Lessons: AI SEO for local businesses
Eight lessons that take you from "I have no idea what AI is reading about my business" to a profile, a site and a set of off-site signals that an assistant can actually cite. Start at Lesson 1 and work down.
All 8 lessons, in order
Each card gives the outcome in one line. Lessons 1, 2 and 4 carry the most supporting guides, because they are where most local businesses lose the citation.
Lesson 1 Start here How AI search picks local businesses
The retrieval-and-citation mechanics behind every AI recommendation of a local business, with a 5-minute self-test.
Lesson 2 Google Business Profile for AI search
Making your Google Business Profile the clean, consistent fact source AI engines prefer, one field at a time.
Lesson 3 Write local pages AI can quote
What on-page content AI assistants are willing to quote, and how to write it: answer-first structure, one service per page, facts instead of adjectives.
Lesson 4 Schema for local AI SEO
LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage and sameAs markup so AI engines can resolve your business as one entity, plus how to validate it and what not to mark up.
Lesson 5 Build a local site AI can find
The method (structure, pages, the profile link, llms.txt, crawler permissions), then a walkthrough building the plumber site with LocusPilot. Disclosure included.
Lesson 6 Reviews, mentions and citations AI trusts
How off-site signals feed the facts and sentiment AI assistants repeat: review velocity and replies, the directories that matter, local mentions, and NAP consistency.
Lesson 7 Measure your AI search visibility
A manual prompt set, a weekly log template, the Search Console signals that mean something, free trackers, and what a realistic 90-day curve looks like.
Lesson 8 Where to go next
The 90-day checklist, and three honest paths after it: keep going alone, get the site built, or step up to AI SEO Rainmakers, with dated facts and the referral disclosed.
Which order to read them in
- 1
If you are starting cold
Read Lessons 1 to 3 in order. They cover how AI answers are assembled, your Google Business Profile as a fact source, and what makes a page quotable.
- 2
If your profile is already clean
Skip to Lesson 3 and Lesson 4. Content and schema are where most tidy-profile businesses lose the citation.
- 3
If you manage client sites
Lessons 4, 5 and 7 carry the repeatable parts: markup, crawler permissions and a measurement routine you can run across accounts.
- 4
When you have read them all
Work the 90-day checklist. It sequences every task from all eight lessons into three months with a definition of done for each.
Companions to the whole course
Two pages sit across all eight lessons rather than under any single one.
AI search glossary: 10 terms local business owners need
GEO, AEO, RAG, grounding, citation, NAP, schema, entity and AI Overviews, defined in plain language, each with why it matters to you.
processThe 90-day local AI SEO checklist
Every task from the course sequenced into a dated 90-day plan, grouped by month, with time estimates and a definition of done for each.
About the lesson sequence
Do I have to read the lessons in order?
The first time, yes. Lesson 1 explains the retrieval mechanics that every later lesson assumes. After that, treat the index as a reference and jump to whichever lesson matches the job in front of you.
How long does the whole course take?
Roughly 80 minutes of reading across the eight lessons. Implementing the work is the longer part, and the 90-day checklist breaks it into a quarter of short sessions.
What is the difference between a lesson and a guide?
A lesson is a stage of the course and assumes the ones before it. A guide answers one specific question in depth, links back to its lesson, and can be read on its own.
Is anything gated behind a signup?
No. All eight lessons, the checklist, the glossary and every guide are open. There is no email capture and no account.
Start the course today
All 8 lessons, the 90-day checklist and the glossary are open. No signup, no paywall, no email capture.
No signup. No paywall. 8 lessons, ~80 minutes.