The 30-Day Small Business AEO Plan
A day-by-day, four-week plan to get your small business recognized and recommended by AI — no jargon, no big budget. Week 1 gets your site readable, Week 2 writes answer-first pages, Week 3 builds off-site mentions, and Week 4 covers local details and measurement. Check off each day as you go.
This is a day-by-day, four-week plan to get your small business recognized and recommended by AI — no jargon, no big budget. Week 1 makes your site readable, Week 2 writes answer-first pages, Week 3 builds off-site mentions, and Week 4 covers local details and measurement. Check off each day as you go.
How to use this plan
The day numbers are an order, not a deadline — most days take 30–60 minutes, and you can pace them to your week. Do them in sequence: readable → clear answers → mentions → local & measure. It's built for a business with no budget and no marketing team. Tick each box below as you finish.
Week 1 — Make your site readable by AI
The goal this week is simple: make sure AI tools can find and read your site, and figure out what to write. Nothing here needs a developer for most site builders.
Week 1 — Readable foundations
0 / 7
Each unchecked box is a place a competitor can beat you to the AI answer.
The robots.txt and rendering checks are the access basics — plain guide in how to allow AI crawlers in robots.txt. See Google's own robots.txt documentation if you want the technical reference.
Week 2 — Write pages that answer clearly
This week you turn those questions into pages AI can quote. The one rule: put the answer in the first sentence. AI tools favor the top of the page — Profound found 44% of citations come from the first third — so don't bury it.
Week 2 — Answer-first pages
0 / 7
Each unchecked box is a place a competitor can beat you to the AI answer.
That's writing content AI will quote, in five days.
Week 3 — Get mentioned and reviewed
Now build the off-site trust that makes AI recommend you. Being mentioned around the web — earning a branded mention — matters even more than links — Ahrefs found mentions tracked AI visibility far more strongly than backlinks. None of this costs money.
Week 3 — Off-site trust
0 / 7
Each unchecked box is a place a competitor can beat you to the AI answer.
This is the Authority work; the Off-Site Playbooks go deeper, and Reddit citations explains why communities matter.
Week 4 — Local details and measurement
Finish by tightening the details that help AI know exactly who and where you are, then set up a simple way to check your progress.
Week 4 — Local details + measure
0 / 9
Each unchecked box is a place a competitor can beat you to the AI answer.
Keeping your details consistent is NAP consistency; the question-tracking habit is the simple version of measuring your AI visibility.
Where to go next
You've covered the basics in 30 days. To go deeper, take the AEO Foundations course, and if you're local or a service business, read local AEO and how service businesses get recommended by AI. Short on time? The cheapest high-impact moves are the ones to keep doing.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the 30-day AEO plan?
- A four-week, day-by-day checklist that takes a small business from invisible to recommendable by AI. Week 1 makes your site readable by AI tools, Week 2 rewrites your key pages to answer questions clearly, Week 3 builds the off-site mentions and reviews that earn trust, and Week 4 handles local details and basic measurement. Each step is small, plain, and mostly free.
- How much time does the 30-day plan take each day?
- Most days are 30 to 60 minutes, and you can spread them across whatever schedule suits you — the day numbers are an order, not a deadline. The plan front-loads quick technical checks, then the bulk of the work is writing clear answers to your customers' real questions, which you can pace to fit your week.
- Do I need any paid tools for the 30-day plan?
- No. The whole plan runs on free effort — checking your site, writing clear answers, claiming profiles, and asking for reviews. You can add a paid visibility tracker at the end if you want ongoing measurement, but it is optional. The plan is designed for a small business with no budget and no marketing team.
- What if I can't finish in exactly 30 days?
- That's fine — the plan is an ordered checklist, not a stopwatch. Do the steps in sequence (readable first, then clear answers, then mentions, then local and measurement) and take the time you need. Consistency matters more than speed, and the work compounds whenever you do it.
Last updated .