AI Search Optimisation in Melbourne That Gets Your Business Into the Answer, Not Just the Results
Search has changed. More people are skipping the link list and asking AI directly — ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini. If your business isn't showing up in those answers, you're invisible to a growing share of your potential customers.
I help Melbourne businesses optimise for AI search visibility through LLMO (Large Language Model Optimisation) — also known as GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), and LLM SEO. Different terms, same goal: making sure AI recommends your business when someone asks a relevant question.
AI tools don't rank pages — they read them, extract what's useful, and synthesise an answer. That means your content needs to be clear, well-structured, and formatted in a way that AI can interpret and cite.
I audit your existing content, add FAQ schema and structured markup, improve how your pages are written for AI retrieval, and set up an
llms.txt
file so AI crawlers know exactly what your site is about. The goal is a
technically sound, AI-readable presence before we work on growing your authority.
Getting Found in AI Answers Starts with the Right Structure
Getting cited by AI isn't luck — it's the result of consistent signals across your website and the broader web. I work on building that authority through content strategy, structured data, and making sure your business is mentioned in the right places.
You work directly with me throughout. That means less explaining yourself twice and more focused effort on the things that move the needle — more mentions, more citations, and a steady presence in the AI-generated answers your customers are already relying on.
Build the Kind of Authority AI Tools Actually Trust
HOW I APPROACH AI SEARCH OPTIMISATION FOR MELBOURNE BUSINESSES
AI search optimisation isn't a single technique — it's a combination of technical, structural, and authority-building work that each affect how AI tools find, read, and cite your business. Here's what I cover:
Content Restructuring for AI Retrieval
AI tools extract answers from well-structured, clearly written content. I audit your pages and rewrite or restructure them so the key answers are easy to identify and cite. Vague, promotional copy tends to get skipped. Clear, specific, question-anchored content tends to get cited.
FAQ Schema & Structured Data
JSON-LD structured data tells AI exactly what your pages are about and makes your content eligible to appear as a direct answer. I implement FAQ schema, speakable markup, and other structured data relevant to your business type and the questions your customers are actually asking.
llms.txt Setup
A plain-text file that tells AI crawlers which pages on your site matter most and what your business covers. It's a relatively new signal, but it's fast becoming a baseline requirement for any business that wants AI tools to represent them accurately.
Entity & Brand Signal Building
AI tools build their understanding of businesses from how consistently and authoritatively they're described across the web. I audit your entity presence — business descriptions, mentions, citations — and work on making sure the signals are coherent, accurate, and visible to the models that matter.
AI Platform Monitoring
I track how your business appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini — and report in plain English. If you're missing, wrong, or getting attributed to a competitor, I know about it and can fix it.
Citation & Authority Development
Consistent AI citations come from consistent authority signals. I develop a content and outreach strategy focused on earning mentions from credible sources — the kind of references AI models use to decide which businesses to recommend.
Who I Work With
one
Service businesses that rely on recommendations
Trades, professional services, health, legal, hospitality — any business where referrals and reputation have always driven enquiries. AI search is becoming the new word of mouth. If someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation in your category and suburb, your business should be in that answer.
two
Businesses already investing in SEO
You've built decent organic visibility and want to extend it into AI-generated results. The foundations often overlap — well-structured content, strong entity signals, clear page purpose — but AI search has its own specific requirements that need to be layered on top of traditional SEO.
three
Businesses who've been through one round of search change and don't want to miss the next one
Whether that was local search, mobile, or the last major algorithm update — AI is the next shift, and it's already here. The businesses that sort their AI visibility now will have a meaningful head start over those who wait until it's obvious.
How the Work Gets Done
one
AI visibility audit
Before recommending anything, I run a full audit of how your business currently appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini. I check content structure, schema implementation, existing citations, and technical readiness. This tells us exactly where the gaps are and what to fix first.
two
Fix the foundations
Most businesses have content that's too vague, too promotional, or structured in a way AI can't easily extract. I rewrite key pages, implement FAQ schema and structured data, set up llms.txt, and fix anything that makes your site harder for AI crawlers to read — before trying to grow your presence.
three
Build authority and monitor
Once the foundations are right, the focus shifts to citation building, content strategy, and consistent monitoring across AI platforms. I track how your business appears month to month, report in plain English, and adjust the strategy as the AI search landscape continues to evolve.
No lock-in contracts. No account managers. You deal directly with me at every step. Want this done for you month to month? See what's included in an SEO and AI search retainer.
LLMO stands for Large Language Model Optimisation. It's the practice of making your website and content more likely to be cited or recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini. As more people use AI instead of traditional search to find businesses and services, LLMO is becoming as important as SEO was a decade ago.
They all describe the same core practice with slightly different emphasis. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) focuses on AI-powered search engines broadly. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) focuses on getting your content surfaced as a direct answer. LLMO is the most technically specific term, referring to the underlying language models themselves. I use all three approaches as part of the same strategy.
Yes — they work together. AI tools that use live web retrieval (like ChatGPT Search and Perplexity) still favour well-ranked, authoritative content. Strong SEO foundations make LLMO more effective, not redundant.
It varies. Structural changes like schema markup and content restructuring can take effect within weeks for AI tools that crawl in real time. Improvements to training data familiarity take longer — often 3 to 6 months of consistent effort. Like traditional SEO, it compounds over time.
Yes. I've worked across Duda, Wix Studio, WordPress, Shopify, and Squarespace. The core LLMO work — structured content, FAQ schema, llms.txt, and content strategy — applies regardless of platform.
An llms.txt file is a plain-text document placed at the root of your website that tells AI crawlers what your business does, which pages matter most, and how your content should be understood. It works similarly to robots.txt but is written specifically for large language models. Without one, AI tools have to infer your site's purpose from your content alone — and they often miss important context. I set one up as part of every LLMO engagement.
No. AI search and traditional search are separate visibility channels. A business that doesn't rank highly on Google can still appear in AI-generated answers if its content is clearly structured, well-attributed, and cited in the right places. That said, strong SEO does make LLMO more effective — so if your search foundations are weak, addressing both together usually gives the best results.
Location
Serving Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula
I'm based in Mornington, which means I work with businesses across the full Melbourne metro area as well as locally on the Peninsula — Frankston, Mount Eliza, Dromana, Rosebud, Sorrento, and surrounds.
Most of my client work is done remotely, so location doesn't limit who I can help. If you're a Peninsula or bayside business and want to meet in person, that's straightforward.
