A useful FAQ answers a question that might otherwise delay an enquiry, such as what to prepare or whether a service is suitable. Google retired its FAQ rich-result feature in May 2026; the value of these answers is in helping readers make an informed next step.

Measure with appropriate limits

Review the referral and enquiry data you can actually observe. You can also record a defined set of questions and inspect the answers periodically, keeping the date and system used with the observation.

A single answer is not a stable ranking report. Different questions and systems may produce different results, and some journeys leave no identifiable referral. Treat these checks as evidence for content improvements, not proof of universal visibility.