AEO for NZ Trades. Get Found When Customers Ask AI.

Not entirely, but it is changing how search works. Google now answers many queries with an AI Overview at the top of the page, and tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are becoming search engines in their own right. The practical takeaway for trades: being found now means being quoted by AI, not just ranking below it.

Jelly Digital's answer engine optimisation starts at $950 per month for schema and FAQ deployment with monthly AI Overview checks, and scales to $2,750 per month for full citation monitoring across all four AI engines plus content rewrites. It can be added to an existing marketing retainer or run on its own.

Most trades businesses start appearing in AI answers within 4 to 8 weeks of the schema and content work going live, faster than traditional SEO because the field is still wide open in New Zealand. We track your visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews every month so you can see which questions you are being cited for.

More and more, they ask AI. Alongside Google search and Maps, people now type who is a good builder in my suburb straight into ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview and act on the answer. If your business is not structured for AI to read, you are invisible in that conversation, even when you rank well in normal search.

No. Unlike Google Ads, there is no paid placement inside ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews. The only way in is to be a trusted, well-structured source the AI chooses to quote. That is exactly what answer engine optimisation does, and it is why getting in early, before your competitors, is such an advantage.

AI Overviews pull from pages that answer the question directly in the first sentence, use clear headings, and carry structured data like FAQ and LocalBusiness schema. You also need consistent business details and an active Google Business Profile. We audit every one of these signals, fix the gaps, and track which questions you start appearing in.

You cannot pay ChatGPT to recommend you. AI engines pull recommendations from sources they trust: a clearly structured website, consistent business details across the web, strong Google reviews, and mentions on third-party sites. AEO makes those signals legible to AI, so when someone asks for the best electrician near me, your business is in the answer.

No, SEO is not dead, it is splitting in two. Google still sends most traffic through traditional search, so ranking still matters. But AI Overviews now appear on most searches and answer the question before anyone clicks, so being the source the AI quotes is the new front line. The winners do SEO and AEO together.

SEO gets your website ranking in Google's blue links. AEO gets your business cited inside AI answers, where there is no list of links, just a recommendation. They work together: strong SEO helps AI trust you, while AEO adds the structured data, direct answers and entity clarity that get you named. In 2026 you need both.

Answer engine optimisation is the practice of getting your business named in AI answers, the responses ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Claude give when someone asks a question. Instead of ranking a page for a keyword, AEO structures your site so AI engines quote you directly. For trades, that means being the electrician or plumber the AI recommends.