Three emails land in one week. One agency offers AEO, another offers GEO, and the company that does your SEO says it already covers both.
All three want a monthly fee. Before you compare prices, it helps to know they're mostly describing the same work.
What's the difference between AEO, GEO and SEO for a roofer?
They aim at different screens, but the work underneath overlaps. Search engine optimization (SEO) gets your website and Google Business Profile in front of people searching Google and Google Maps. Three newer names cover the AI side:
- Answer engine optimization (AEO) is getting your business into the direct answers Google and AI assistants give, not only the list of links under them.
- Generative engine optimization (GEO) is making sure assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, plus Google's AI Mode, can find your business, trust it and cite it when they write an answer.
- Large language model optimization (LLMO) is the same work seen from the model's side. Plain, consistent facts about your services, prices, service area and reviews, on your own site and on the sites the models read.
Google says optimizing for its AI search is still SEO.[1] We do all three together with local SEO, because AI answers lean on the same Google, Maps and listing data.
| Where they ask | What they see | What decides who shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps: “roof repair near me” | A few businesses on a map, with stars and hours | Relevance, distance and how well-known you are, including your reviews[2] |
| Google: “how long does a roof replacement take” | Sometimes an AI Overview above the links | Google's ranking systems, which its AI features are built on[1] |
| ChatGPT: “who's a good roofer in Tulsa for a metal roof” | A written answer that names a few companies | Partly the pages ChatGPT's search finds, which OpenAI ranks on multiple factors[5] |
Which comes first for a roofing company?
Local SEO comes first. More people now ask AI for local recommendations, but most who do still check Google and other channels before they call. Our guide to AI search for home service companies shows how those answers are built.
45% of US consumers now use ChatGPT or other AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier.
Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey · (opens in a new tab)
Only 18% of consumers who use AI for local search felt ready to contact the business it recommended; the rest kept researching on Google and other channels.
Source: BrightLocal consumer search behavior study · (opens in a new tab)
When homeowners compare contractors, reviews carry more weight in the trades than in any other industry.
For trades and home services, star ratings and review counts carry more weight than in any other industry, and 36% of trade customers weigh clear pricing or deals (vs 30% overall).
Source: BrightLocal consumer search behavior study · (opens in a new tab)
Here's where I'd put the first hours:
- Your Google Business Profile. Primary category, services, service area, hours and photos from real jobs. This checklist goes field by field.
- Reviews. Ask every customer in the week the job ends. How to ask for Google reviews has wording that stays inside Google's rules.
- Service pages that answer questions. A page each for roof repair, roof replacement and inspections, with your towns, materials, warranty and a price range. How to write a service page shows the layout.
- Matching listings. The same name, phone and hours on Bing, Apple, the BBB and any roofing directories you're on.
- Then the AI checks. Make sure AI search crawlers can reach your site, and ask the assistants your customers' questions once a month.
How much of this can a roofer do alone?
Most of it. Google's page on hiring an SEO says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself.[3]
A roofing company owner's first month
- Week 1: fill in every Business Profile field and add ten photos from recent jobs (about 2 hours).
- Week 2: send review requests to your last 20 customers (about 1 hour).
- Week 3: rewrite the first lines of the roof repair and roof replacement pages so they answer real questions (about 3 hours).
- Week 4: check your listings on Bing, Apple and two roofing directories, then ask Google and ChatGPT your top five customer questions (about 2 hours).
- Total: about 8 hours in the month.
Illustrative example
If those hours keep slipping behind real jobs, that's when paying someone makes sense. A Found Sprint ($1,500 fixed) does up to 10 fixes from your report, within 30 days once we have access and an agreed scope. Our AI search optimization plans start at $750/mo, month to month with no minimum term.
What should you ask anyone selling AEO or GEO?
Ask for the task list. Google suggests asking an SEO whether they'll share every change they make, and whether their AI advice matches Google's guidance.[3]
- Which tasks will you do each month, and how will I see each one?
- Which of those tasks aren't already part of the SEO I pay for?
- Which questions will you put to the AI assistants, and can I read the answers?
- Where does Google's own guidance support what you're proposing?
Walk away from anyone who promises first place. Google's advice is to drop any SEO who guarantees you the top spot in search results.[3] It also says third-party tools can't guarantee performance.[4] For the full hiring checklist, see how to choose an AI search agency.
Here's how we answer the first three. Every month we run the same buyer questions across the AI assistants we test (currently ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity). The monthly report shows what shipped, what the AI answers said and what we'll do next.
AI search isn't a separate add-on in our plans. It's the same plan as your Google and Maps work.
What should a roofer skip?
- Separate invoices for SEO, AEO and GEO. The tasks overlap, so you'd likely pay for the same profile and pages more than once.
- A page for every town that only swaps the city name. Google lists pages aimed at cities that funnel visitors to one page as doorway abuse.[6] When city pages help covers the honest version.
- A promised spot in ChatGPT. OpenAI says placement in ChatGPT search isn't guaranteed.[5]
What decides a roofer's spot
Google and the AI assistants decide who shows on the map, in an AI Overview or in a ChatGPT answer. Google says you can't ask or pay for a higher local ranking.[2]
What you control is the groundwork: your profile, reviews, pages and listings. Our roofing page shows how we do this for roofing companies, and local SEO for home service companies covers the map side.
For each name on its own, read about answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization and large language model optimization.