METHOD / ENTRY 14
The first step with Bay Area AEO: a free AI visibility check, with no obligation, that shows what ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI and Perplexity say about a business today.
Bay Area AEO offers every business a free AI visibility check, with no obligation. The agency's own description is short: see what ChatGPT says about your business, what Gemini and Google's AI say, and who they recommend instead. The check is the method's first run. It records where a business stands before any work begins, which makes it the baseline every later report is compared with.
The agency publishes its onboarding as four steps. They run in order, and the check sits in the middle of them.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | A short call to learn about the business and the customers it wants more of. |
| 2 | A free AI visibility check: the questions customers ask, and what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI say today. |
| 3 | A walkthrough of what AI currently says about the business and its competitors. |
| 4 | A suggested starting point: many businesses start with the location or service that matters most and expand once they see AI answers change. |
The first step is a short call to learn about the business and the customers it wants more of. That conversation shapes the questions. A Walnut Creek divorce attorney who wants high-asset cases needs different questions from one who wants first consultations from young couples, even though both are "divorce attorney in Walnut Creek."
The check runs the customer questions on the assistants and reports what comes back. An owner sees whether the business is named at all; if it is, how it is described; and which competitors take the spots it is missing. The walkthrough that follows goes through those answers with the owner, competitors included, so the picture is understood before anything is proposed.
For many owners this is the first time they have seen an AI answer about their own trade in their own city. Bay Area AEO's about page explains why it starts here: the businesses named in AI answers are the ones AI understands, through consistent listings, clear websites, specific reviews and mentions in sources AI trusts. The agency describes its role as beginning with an honest look at what AI says about a business today.
The fourth step is a recommendation. Many businesses, the agency says, start with the location or service that matters most and expand once they see AI answers change. The check makes that choice easier: the gaps it reveals are usually sharper for some services or places than others, and the owner can see which one is worth doing first.
Owners often ask whether AEO means rebuilding their site. The agency's answer is that a new website is usually not needed. It works with the existing site and adds what AI needs: clear service pages, FAQs, structured data and accurate business details. That keeps the first step cheap in every sense; the check costs nothing and the follow-on work builds on what the business already has.
Because the check is run before any work begins, it fixes the starting point for everything after. Each monthly report runs the same questions on the same assistants, so a later answer can be set beside the check's answer and read as a change. Without that first record, an owner would have to remember what ChatGPT said months earlier. With it, the progress is on the page. The before and after answers entry explains how the pairs are read.
The check can be requested by email at [email protected] or by phone at (510) 298-3543. The agency states that it replies within one business day. Owners who prefer to talk can book a 30-minute strategy call. The contact entry lists each channel, and the client reports entry describes what follows if the owner goes ahead.