AI Search, GEO And AEO Specialist In Ireland
- Experience
- 8 years in SEO
- Focus
- AI search, GEO, AEO and technical SEO
- Background
- Software engineer at Slack, then SEO full time from 2022
- Measured On
- Enquiries, bookings and sales
Who Is Alan Piggott?
Alan Piggott is an Irish SEO and AI search specialist with 8 years of SEO experience, working on generative engine optimisation (GEO) and answer engine optimisation (AEO) to grow enquiries and sales.
Alan worked as a software engineer at Slack before moving into SEO full time, and now gets brands named in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers while growing the enquiries and sales that search brings in.
How I Work On AI Search
There is a big crossover between ranking in AI answers and ranking in Google, so most of the foundation work from SEO still pays off. On top of that, this is the process I follow.
AI Technical Audit
I start with a technical audit built for AI search, checking that robots.txt, firewalls and JavaScript aren't stopping ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google or Bing from reading the pages, and that the site is indexed in Bing, which Copilot answers come from.
Keyword Research And Query Fan-Out
Then I research the questions buyers ask and the follow-up searches AI tools run behind the scenes to answer them, known as query fan-out. I work those into the content as question-led headings and FAQs, so the page covers what the AI goes looking for.
Pages AI Can Quote
Next I update the pages so they answer the main question straight away, with the key facts near the top, tables for prices, specs and comparisons, and schema where it's relevant, though the data so far shows schema doesn't change rankings on its own.
Mentions On The Sites AI Cites
Then I look at which websites ChatGPT and other AI tools cite for those questions, such as directories, comparison and review sites, trade publications and Reddit threads, and work on getting the brand mentioned on them, so when the AI goes looking for an answer it finds the brand listed.
Measuring Leads From AI
Finally I track the visits and enquiries AI assistants send in GA4, and how often the brand is named for a fixed set of buyer questions, so the work is judged on leads and not on screenshots.
- Address
- Accessibility
- Wheelchair access, on-site parking
- Monday to Friday
- 6 AM to 10 PM
- Saturday
- 6 AM to 8 PM
- Sunday
- Closed
- . MRI available; open weekdays from 6am to 10pm, with on-site parking.
Results
Share of voice in AI answers, the most-named brand in its category and more than twice the next one, with AI visits up 123% year on year
National ecommerce retailer
Prompt Watch, 85 prompts and 10,891 answers, with GA4 AI visits for January to September 2025 against 2026
Visits from AI assistants, April to September 2026, up from 798 a year earlier, with each one worth nearly twice an organic visit in bookings
National medical imaging group
GA4, visits from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot
Questions About AI Search
Who is Alan Piggott?
Alan Piggott is an Irish SEO and AI search specialist with 8 years of SEO experience, working on generative engine optimisation (GEO) and answer engine optimisation (AEO) to grow enquiries and sales.
What is the difference between GEO and AEO?
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is about getting a brand named and cited when people ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Claude for a recommendation. Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the same job aimed at the direct answers in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. In practice most of the work overlaps.
Is AI search optimisation different from SEO?
Less than people think. The pages that rank well in Google are usually the ones AI tools pick up, so technical health, strong pages and links still do most of the work. The extra AI work is making sure AI crawlers can read the site, answering questions early on each page and getting mentioned on the sites AI tools cite.
How long does AI search optimisation take to work?
Technical fixes such as unblocking AI crawlers can show within weeks, once the pages are crawled again. Content changes and mentions take longer. At one medical imaging group, ChatGPT answers on tracked clinic searches that link to a clinic page went from 1 in 12 in July 2026 to 1 in 4 three months later.
Are visitors from AI search worth more than Google visitors?
In Alan's data they can be. At one medical imaging group, visits from AI assistants brought 12.7 booking requests per 100 visits, against 6.9 from organic search, so each AI visit was worth nearly twice as much.
Can you track rankings in ChatGPT?
Not the way you track Google positions, because answers change from one run to the next. Tools such as Prompt Watch ask a fixed set of buyer questions many times and report how often a brand is named and which pages are cited, which is a steadier measure than any single answer.
Does schema markup help you show up in AI answers?
It helps AI tools and search engines read facts like prices, opening hours, locations and reviews, so Alan adds it where it is relevant. The data so far does not show schema on its own changing rankings, so it is good practice rather than a ranking lever.
Should you block AI crawlers in robots.txt?
Only if you don't want to appear in AI answers. Search crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Bingbot fetch pages so AI tools can cite them, while GPTBot and Google-Extended control whether content is used to train models. Blocking the search crawlers stops those tools citing your pages, so they are the first thing Alan checks in an AI technical audit.
Does Bing matter for AI search?
Yes. Microsoft Copilot answers are built on Bing's index, so a site Bing hasn't indexed can't be cited there. Bing Webmaster Tools also reports how often a site is cited in Copilot answers.
How do you measure AI search results?
By the visits and enquiries AI assistants send, tracked in GA4, alongside how often the brand is named and which pages are cited for a fixed set of buyer questions.
What does Alan Piggott bring that most SEOs don't?
Alan worked as a software engineer at Slack before moving into SEO full time, so he builds his own SEO tools and writes page template and schema specs developers can build straight from.
Get In Touch
The quickest way to reach me is by email or on LinkedIn.