Google Isn’t the Only One Searching You Anymore: How to Make AI Recommend Your Business

What happens when a potential customer asks ChatGPT who they should hire…and it recommends your competitor?For the last 20 years, businesses have obsessed over Google rankings, keywords, backlinks, and SEO.But search behavior is changing.Customers can now describe an entire problem to ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini, Copilot, and other AI search tools—and ask them to research options, compare companies, and recommend who they should talk to.Which creates a completely different marketing question:Does AI understand your business well enough to recommend it?In this solo episode of Build Business, Better, Kortney Morningstar breaks down Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), AI search visibility, and what business owners can actually do to make their companies easier for both humans and AI to find, understand, trust, and recommend.And no—SEO isn't dead.Calm down, Tyler.You'll learn why traditional SEO still matters, how AI search changes the customer journey, and why publishing 700 AI-generated blogs about “10 Ways to Grow Your Business” probably isn't the brilliant AI strategy someone on LinkedIn told you it was.Kortney covers:What AEO and Generative Engine Optimization actually meanHow AI search differs from traditional Google searchesWhy AI may recommend your competitor before a prospect ever discovers youHow to conduct a simple AI visibility audit on your own companyWhy vague corporate language makes your business harder for AI—and humans—to understandHow real customer questions can become your best content strategyWhy businesses should create source-worthy content, not simply more contentHow original research, data, case studies, expertise, and experience can strengthen your authorityWhy your company's expertise needs “receipts” across the internetHow executive profiles, podcasts, reviews, publications, associations, and other credible sources help establish authorityWhy consistency across your website and digital presence mattersHow to repurpose genuine expertise without creating mountains of generic AI contentHow to begin measuring traffic and leads coming from ChatGPT and other AI search experiencesA practical 30-day AEO plan any business owner can begin implementingKortney also introduces a simple framework for thinking about AI visibility:UNDERSTAND → TRUST → ANSWERCan AI understand exactly what your company does?Can it find enough evidence to trust your expertise?And have you created information that actually answers the questions your customers are asking?Because the old marketing battle was:Can customers find you?The new one is becoming:Does AI know enough about you to include you?And the next may be:Does AI trust you enough to recommend you?After listening, try the experiment from the episode:Open your favorite AI tool and ask:“Who are the best companies in my industry?”Then ask:“Who would you recommend for someone with the exact problem my best customer has?”If your company appears, figure out why.If your competitor appears instead?Don't throw the laptop.We're adults.You've just discovered your next marketing project.Build Business, Better.#AISearch #AEO #ChatGPT #AIForBusiness #BusinessOwners #AnswerEngineOptimization #AISEO #DigitalMarketing #MarketingStrategy #BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #BuildBusinessBetter