LLM Optimization, GEO & AEO Services

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What GEO Is What’s Included Our Approach Our Research Results FAQs Free Consultation

At Kern Media®, our LLM optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) services help companies get mentioned, described accurately, quoted and recommended when buyers ask AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode. As a founder-led SEO, AEO and GEO consultancy with over 20 years of SEO experience, we blend GEO and AEO with SEO, so the same pages that rank in Google also earn citations in AI answers. Most of our clients are eCommerce brands and lead generation businesses.

Why GEO matters

AI tools pull most of their answers from company websites, and brands whose own sites get cited are far more likely to be recommended.

84%

Of AI citations went to company websites

See the study ›

96%

Of brands recommended when their site was cited, vs 18% when not

See the study ›

AI referral revenue for an eCommerce client

See the case study ›

★★★★★

5-star rating on Google

Read the reviews ›

Research figures come from the Kern Media AI Search Citation Study (2026), an analysis of 1,044 AI answers, mostly from ChatGPT, with a head-to-head test of Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Client results are anonymized; see our case studies.

What Is LLM Optimization (GEO)?

LLM optimization, also called generative engine optimization (GEO), is the work of getting your brand mentioned, described accurately and cited when people ask AI tools for recommendations. AI tools give one answer instead of ten links, so the brands they name win the click, the lead and often the sale.

AI referral traffic is still smaller than Google traffic for most companies, but it tends to be high-intent. For one eCommerce client in 2026, revenue per visit from ChatGPT grew from $1.05 to $6.33 in a single quarter.

What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of making your pages easy for answer engines to quote. That includes Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode and featured snippets, voice assistants and AI tools like ChatGPT. AEO focuses on clear questions, direct answers, FAQs, tables and schema, so your page becomes the answer to a specific question.

AEO and GEO overlap a lot. AEO is about your page being used as the answer, and GEO is about your brand being named and recommended. We do both on top of SEO, since all three depend on the same well-built pages.

What’s Included in Our GEO and AEO Services

Company facts audit

A facts consistency audit of every page, so your site states the same details about your company, services and results everywhere AI tools look.

AI visibility tracking

50 to 100 real buyer prompts, built from your leads, sales calls and keyword data and grouped by persona and buying stage, tracked in ChatGPT (and any other AI tools you add) to show your mention rate, average rank, top competitors and cited sources.

AI crawlability fixes

Robots.txt rules for AI bots, JavaScript rendering, schema and indexation, so AI crawlers can read your key pages. Many AI crawlers don’t run JavaScript.

Content that earns citations

Every key prompt mapped to one best page, with the specific content to add and the new pages to build, such as cost, comparison, audience and “best for” pages.

Answer-ready pages (AEO)

Clear question-and-answer sections, FAQs, comparison tables and schema, so Google’s AI Overviews, featured snippets and AI tools can pull your page as the direct answer.

Entity and schema work

Organization, Person, Product and Service schema, plus consistent facts across your site, so AI tools describe your company, people and offerings correctly.

Offsite profiles and awards

Current, consistent descriptions across LinkedIn, directories and review sites, plus a prioritized list of awards and rankings for your PR team.

AI traffic and revenue reporting

AI referrals, leads and revenue by platform in GA4, compared against your prompt visibility every month.

Not sure where you stand yet? Most clients start with an AI visibility audit.

Our Approach to LLM Optimization

Our approach starts with your own website, since that’s where AI tools find most of their answers (84% of citations in our study went to company websites). Before we add anything new, we learn what your site already says and what your buyers actually ask, then close the gaps between the two.

1Collect all of your site content. We start with an export of your site content HTML from your CMS, or crawl the site to collect it. That gives us a complete, page-by-page view of what your website tells buyers and AI tools today.

2Run a company facts consistency audit. We check that your company facts and website info match on every page, such as services, locations, team, pricing, reviews and results. AI tools pick up whatever your pages say, so conflicting facts lead to vague or wrong answers about you.

3Build the prompts your buyers ask. We create sample prompts from several sources, including messages from your leads, sales call transcripts, keyword data and third-party tools. Then we group them by persona and track how often you’re mentioned, where you rank and which sources get cited, plus your AI traffic, leads and revenue.

4Map prompts to your pages. We compare your indexable pages (the pages Google and AI tools can index) against those prompts, matching each prompt to its best page. The result is a prioritized content plan: what to add to existing pages, such as cost, comparisons, who you’re best for, credentials and results, and which new pages to create.

5Make sure AI tools can read your site. We check robots.txt rules for AI bots, rendering, schema and indexation, and give your developers clear, prioritized fixes.

6Fix how the web describes you. LLMs repeat what other sites say. We clean up company and leadership profiles, directories and review sites, and help your PR team target the awards and lists AI tools cite.

7Track what it’s worth. Every month you see AI visibility by prompt and engine, Google rankings, and the traffic, leads and revenue from each AI tool, with clear next steps.

What Our Research Shows

Our GEO work is built on first-party data. In our AI search citation study, we analyzed 1,044 AI answers, 4,872 brand recommendations and 5,376 citations across 8 broad industries. A few findings that shape how we work:

84%

Company websites

84% of AI citations went to the websites of the companies being recommended, not news sites, forums or directories.

96% vs 18%

Citations drive recommendations

Brands whose own site was cited were recommended 96% of the time, compared to 18% when their site wasn’t cited.

6.9%

Blogs rarely get cited

Homepages, service, About and product pages earned far more citations than blog posts, so we focus on commercial pages first.

80 pts

Persona beats phrasing

Visibility swung up to 80 points by buyer persona but only about 7 points by wording, so we track by persona and by engine.

GEO Results

eCommerce + GEO

National eCommerce Brand: AI Referral Revenue Up 7x

After our technical SEO, GEO and content optimization work, revenue from AI tools grew about 7x (July to September 2026 vs. the prior 90 days). We track 80 buyer prompts across 8 customer types and split AI revenue by platform in GA4.

AI referral revenue in one quarter

$6.33

Revenue per ChatGPT visit, up from $1.05

95%

Of tracked prompts mention the brand

See the full case study ›

Lead Gen + GEO

Travel Company: From 0% to the #2 Brand in AI Answers

We tracked 80 trip-planning prompts, added an FAQ page that answers common traveler questions, then revamped the itinerary pages around the prompts where the client had little or no visibility. The client went from 0% to 35% of AI answers and became the #2 most-mentioned brand out of 118, up from #8.

35%

Of tracked AI answers mention the client, up from 0%

Most-mentioned brand out of 118, up from #8

Trip-planning prompts tracked

See the full case study ›

Curious what ChatGPT and Claude say about your brand?

On a free 30-minute call, we’ll talk through how AI tools describe your brand today and where the biggest gaps are.

★★★★★ 5.0 on Google20+ years in SEOMonth-to-month, no long contracts

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Who Our GEO Services Are For

Our GEO services are a good fit for companies with an established website and leads or sales from search and AI that matter to the business. Most of our clients are eCommerce brands and lead generation businesses, and we also work with publishers, multi-location businesses and many other types of companies. You work directly with founder Dan Kern, who brings in SEO, paid search and CRO/analytics specialists with 10 to 20+ years of experience as your engagement needs.

GEO and AEO are part of every retainer, which typically runs $1,500 to $5,000 per month.

See our pricing page for how retainers and audits work.

LLM Optimization FAQs

What is LLM optimization (GEO)?

LLM optimization, also called generative engine optimization (GEO), is the work of getting your brand mentioned, described accurately and cited when people ask AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode for recommendations. It builds on SEO, because AI tools pull from many of the same pages and sources that rank in search.

What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of making your pages easy for answer engines to quote. That includes Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode and featured snippets, voice assistants and AI tools like ChatGPT. It focuses on clear questions, direct answers, FAQs, tables and schema, so your page becomes the answer to a specific question. AEO and GEO overlap a lot: AEO is about your page being used as the answer, and GEO is about your brand being named and recommended.

How are GEO and AEO different from SEO?

SEO helps your pages rank in Google’s search results. AEO (answer engine optimization) helps your pages become the direct answer in Google’s AI Overviews, featured snippets and AI tools. GEO helps your brand get mentioned, recommended and cited in AI answers. They overlap a lot: strong rankings, clear content and a trusted brand help all three. AEO and GEO add AI crawler access, prompt tracking, answer-ready content and offsite profile work. We do all three, since Google still drives most traffic for most companies.

Which AI tools do you optimize for?

We optimize for all the major AI tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode. Tracking starts with ChatGPT, since it sends most of the AI referral traffic we see in client GA4 reports, and we add other AI tools on request. Our research found AI tools rarely agree, so we report each one separately.

Why does ChatGPT recommend our competitors and not us?

Usually because AI tools find clearer, more consistent information about them. In our AI search citation study, 84% of citations went to the websites of the companies being recommended, and when a company’s own site was cited, it was recommended 96% of the time, compared with 18% when it wasn’t. Competitors that show up often have service pages, About pages and third-party profiles that state who they serve, what they do and why they’re a good fit. An AI visibility audit shows which sources AI tools use for your category and what you’re missing.

Is getting into AI answers an SEO job or a PR job?

Both, and they work best together. Your website is the source AI tools cite most, so the SEO side covers AI crawler access, page content and schema. PR and offsite profiles (review sites, directories and articles that mention you) shape how AI tools describe and rank you. We lead the website work and give your PR team the list of sources AI tools cite for your category.

Where do the prompts you track come from?

We build them from how your buyers actually talk: messages from your leads, sales call transcripts, keyword data and third-party tools. Then we group them by persona and buying stage and compare them against your indexable pages to see which questions your site answers well and where content is missing.

How long does LLM optimization take to work?

AI tools that search the web live can pick up site changes within a few weeks, and we usually see measurable changes in AI mentions within 1 to 3 months. Changing how AI models describe your brand without searching takes longer, often several months, because it depends on mentions and citations building up across the web.

Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my company?

No. Nobody can, and you should be wary of anyone who promises it. AI answers change by user, model and day. What we can do is fix what’s holding you back, build the content AI tools cite and track your visibility by prompt so you can see progress over time.

How do you measure AI visibility?

We track a fixed set of buyer prompts by persona in ChatGPT and any other AI tools you add, segment AI referral traffic, leads and revenue in GA4, watch for prompt-style queries in Google Search Console, and check server logs for visits from AI bots like ChatGPT-User, Claude-User and PerplexityBot when available.

How much do LLM optimization services cost?

GEO and AEO are part of our monthly retainers, which typically range from $1,500 to $5,000 per month, with enterprise programs from $5,000 to $10,000 per month. An AI visibility audit is a common starting point. Exact pricing comes in a custom proposal after a free consultation.

Do I need to rewrite my whole website for GEO?

Usually not. Most of the gains come from strengthening the pages AI tools already cite most, such as your homepage, service or product pages and About page, and adding the specific facts, numbers and answers they are missing.

Get Recommended by AI Tools

Book a free 30-minute call to see how your brand shows up in AI answers today.

You’ll talk directly with founder Dan Kern, not a salesperson, and get a custom proposal after the call.

★★★★★ 5-star rating on Google20+ years in SEOMonth-to-month, no long contracts

Request a Free Consultation

Amanda Ferm

When Kern Media came in, they inherited nearly 30 years of accumulated SEO debt. Dan helped us untangle and clean up years of technical and content issues, build a much stronger SEO foundation, and ultimately allowed us to outrank our competitors for the most valuable keywords in our industry. What I appreciated most was that they didn't treat SEO as a static checklist. Their strategic appoach helped us understand how search was evolving, what changes actually mattered, and where we needed to adapt. As AI began reshaping search and discovery, they were already helping us think beyond traditional SEO and understand what emerging AI-driven search meant for our visibility. Kern Media brought both deep expertise and a practical, strategic approach to the work. They significantly improved our visibility while building a strong organic search foundation that positioned us to stay ahead of the curve as search continues to evolve—from traditional SEO to the rapidly changing world of AI-driven discovery.

Keith Nickoles

I have partnered professionally with Dan and his team at Kern Media for over five years, and their SEO strategies consistently deliver impressive results. I've never seen a system so detail-oriented. It's impressive to witness and be a part of. I strongly recommend their services to any business seeking a reliable, long-term partner for digital growth.

Ashley Mo

Dan and the Kern Media team so impressed me with their expertise that he was my first call when I changed jobs and needed to hire an SEO consultant. Our organic traffic continues to grow as we've followed the content and technical recommendations from the team. Dan is great at explaining complicated terms simply and extremely responsive. I highly recommend working with Kern Media.

Benjamin Smith

Within minutes of talking to Dan he was able to help me troubleshoot a good deal why my search rankings were struggling. He has fantastic insight and truly is expert in the ever-changing world of SEO.

Mike W

Working with Dan has been a pivotal part of our company. For the past 10 years, we've been selling furniture online and have achieved early success in ranking well on Google. However, our pages were not structured to rank effectively. After our traffic began steadily declining, we decided to engage with Kern Media to improve our ranking and hopefully bring more traffic to the site. Our organic traffic has since more than doubled in less than a year. As the holiday season approached, Dan had the idea to come out with a Black Friday page and created a content brief for us to follow. Within a week, the page was ranking 3rd on Google for "Black Friday cat trees," which helped lead to a record-breaking Black Friday Sale. Kern Media has been quick to respond to questions, always available to talk through issues, and has been a pleasure to work with.

Tim Hampton

Dan & Kern Media have been awesome to work with for many years. We've seen incredible growth with our organic results and have grown our keyword footprint immensely. Dan's technical acumen and knowledge of the "SEO" space is impressive. If you ever get the chance to work with Dan and Team, DO IT!!! Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do! We appreciate you, @Dan!

Karen Johnson

Dan and his team came in and really changed the game for us. To date our organic results have grown 41%. He helped us clean up our site, add quality content and provided excellent guidance so we could continue to make improvements on our own. I highly recommend!

Karyssa Cox

Kern Media has been an incredible partner in developing my team's overall SEO strategy and implementing new tactics. We've worked with Dan on a number of different complex projects as well as ongoing consultation. Dan is on top of the latest SEO trends and best practices and always has ideas on how to ensure we're making the moves we need to in order to stay ahead. Dan's expertise and attention to detail have been crucial in completing our projects successfully, and he's also been great to collaborate with on how we can use SEO as a tool to achieve our overall goals. We've been very pleased and impressed with the results and are so grateful for the opportunity to work with Kern Media. Thanks, Dan and the Kern team!

Sandra G

Dan and his team at Kern Media are truly SEO experts and our trusted advisors to us. Through their hard work our website, customer.com, is now of the first page of google search results for our area of expertise.

LLM Optimization (GEO) & AEO Services