Answer engine optimisation
AEO for builders: the homeowner asks an AI about the extension months before they ask a builder
The first questions about an extension are no longer typed into Google. They are asked in ChatGPT, Google's AI or Perplexity: whether it needs planning, what it costs, how to check a builder is real, and then who to call. The answer names two or three firms and shows where it got them. AEO is the work of being one of those names: pages that answer the early questions, projects that prove the work, a record that agrees everywhere the engines read, and mentions from sources they already trust.
The engines
- ChatGPT
- Google AI Overviews
- Google AI Mode
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- Microsoft Copilot
- Claude
Each answers from a search index: Bing behind ChatGPT and Copilot, Google behind the rest. Get the record right in both and the answers follow; there is no separate door.
What gets asked
Four questions, in the order a homeowner asks them
The firm that answers the first three on its own site is the one named in the fourth.
01
The planning question
"Do I need planning permission for a single-storey rear extension in England?" The answer names permitted development limits and, when the person adds a town, names builders who explain it on their site.
02
The cost question
"How much does a loft conversion cost in the UK in 2026?" Engines cite pages that explain what moves the price, not pages that hide it.
03
The trust question
"How do I check a builder is legitimate?" FMB, TrustMark, insurance, a real address, reviews with photos. A firm that shows all of that on one page gets cited as the example.
04
The recommendation
"Recommend a builder for a two-storey extension near Chester." Two or three firms, a sentence on each, and the sources: profile, reviews, the firm's own project pages.
Each month
What the AEO work contains for a builder
Inside every tier. Two thirds of it is the SEO work done properly; the rest is writing to be quoted and being cited where the engines look.
This site scores 100 on the AI-readiness check in Quence, our free audit tool. Yours takes a minute.
- A prompt list for your jobs and towns, kept current: the forty questions a homeowner asks an AI before they ask a builder
- Answer-first job pages and guides written to be quoted, with the planning, regs and cost logic explained plainly
- Project pages with dates, towns and photos: the specific evidence engines cite when they name a firm
- A schema graph (HomeAndConstructionBusiness, Service, FAQ, breadcrumbs) and an llms.txt file so crawlers know where to look
- AI crawlers allowed and checked monthly, because a hosting or firewall default can shut them out silently
- FMB, TrustMark, Checkatrade and directory listings made identical: name, address, phone, services
- Reviews asked for in words the engines pick up: the job, the town, what was awkward and how it was handled
- Monthly: we put your prompts to each engine, record who is named and what is cited, and report it next to Search Console
Search and answers
What changes when the result is a paragraph
Google shows a map and ten results; an engine writes three sentences. The homeowner reads the sentences. So the page has to be clear enough to quote, and the firm has to be mentioned by sources the engine already believes: registers, directories, reviews, the local press when there is a real story.
Plain speaking
What it is worth to a builder this year
The town's work still comes through the map and the neighbour. The AI answers send the homeowner at the start of a big job, with a budget and a plan, and there are few firms competing for that answer yet. Fewer enquiries, bigger jobs, growing every quarter. Pricing is on the pricing page; the audit tells you where you stand.
Questions builders ask us
Do homeowners really ask ChatGPT for a builder?
They ask it about planning, cost and how to check a builder is real, and increasingly they ask for names. For a builder it is still a small share next to the map and word of mouth, but it is the homeowner at the start of an extension, months before the job, and the firms named early are the firms quoted. The work that gets you named also lifts the ordinary rankings.
AEO, GEO, AI SEO: what is the difference?
Names for the same job: being the source an AI cites when it answers. We say AEO because the homeowner asks a question and gets an answer with a firm's name in it.
Can you guarantee an AI recommends my firm?
No, and be careful with anyone who does. The engines decide and change. We can put you in every source they read, write the pages they quote, and show you each month which prompts name you.
Is my old website a problem for this?
If a crawler cannot read it, or it has one page for everything, yes. The audit says whether it needs pages added or replacing. Most of the work is the profile, the citations and a handful of pages written properly.
How is it measured?
The monthly prompt check, run by a person and recorded prompt by prompt; referral visits from the engines in Analytics; and the AI-readiness score in Quence, our free audit tool.
Is it a separate charge?
No. It is inside every tier, because the pages, the markup and the mentions are the same work done with the engines in mind.
Ask us what the engines say about your firm
Send the firm's name and the town. We put a homeowner's questions to the engines, record who they name and what they cite, and send it with the quote.