The Biggest AEO Mistakes Local Businesses Make
I review local business websites for a living. And I see the same bloody mistakes every single week.
If ChatGPT or Gemini isn't mentioning your business when people ask for local recommendations, you're almost certainly making at least one of these. Probably several. Let's go through them.
Vague service descriptions that say nothing
This is the big one. The daddy of all AEO mistakes.
Your website says something like "We offer a comprehensive range of services tailored to your needs." And I just think, what does that even mean? What services? Tailored how? For whose needs?
AI can't recommend you for something specific if it doesn't know what you actually do. It needs concrete information. "We install and maintain gas boilers for homes across Hitchin, Letchworth, and North Hertfordshire. Same-day emergency callouts available."
See? Now the AI knows what you do, where you do it, and that you offer emergencies. That's three reasons to recommend you in a single sentence.
A joiner in Baldock rewrote his service descriptions with this kind of specificity last month. Went from "We offer bespoke carpentry solutions" to detailed descriptions of each service with areas covered. The difference in his AI visibility was noticeable within weeks. We cover what else your site needs in our post on 5 things your website needs before AI will recommend you.
No location signals (or rubbish ones)
A surprising number of websites mention "Hertfordshire" once in the footer and think that's job done.
It's not.
When someone asks "Who's the best dentist in Letchworth?", AI looks for sites that specifically mention Letchworth. Not Hertfordshire. Not "the local area". Letchworth. The actual word.
You need to name every town you serve. Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Royston, Stevenage, Knebworth, wherever you operate. Create a coverage section if you don't have one. Mention these towns on your service pages, your homepage, your about page.
I know it feels repetitive. Do it anyway.
No FAQ section at all
This one baffles me because FAQs are genuinely the easiest win in AEO.
AI tools are literally built to answer questions. If your website already has those questions written on it with clear answers, AI can reference your content directly. If you don't have FAQs, the AI has to look elsewhere. And it will.
Add five to ten real questions your customers actually ask you. Use their exact words. "How much does a new kitchen cost in Baldock?" is better than "What are your pricing structures?" because the first one is how a real person talks.
Zero proof content
I spoke to a builder near Stevenage last month. Decent website, nice design, professional photos. No case studies. No testimonials. No description of how he works or what a typical project looks like.
AI needs credibility signals before it'll recommend anyone. Think about it, would you recommend a tradesperson to a mate if you'd never seen their work? Course not. AI works the same way.
Even one good case study helps. Describe a real project. What the customer needed, what you delivered, how it went, what they said about it. That gives AI evidence it can point to.
Inconsistent business information
This is the tedious one that nobody wants to deal with.
Your website says "Smith & Sons Plumbing". Your Google Business Profile says "Smiths Plumbing Services". Checkatrade has "S Smith Plumbing Ltd". Three different names for the same business. AI sees three different businesses and can't confidently recommend any of them.
The fix is boring. Audit every platform, every directory, every listing. Make the name, phone number, and descriptions match exactly. Takes about an afternoon. Makes a measurable difference.
Not thinking about AI search at all
Perhaps the biggest mistake on this list. Ignoring it entirely.
Most business owners I meet are (understandably) focused on Google rankings. That's been the game for years. But AI search is growing fast. People asking ChatGPT and Gemini for local recommendations are ready to buy. They're not browsing. They're choosing.
If you want to understand how AI actually picks who to recommend, read how ChatGPT decides which business to recommend. The businesses that pay attention now will hoover up those leads. The ones that don't will wonder where all the enquiries went.
Getting started isn't hard
Look, none of this is rocket science. Fix your service descriptions. Name your locations. Add FAQs. Get some proof on your site. Make your business info consistent. That's 90% of the battle.
Getting started with AEO in North Hertfordshire doesn't have to be complicated. If you recognise any of these mistakes on your own site, book a call with us and we'll show you what to fix first.