What does an SEO consultant do?

An SEO consultant audits your site, finds what's costing you traffic, and builds a plan to rank for queries that drive revenue. In practice that's technical fixes (crawl, speed, schema), on-page work (headings, intent coverage, internal linking), content strategy, and link building. Good ones now also track AI search visibility, because Google isn't the only place your buyers ask for recommendations.

How is AI SEO (GEO) different from traditional SEO?

Traditional SEO ranks you on the search results page. AI SEO, also called Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), gets you cited inside the answer that ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews give back to the user. The technical foundations overlap (clean code, structured data, quality content, real backlinks), but AI SEO adds entity coverage, quotable answer blocks, and citation monitoring across multiple AI surfaces. Done well, you rank in Google and get recommended in AI tools at the same time.

How much does your SEO consultancy cost?

Engagements typically run between $2,000 and $10,000 per month, scoped against the work and the outcome we agree on. Project-based audits start in the low four figures. You'll have a fixed monthly number before any work starts. No timesheets, no scope-creep invoices.

Do you work with agencies on a white-label or partner basis?

Yes. Technical SEO, AI SEO and content strategy delivered through agency partners under your brand. Same fixed monthly pricing. Get in touch and we can talk through how it fits.

How long does SEO take to show results?

Technical fixes show up in weeks. Content and link compounding takes 3 to 6 months to shift competitive rankings. AI citation visibility can move faster, sometimes within a single content cycle. Anyone promising page one in 90 days for a competitive Melbourne keyword is either lying or using tactics that'll get you penalised.

Should I hire an SEO consultant or an SEO agency?

Depends on what you need. An agency gives you a team and a process, but you usually work with a junior account manager and the senior expertise is split across many clients. A freelance SEO consultant gives you direct access to a senior practitioner doing the work, fewer clients, no agency markup. If you want the strategy, technical work and reporting from the same brain, consultant. If you want scale across many channels at once, agency.

What should I look for in an SEO freelancer?

Look for someone who's done the work at the senior level, rather than someone who's managed others doing it. A good SEO freelancer should be the same person who runs the audit, the strategy, and the technical fixes. Ask for specific client outcomes (traffic growth, ranking shifts, revenue impact), not just logos. And check they're tracking AI search visibility now, because Google is no longer the only place customers ask for recommendations.

What industries does your SEO consultancy specialise in?

I've worked across tech, fintech, luxury fashion, high-end furniture, tours and travel, and construction tech. The playbook changes by industry. Fintech needs compliance-aware content and serious technical foundations. Luxury fashion needs editorial linking and brand search optimisation. The constant is turning organic traffic into revenue.

What does a technical SEO audit include?

A technical SEO audit covers crawl and indexability, site architecture and internal linking, page speed and Core Web Vitals, structured data and schema coverage, canonical and redirect logic, JavaScript rendering, log file analysis (for larger sites), and the technical readiness for AI search. You get a prioritised list of fixes with effort versus impact, not a 200-page PDF.

Do I need to be in Melbourne to work with you?

No. Most clients are remote across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. I'm based in Melbourne and happy to meet in person if you're local, but the work runs the same either way.

What if you're not the right fit?

I'll tell you on the discovery call and point you somewhere better. I'd rather lose a bad-fit engagement than take it on and disappoint.

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What Is Generative Engine Optimisation? An Australian Business Guide

What GEO is, how it differs from SEO, and five things Australian businesses can do this week to show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews.

Henry Wong20 May 20268 min read

TL;DR Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of getting your business mentioned, cited or recommended when someone asks an AI tool a question. Think of it as an extension of SEO, not a replacement. The shift in 2026 is real: 48% of Google searches now show AI Overviews, and most Australian buyers have started using AI tools to make decisions. The single action worth doing today is auditing how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode currently describe your business. The rest of this guide covers what to do with what you find.

The gap most Australian businesses still haven't closed

Australian businesses are starting to get cited in ChatGPT and Perplexity answers. Most aren't. The split is widening every month.

If you're reading this, you've probably noticed the same thing happening in your category. A customer asks an AI tool for a recommendation. The AI lists three businesses. None of them are yours. This article covers what generative engine optimisation actually is, why it matters for you specifically, and the five things you can do this week to start closing the gap.

What GEO actually is

Generative engine optimisation is the work of getting your business mentioned, cited or recommended when someone asks an AI tool a question. The 2024 Princeton, Georgia Tech and IIT Delhi research paper that formalised the term showed specific changes (statistics, citations, quotations, expert authority) can lift AI-response visibility by up to 40%.

You'll see a few acronyms used interchangeably: AEO (answer engine optimisation), AIO (AI optimisation), LLM SEO, LLMO. They describe the same work. Don't get hung up on which one. The technique is what matters.

How GEO differs from SEO

About 80% of the fundamentals are shared. Strong technical SEO, clear content, real authority, local relevance. What's different is the output the work is measured against.

Element	Traditional SEO	GEO
Primary goal	Top 10 ranking	Being cited or mentioned
Success metric	Clicks and traffic	Citations and brand mentions in AI answers
Content priority	Long-form keyword-targeted pages	Clear factual blocks, answer-first paragraphs
Trust signals	Backlinks, domain authority	Backlinks plus mentions on Reddit, forums, news
Engine target	One (Google)	Five or more (Google AI, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude)

The hard part isn't doing a different job. The hard part is keeping the discipline of the SEO playbook while building new measurement, new content patterns and new third-party signal work on top.

Why Australian businesses can't ignore this

Some numbers worth knowing.

Google AI Overviews appeared on roughly 48% of tracked search queries in February 2026, up from 31% a year earlier. Around 49% of Australians have used a generative AI tool in the last twelve months. AI-referred web sessions globally rose 527% year-on-year in H1 2025.

In May 2026, Google's AI Overviews update added Reddit pulls, hover-previewable citations and subscriber-publication highlights. Each change moves more of how people find businesses into the AI-generated layer.

The implication: this is now, not next year. Australian businesses that act in 2026 will own the citation space in their category for years. Ones that wait will spend 2027 catching up.

How AI engines actually pick what to cite

Five things matter most. They overlap with good SEO, but each one matters more in the AI-search era than it did before.

Clarity of the answer

AI rewards content that gets to the point in the first paragraph. If your page buries the answer three paragraphs in, the AI will skip you and cite someone else. Lead with the answer. Then explain.

Factual density

Specific numbers, dates and named sources beat vague claims. "47 clients since 2019" beats "many clients". "A 2024 Princeton study found a 40% lift" beats "research suggests". The more concrete your content, the more confident the AI is in citing it.

Entity clarity

Your About page, your service pages, your Google Business Profile and your schema should all be telling the same story. Same business name. Same description. Same services. Same location. When the AI sees a consistent story across all your touchpoints, it trusts the entity. When it sees contradictions, it hedges.

Authoritative mentions

Backlinks are one part of authority. Reddit comments, industry forum posts, news mentions and references on .gov.au or .edu.au sites are the rest. Different LLMs lean on different source types, but all of them value third-party validation.

Freshness and consistency

Older models lean on training data, which favours brands mentioned consistently over time. Newer real-time models reward fresh content and recent mentions. The brands that win in both are the ones publishing consistently, year after year.

Five things AU businesses can do this week

Each step is doable without an agency. Each takes one to two hours.

Audit how AI describes you right now. Pick five questions a real customer would ask. Run them through ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode. Note what's right, what's wrong and what's missing. This is your starting baseline.
Fix the About page. Who you are. What you do. Where you operate. Who you serve. How long you've been doing it. Clear sentences. No waffle. The About page is the document AI tools cite when they describe your business. Make it impossible to misread.
Add real numbers and dates to your three or four most important pages. Replace "many clients" with "47 clients since 2019". Replace "we have years of experience" with "12 years operating in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane". Specificity is what AI tools cite.
Get cited somewhere your competitors aren't. One genuine Reddit comment in a relevant subreddit (no promotion, just a real answer). One feature in a local industry publication. One HARO or Source of Sources quote. Pick one. Do it this week.
Sort your Google Business Profile and structured data. Fully completed GBP with fresh photos and posts. LocalBusiness, Organization and FAQPage schema on the relevant pages. Consistent name, address and phone number across every directory and platform.

A weekend of focused work covers all five. That puts you ahead of most of your competitors.

When to bring in help

You can do most of the list above yourself. An agency or consultant is worth the money when:

The basics are done and you want ongoing measurement
The site needs structural changes you can't do yourself
Your market is genuinely competitive and you need to move fast
Time is the binding constraint
You want someone who'll be straight about what's working and what isn't

A warning. A lot of agencies are slapping "GEO" on their old SEO packages and charging a premium for it. Ask any agency exactly what they'll do differently for GEO compared to SEO. If they can't answer in plain language, walk away. Real GEO work involves measurable changes to content structure, third-party signals and citation tracking. If their answer is "we'll optimise your content for AI", they're selling rebranded SEO.

Where this leaves you

GEO isn't a fad. It's the natural next step. The work is mostly the same playbook (strong content, clear positioning, real authority, technical fundamentals, local relevance), measured against a different output. Australian businesses who get this sorted in 2026 have a moat that compounds for years.

If you want a 30-minute call to get a clear picture of where your business stands in AI tools right now and what to do next, book one here.

Frequently asked questions

What is generative engine optimisation in plain English?

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making sure AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews mention or cite your business when someone asks a question in your category. It overlaps heavily with traditional SEO but measures success differently: citations and brand mentions instead of clicks and rankings.

Is GEO different from SEO, or is it just a rebrand?

About 80% of the work overlaps. The fundamentals (technical health, clear content, real authority, local relevance) are the same. What's different is the output you're measuring against (AI citations vs organic rankings) and a handful of new tactics (answer-first paragraphs, llms.txt, third-party signals on Reddit and YouTube).

Will GEO replace SEO?

No. The two work together. Strong SEO is still the foundation. GEO is the extra layer of work that makes your content quotable for AI tools. Drop traditional SEO and your AI visibility eventually drops too. Treat them as one combined discipline.

Which AI tools matter most for Australian businesses right now?

Google AI Overviews (because of the 48% query coverage), ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Claude, in roughly that order of impact. For B2C businesses, focus heavily on Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT. For B2B businesses, Perplexity and Claude carry more weight because of their citation behaviour.

How do I check whether my business shows up in ChatGPT or Perplexity?

Pick five questions a real customer would ask in your category. Run them through each AI tool. Log whether you're mentioned, what's said and what's missing. Do this weekly to track movement. Tools like Surfer AI Tracker, Profound, Otterly and Peec AI can automate this, but the manual version is fine for the first few months.

How long does GEO take to show results?

Technical fixes (robots.txt, llms.txt, schema) can show movement within 4 to 8 weeks. Content rewrites take a similar timeframe. Third-party signals (Reddit comments, industry features, original data) compound over 3 to 6 months. A 90-day horizon is the realistic minimum for visible movement.

Do I need to hire an agency for GEO, or can I do it myself?

Most of the foundational work (auditing your visibility, fixing your About page, adding numbers and dates, posting in one Reddit thread) can be done in a weekend by the business owner. An agency makes sense when the basics are done, the market is competitive, or you need ongoing measurement and content production at scale.