AI search and SEO FAQs

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the work of making a website easier for search engines to find, understand and show for the searches your customers make. Google works in three stages: crawling (finding and downloading pages), indexing (reading and storing them) and serving them in results ranked by relevance and quality. SEO improves each stage, through technical fixes, useful content and links from other sites. Google doesn’t accept payment to rank pages higher, so organic rankings have to be earned.

SEO services are the work an agency or consultant does to help your website rank in Google and appear in AI search tools like ChatGPT. They usually cover technical SEO, on-page optimisation, SEO copywriting, content, link building, local SEO and AI search. Most businesses need two or three of these, starting with whatever is holding the site back most. Our guide What are SEO services? explains each type and what it costs.

SEO consulting is expert advice on what to fix and in what order, rather than an agency doing the work for you. It suits businesses with an in-house team or developer who can make the changes, and Google itself says a small local business can probably do much of the work. Consulting typically costs $150 to $300 an hour in Australia. Google says a great time to bring one in is before a redesign or new site launch.

An SEO audit is a review of your website that finds what’s stopping it from ranking and lists the fixes in order of impact. It covers technical health (crawling, indexing, speed), on-page elements (titles, headings, content), links, and increasingly AI search visibility. Google says a good audit should give you realistic estimates of improvement and of the work involved. Only give an auditor read access to Google Search Console, not write access.

Usually it’s one of three reasons: Google hasn’t indexed the site yet, something is blocking it, or it is indexed but ranking too low to find. New pages can take from a day or two to a few weeks to be indexed. Check Google Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to see whether a page is indexed and whether a robots.txt rule, noindex tag or password is blocking it. If it’s indexed but buried, the fix is usually better content and links from other sites.

Rankings drop for four common reasons: a Google algorithm update, a change to your own site, stronger competitors, or a technical problem such as a page accidentally blocked from indexing. For small businesses, a redesign or URL change without proper redirects is one of the most common causes. Small movements up and down are normal, and Google recommends against making radical changes if a page was already performing well. Start in Google Search Console: check which pages and searches lost clicks, and when.

Start with Google Search Console, which shows the actual searches that already bring people to your site. Add Google Keyword Planner for search volume estimates, and look at the People Also Ask questions in Google results for your main services. Then listen to how customers describe their problem in emails, calls and reviews, because beginners may use different words from experts. The best keywords match both what people search and what you sell.

In Australia, ongoing SEO typically costs $500 to $1,000 a month for an entry-level package, $1,500 to $3,000 a month for growth, and from $5,000 a month for competitive or national campaigns. One-off work is priced separately: an SEO audit is usually $1,500 to $5,000, and a website migration $3,000 to $10,000. The price depends on how competitive your market is, the size of your site and how much content and link building is needed. Appearing in Google’s organic results is free; you pay for the work, not the placement.

Most agencies sell SEO as a monthly retainer in three tiers (often called starter, growth and premium) plus one-off projects such as audits and migrations. Higher tiers usually add more content, link building and reporting. Check what each tier actually delivers each month, and be wary of packages that promise a set number of links, because buying links to manipulate rankings is against Google’s spam policies. A good package is built around your site’s problems, not a fixed list of tasks.

Most websites start seeing measurable results from SEO within three to six months, with bigger gains in traffic and enquiries over six to twelve months. Google says some changes take effect in a few hours and others take several months, and that you should wait a few weeks before judging whether a change worked. Technical fixes on an established site can show results quickly. New sites in competitive markets take longest.

Google Ads brings traffic straight away and stops when you stop paying; SEO takes months but keeps working without a cost per click. Ads suit new businesses, short campaigns and testing which offers convert, while SEO suits businesses that want enquiries to keep coming over years. Paying for Google Ads has no effect on your organic rankings. Most businesses do best with both: ads for demand now, SEO for the long term.

Choose an SEO agency that asks about your business and customers before talking about rankings, explains what it will change and why, and reports on enquiries rather than only traffic. Google’s own red flags are agencies that guarantee rankings, claim a “special relationship” with Google, or email you out of the blue. Ask what happens to your content, links and accounts if you leave; the answer should be that you own everything. Our guide What are SEO services? explains what each type of SEO work should include.

Our SEO and AI search work covers technical SEO, on-page optimisation, SEO content, AEO and AI search, off-page SEO and local SEO, chosen by what your website needs. We start with an audit of the technical foundations, content, search intent, site structure and AI visibility, then prioritise what’s worth fixing. AI search isn’t a bolt-on: we structure content and schema so it works for Google and for AI tools like ChatGPT. See our SEO and AI search services.

We do both: one-off SEO audits from $1,500 (ex GST), and monthly SEO. The audit shows what’s holding your site back and what to fix first, so your own team or developer can act on it. If you want us to do the work, we can follow the audit with monthly SEO. If you’re not sure you need either, start with our free Signals Scan.

No. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, and Google itself tells businesses to find someone else if an SEO promises first place. Google decides rankings and changes its systems constantly, so we commit to the work instead: what we’ll do, when, and how we’ll measure it. We report on rankings and traffic, but the numbers that matter most are enquiries and sales.

On-page SEO is optimising the content and code of each individual page so it ranks for the searches it’s meant to answer. It covers the page title, meta description, headings, body copy, internal links, images and alt text, and URL. Google says useful, compelling content will influence your rankings more than any other on-page change. Repeating keywords doesn’t help: keyword stuffing is against Google’s spam policies, and there’s no magic word count.

Write meta descriptions of about 150 to 160 characters so they aren’t cut off in search results, though Google has no strict limit. Google mainly uses them for the snippet under your link, not for ranking, so a clear, specific description earns more clicks. Google often writes its own snippet from your page content instead, using your description when it describes the page better. Keep each one unique to its page and avoid strings of keywords, which Google is less likely to show.

Search intent is what someone is trying to do when they search: learn something, compare options, find a specific site, or buy. It matters because Google ranks the pages that best satisfy that goal, so a sales page rarely ranks for a “what is” question and a blog post rarely ranks for “near me”. Look at what already ranks for your target search to see which kind of page Google expects. Then make your page answer that need better than the others.

Image alt text is a short written description of an image, added in the code, that screen readers read aloud and search engines use to understand the image. It should describe what the image shows or why it’s there, in under about 100 characters, for example “Electrician installing a switchboard in a Sutherland Shire office”. Decorative images should have empty alt text. Don’t stuff alt text with keywords; Google says it may cause your site to be seen as spam.

Keyword cannibalisation is when two or more pages on your own site target the same search, so they compete with each other and neither ranks as well as one strong page would. It’s common with similar blog posts, or a service page and a location page saying the same thing. Fix it by merging the pages and redirecting the weaker one, or by rewriting each page so it targets a clearly different search. Google picks one URL to show anyway, so you’re better off choosing it yourself.

Give each service its own page that targets one main search, such as “commercial electrician Sydney”, and answer what a buyer needs to know: what’s included, who it’s for, the process, pricing or a starting price, proof and a clear next step. Write a specific page title and H1, add an FAQ section for real buyer questions, and link to the page from your homepage and related blog posts. Show proof that’s specific to the service: case studies, results and reviews. Useful, specific content will move rankings more than any keyword tweak.

Local SEO is the work that helps your business appear when people nearby search for what you offer, in Google Maps, the local pack of map results and local organic results. You need it if customers come to you or you travel to them, such as trades, clinics, professional services and retail. It centres on your Google Business Profile, reviews, consistent business details across the web and location-relevant pages on your website. Online-only businesses selling nationally usually need it less.

Google ranks local results mainly on relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how close you are to the searcher) and prominence (how well known you are, including links and reviews; Google now also calls it popularity). You can’t pay for a better local ranking. Improve relevance with an accurate, complete Business Profile and the right categories; improve prominence with genuine reviews, local links and a strong website. Distance is the one factor you can’t change.

Fill in every section accurately: your real business name with no extra keywords, the fewest categories that describe your core business, hours, phone number, website, services, photos and a description. Adding keywords to your business name is against Google’s guidelines and can get your profile suspended. Keep one profile per location, add new photos, reply to reviews and post updates regularly. Service-area businesses should hide their address and list the areas they serve instead.

Very important. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and reviews are often the first thing a customer compares. Replying to reviews, including the bad ones, helps you stand out and shows you’re active. Google is also strict about fake reviews: it blocked or removed over 292 million policy-violating reviews in 2025.

Ask every customer at the moment they’re happiest, usually right after the job is finished, and make it easy with your direct review link or QR code from Google Business Profile. Send it by SMS or email with a short, personal note. Don’t offer discounts or rewards for reviews, don’t only ask happy customers, and don’t set staff review quotas; all three are against Google’s policies, and fake reviews are against Australian Consumer Law. Aim for a steady flow of reviews rather than a one-off push.

Google suspends Business Profiles that break its guidelines, and its appeals tool shows the reason and links to the policy you broke. Common causes are keywords added to the business name, a virtual office or mailbox used as the address, duplicate profiles for the same business, or a service-area business showing an address customers can’t visit. Fix the problem first, then submit one appeal with evidence such as business registration, permits or a utility bill showing the same name and address, because appeals can only be submitted once. Don’t create a new profile for the same business.

Only if each page has genuinely local content, such as jobs you’ve done there, local photos, the suburbs it covers and real reviews from customers nearby. Pages that only swap the suburb name are what Google calls doorway abuse, and they can lead to a manual action on some or all of your site. For most service businesses, a few strong pages for the main areas you serve work better than dozens of thin ones. Your Google Business Profile does most of the work for nearby searches anyway.

Local SEO in Australia typically costs $500 to $2,000 a month from a freelancer, and $1,500 to $3,500 a month from an agency. The price depends on how many locations you have, how competitive your market is, and whether it includes content and link building as well as Business Profile work. Some agencies offer entry-level local packages for under $1,000 a month. You can’t pay Google for a better local ranking; you’re paying for the work.

AI search is any search where an AI tool writes the answer instead of only listing links, such as Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Gemini. These tools search the web, read the most relevant pages and summarise them, often citing their sources. Google’s AI features are built on its core Search ranking systems, so the same pages that rank well tend to be the ones cited. AI Overviews only appear for some searches.

AEO (answer engine optimisation) and GEO (generative engine optimisation) are names for optimising content so AI tools cite it in their answers. Google’s view is that optimising for AI search is still SEO, because its AI features run on the same ranking systems. In practice the extra work is making content easy to quote: direct answers, clear structure, specific facts and a consistent description of your business across the web. Be wary of AEO “hacks”; Google says many aren’t effective.

llms.txt is a proposed plain-text file, written in Markdown, that gives AI tools a short guide to the most important pages on a website. It was proposed by Jeremy Howard in 2024 and isn’t an official standard. Google Search ignores it, so it won’t help or harm your Google rankings, but some other AI tools and agents may read it. It’s cheap to add; our own site has one.

For most businesses, allow the AI search crawlers and decide separately about training crawlers. Blocking OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot removes you from ChatGPT search answers, and blocking Anthropic’s Claude-SearchBot can reduce your visibility in Claude, while blocking GPTBot or ClaudeBot only opts you out of model training. Blocking Google-Extended doesn’t affect your Google Search rankings. We allow all of them on our own site, because we want AI tools to find and cite us.

Make sure AI tools can reach and understand your site, then give them reasons to mention you. Allow AI search crawlers like OAI-SearchBot, keep your important content in the page HTML, and write clear answers to the questions your customers ask. Keep your Google Business Profile complete and your business described consistently across directories, reviews and other sites. Google says chasing inauthentic mentions isn’t as helpful as it seems; original, useful content matters most.

Yes. AI tools build their answers from web pages they find through search, so the pages that rank and get indexed are the ones they can cite. Google’s AI Overviews only use pages that are indexed and eligible to appear in Search, and ChatGPT search relies on its own crawler being allowed. What changes is the goal: being the clearest, most quotable answer, not just a blue link.

For many informational searches, yes. Pew Research Center found that in the US in March 2025, people clicked a result in 8% of searches with an AI summary, compared with 15% without one, and Ahrefs measured, also in US data, a 58% lower click-through rate for top-ranking pages when an AI Overview appeared. Google says the clicks that do come from these pages are higher quality. The answer is to target searches with buying intent, earn citations inside the AI answer, and measure enquiries, not just traffic.

AI search is part of our SEO work, not a separate add-on. We make your content machine-readable, structure it with schema, and build answer-friendly foundations so AI tools can understand your business and surface it when relevant. Our audits include AI visibility alongside technical health, content and search intent. See our SEO and AI search services.