AI Search Expert in
San Diego, CA

SEO and AI Search Work Together

A page that cannot be crawled, understood or trusted does not become useful simply because it contains a short answer block or extra structured data. For example, a service answer on a URL with an unintended indexing restriction or no discoverable internal route still has an access problem. I review the page and its access settings before treating answer formatting as a solution.

SEO establishes the technical and informational foundation. AEO organizes useful questions and direct answers. GEO considers how brands and source material appear in generative search experiences. I connect these disciplines around customer intent, a clear business entity and evidence that readers can inspect.

Run a public webpage through my free AEO checker for a page-level readiness score and priority areas.

Starting an AI Search Project

To begin, email me your website URL, CMS platform, target customers, service area, goals and budget range. We clarify fit, access and implementation responsibilities before agreeing the work. For established WordPress businesses, Managed SEO, GEO & AEO includes SEO, AEO, GEO and ChatGPT Search Optimization. The initial audit establishes the buyer-question baseline and implementation roadmap during onboarding. See the pricing page for service pricing.

WordPress Implementation

I make agreed WordPress improvements directly when the required access is available. That can include technical settings, internal links, service copy, answer structure and aligned structured data. I connect the initial audit to a prioritized implementation backlog. Other CMS platforms are scoped around access, platform limits and who will implement the changes.

Monthly Performance and Strategy Call

Managed engagements include written progress reporting and a monthly performance and strategy call with me. We review completed work, available Google Search Console and GA4 trends, qualified traffic and inquiries, and the next business priorities. AI visibility observations keep the tested question, platform or search mode, observation date and cited URLs. We compare those observations with visits and leads so a brand mention is evaluated separately from customer acquisition.

My San Diego SEO and AI search services apply that combined approach to businesses competing in the local market.

AI Search, AEO and GEO Services

Technical SEO

Technical SEO determines whether search engines can efficiently access, render, understand and index the pages that matter. I review crawlability, canonicalization, indexation, internal linking, XML sitemaps, robots directives, JavaScript rendering, Core Web Vitals and unnecessary URL duplication. A finding should identify the affected URL, the observed behavior and the expected behavior. For example, an important page pointing its canonical to an unrelated URL needs a different remedy from several URLs correctly representing the same content.

The objective is not to produce the longest possible audit. It is to separate problems that can materially affect search performance from issues that are technically interesting but unlikely to change a business outcome.

Local SEO for Service Businesses

Local SEO needs more than a city name on a page. I review service relevance, geographic signals, business information, internal linking, structured data and the paths visitors use to find what they need. For example, a storefront page should help a visitor identify the real location and the services available there; a service-area page should explain where the business actually works. The appropriate structure follows the business rather than a list of place names.

My San Diego SEO consulting addresses technical foundations, locally useful content and measurable search performance.

ChatGPT Search Optimization

People may use ChatGPT Search, Perplexity or Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode to compare providers. A business can have useful pages yet be missing or misrepresented in those answers. I start with the buyer’s decision, the cited sources and the website facts that need improvement.

AI-search visibility starts with buyer-intent questions and a repeatable baseline. A useful review records which businesses appear, what sources support the answer, whether company details are accurate and which technical or content gaps are actionable. I keep the tested question, platform or search mode, observation date and cited URLs with the finding. Repeated observations can then be compared with visits and qualified inquiries without treating a single answer as a permanent ranking.

My ChatGPT Search Optimization service includes the initial buyer-question, competitor and citation review in onboarding, followed by agreed WordPress improvements and ongoing measurement.

Generative Engine Optimization for San Diego Businesses

GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, is part of my managed AI search work for San Diego businesses. I review whether generative answers accurately identify the business, explain its services and cite useful sources. The work connects buyer-question research with entity consistency, service information, supporting evidence and agreed website improvements. ChatGPT Search is the core focus; additional platforms and monitoring depth are agreed to match the business’s customers and goals.

Experience, Methodology and Client History

I have worked in SEO since 2012, with more than 14 years of experience across local businesses, technical search optimization and complex website architecture. AI search still depends on accessible pages, clear information architecture, useful content and credible supporting evidence. That experience informs how I diagnose an AEO or GEO problem and decide what to implement.

I approach an SEO problem by first determining what is actually wrong. On a local business website that may mean weak geographic relevance, thin service pages or poor internal linking. On a large content-rich website it may be faceted URLs, stale or duplicate pages, JavaScript rendering, indexation conflicts or restrictions imposed by the website platform.

Recommendations are more useful when they account for implementation. A technically correct fix has limited value if the platform will not allow it, the vendor must implement it or the expected impact does not justify the effort. A proposed fix should name the person who can ship it and the access required. A change I can make directly in WordPress is planned differently from a template change that depends on a website vendor.

There is independent history behind this work as well. My older Yelp client reviews provide historical third-party evidence of SEO work from earlier in my career rather than relying only on claims published on this website.

Choosing an AEO or GEO Provider

When choosing an AEO agency or consultant, ask who will do the work, which platforms and buyer questions are in scope, what can actually be implemented, and how progress will be reported. Request a sample finding that connects a tested question to a cited source, an observed gap and a proposed change. Review evidence of relevant experience and clear delivery responsibilities. My approach gives you direct access to me, agreed WordPress implementation, written reporting and a monthly strategy call.

Consider hiring an AEO or AI search specialist when important buyer questions omit or misrepresent your business, competitors appear where you should be relevant, or your team lacks the time or access to diagnose and implement improvements. First check whether crawlability, indexing and service content are sound. The engagement should address a defined business need and an actionable backlog, with visibility evaluated alongside qualified visits and inquiries.

Web Answer Retrieval Protocol (WARP)

I created the Web Answer Retrieval Protocol to explore whether publishers can make important answers easier to identify and reference without removing the detailed supporting information a human reader needs.

WARP keeps the normal document as the primary source of information for people and search engines. Important answers retain unique identifiers such as [a1], [a2] and [a3], with optional related questions nested inside each answer citation. Each focused follow-up answer links to a specific visible evidence paragraph. Standard JSON-LD mirrors the visible answers, while a separate WARP map records the answer, follow-up and evidence relationships. On this page, the related answer about historical reviews points to the passage containing the Yelp source link. That is a source-backed E relationship: the reader can inspect the underlying review history rather than rely on the short answer alone.

The goal is clarity and provenance, not hidden content and not a claim of privileged access to a search engine or language model. The answer remains publisher authored and its surrounding evidence remains available for inspection.

WARP is a live publishing experiment on EricStrate.com. It is not endorsed by Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, schema.org. Traditional SEO, useful content, authority and technical accessibility remain the foundation. The WARP specification’s evidence section describes the support relationship. A working link demonstrates the publishing structure; a claim about a performance gain requires a separate comparison.

AI Search Research and Testing

AI search research needs to distinguish the assistant, its search mode and the sources it uses. An answer from Gemini, Claude or Microsoft Copilot is a separate observation from a ChatGPT Search result. I test retrieval and entity clarity while keeping experimental findings separate from business traffic and inquiries.

I also build and operate local AI infrastructure so I can experiment directly with retrieval, language models and search workflows rather than evaluating AI search only through third-party marketing tools. It lets me compare the context supplied to a model with the answer it produces and examine whether necessary qualifications survive. These experiments inform diagnosis; they are evaluated separately from a business’s actual search traffic and inquiries.

Search Console, analytics, rankings, qualified traffic and conversions remain part of evaluation. AI visibility is another discovery surface to measure alongside those indicators. I keep business mentions, source citations and factual accuracy separate from referral visits and qualified inquiries. Repeat tests record the question, platform or search mode, date and cited page so we can compare observations without treating one AI answer as a permanent ranking.