When someone asks Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa 'who's the best plumber near me,' the assistant needs a single, confident answer — not a list of ten blue links. AEO is how a business earns that spot.
In practice, that means structured FAQ content answering the real questions customers ask, schema markup (LocalBusiness, FAQPage, Service) that tells search engines exactly who you are and what you do, and Google Business Profile Q&A sections kept genuinely useful.
For local businesses, AEO matters because voice and assistant-driven search is growing fastest in exactly the categories where trust and immediacy decide the sale — trades, real estate, and professional services.