Guides.
Plain explanations of how a modern small-business website should work, written by the people who build them. No gates, no jargon.
What is answer engine optimization (AEO)?
Answer engine optimization is the practice of structuring a website so that AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini cite it by name when answering a question. It overlaps with classic SEO but targets the newer surface where people get answers without clicking a list of links.
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
Generative engine optimization is the practice of making a business legible to generative AI search engines so they surface and cite it accurately. It is closely related to answer engine optimization; in practice the two terms describe the same goal: being the answer an AI gives.
What is programmatic SEO (pSEO)?
Programmatic SEO is the practice of generating many unique pages from a data set, so each page targets a specific long-tail search it would be uneconomic to write by hand. Done well, it is the largest single source of organic traffic for many local businesses. Done badly, it produces thin doorway pages that get penalized.
A plain guide to schema markup for a local business
Schema markup is structured data added to a web page so search engines and AI assistants can understand the business, its services, its location, and its reviews. For a local business it is the difference between being a page of text and being an entity that shows up in map packs and AI answers.
What a small-business website actually needs in 2026
A small-business website needs four things that work: a clear answer to what you do and where, a fast and obvious way to contact or book you, proof you are real and trustworthy, and the technical SEO that makes you findable. Everything else is decoration. Most small-business sites fail on at least two of the four.
Wix vs a custom website for a local business
Wix is a builder you use to make a site yourself, cheap in money and expensive in time. A custom site is built for you, costs more per month but none of your time, and is bespoke rather than templated. For a local business the right choice comes down to one question: is your time worth more than the monthly difference?