A few weeks ago, I got a message from a company I'd never heard of. They'd found us through ChatGPT — not through Google, not from a referral, but by literally asking an AI tool who they should work with for data consulting and Power BI reporting. And ChatGPT named us.

That one prompt led to a booked meeting. And it confirmed something I'd been seeing: search is changing. We've entered the era of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — and if you're not showing up in AI tools, you might not be found at all.

Search used to be about ranking on Google. The goal was to appear high enough in the list that people would click through. But AI agents like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Copilot don't present lists. They give answers. Sometimes just one.

That means your beautiful website and clever copy don't matter if AI tools don't recognize or recommend you. Being visible in this new era........

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