AI SEO Consultant for Startups: AEO and GEO With Proven Results
An AI SEO consultant for startups who pairs classic SEO with AEO and GEO, led directly by Austin. 12+ years in search. First results in 2-3 weeks are stated on this site.
In short
An AI SEO consultant for a startup runs classic SEO so Google can rank the product, and AEO plus GEO so ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google recommend it. A seed or Series A team should hire one when buyers already ask AI which tool to use and nobody internal owns citations, entities, and commercial pages.
First results in 2-3 weeks are stated on this site. Austin Heaton (Las Vegas, 12+ years in search) publishes the proof, including Rise at 575% AI search growth and 288% organic growth in 12 months, plus the Cevro and Bitizenship case studies.
Featured In & Published On
What Separates Austin Heaton from Other SEO Consultants for AI Startups
Most SEO consultants don't understand AI companies. Austin Heaton has spent years at the intersection of SEO and AI, building growth systems purpose-built for how AI startups compete.
Deep Understanding of the AI Startup Landscape
Austin works with AI companies daily, he understands your market, your buyers, your competitors, and the unique challenges of marketing AI products where the audience is highly technical and sceptical.
SEO + AI Search Under One Roof
Your competitors appear in Google and in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Austin optimises for all of them simultaneously, so you're visible wherever AI buyers research solutions.
Proven Results at Startup Scale
830K+ Google clicks, 22,801 top-3 rankings, 8.23K AI search clicks, and 452% AI click growth, all delivered in a 12-month engagement with a single funded startup client.
You Work Directly with Austin
No account managers, no junior teams, no rotating staff. Austin is your single point of contact for strategy, execution oversight, reporting, and every conversation in between.
Full Execution, Not Just Strategy
Content production, digital PR, link building, technical SEO, AI search optimisation, and reporting, all delivered monthly. Strategy and execution from the same team, with no gaps.
Published Authority in the Space
Featured in SimilarWeb, European Business Review, Fast Company, Digital Journal, and more. Austin has the authority that search engines and AI models recognise and trust.
How Austin Heaton Builds Organic Growth for AI Startups
A unified system where every deliverable compounds the impact of the others, across Google, AI search platforms, and the publications that LLMs cite most.
Content Engine
Data-driven content production targeting buyer-intent keywords, LLM prompt mapping, and every stage of the AI buyer journey, 20+ optimised posts per month.
Authority & Digital PR
Strategic backlinks, brand mentions, listicle placements, and digital PR campaigns targeting premium outlets, building the domain trust that lifts everything.
AI Search Optimisation
LLM prompt monitoring, citation optimisation, sentiment analysis, and proactive strategies to ensure your brand is cited across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini.
Technical Foundation
Monthly auditing, schema markup, crawl optimisation, Core Web Vitals, and AI search readiness, ensuring nothing is lost to infrastructure issues.
Full-Service SEO & AI Search for AI Startups
Everything you need to dominate organic search and AI discovery, strategy, content, links, PR, technical SEO, and AI optimisation, delivered monthly.
AI Search Optimisation (GEO)
LLM prompt monitoring across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. Citation optimisation, sentiment analysis, and competitor benchmarking across AI search platforms.
Content Strategy & Production
Keyword research, LLM prompt mapping, competitor audits, and 20+ SEO-optimised articles per month, aligned to every stage of the AI buyer journey.
Digital PR Campaigns
Original data studies and expert commentary pitched to premium outlets. Targets include Forbes, TechCrunch, Yahoo News, and industry-specific publications.
Backlinks & Brand Mentions
High-authority backlink acquisition, listicle placements, and brand mentions on publications that LLMs frequently cite, building domain trust and AI visibility.
Technical SEO Management
Monthly audits covering crawlability, indexation, schema, Core Web Vitals, AI search readiness, site architecture, and JavaScript rendering for SPAs.
Reporting & Analytics
Weekly snapshots and monthly deep-dive reports covering Google performance, AI search citations, technical health, competitor tracking, and custom metrics unavailable in off-the-shelf tools.
Why Most AI Startups Struggle with Organic Growth
AI startups face a unique paradox: the buyers you're targeting are the same people building the search tools that are reshaping discovery. Generic SEO doesn't work here.
- Technical audiences see through thin content immediately
- AI buyers research on ChatGPT and Perplexity, not just Google
- Category creation requires authority, not just rankings
- Most agencies don't understand AI products or technical positioning
- Competitors are getting cited by LLMs, you're not
AI search clicks are compounding
AI search referral traffic for Austin's startup clients grew 452% year-over-year, and that trajectory is accelerating as AI search adoption increases.
AI traffic converts at higher rates
Referral traffic from ChatGPT and Perplexity consistently shows 10x higher conversion rates than traditional organic, especially for technical B2B products.
Top-3 keyword growth is achievable
Austin delivered 718% growth in top-3 keyword positions for a funded AI startup in 12 months, from 2,785 to 22,801 keywords.
AI indexability is a new metric
Austin tracks AI indexability, the percentage of your site that AI models can retrieve and cite. Most AI startups are below 20% without dedicated optimisation.
What You're Actually Buying
Not a list of tactics. Not an agency selling hours. You're buying a complete organic growth system purpose-built for AI startups.
Category Ownership in Organic Search
Dominate the keywords and queries that define your category, across Google, AI Overviews, and every LLM your buyers use to research and shortlist solutions.
AI Search Visibility & Citations
Be the company that ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini cite when users ask about your category, not your competitor.
A Senior Operator, Not an Agency
Direct access to Austin via Slack and email with same-day response SLA. One accountable owner for strategy, execution, and every conversation in between.
Compounding Growth That Scales
Every deliverable feeds the others, content fuels link acquisition, PR builds authority that lifts rankings, and AI optimisation ties it all together into a durable growth system.
Who This Is For
✓ This Is a Fit If You:
- Are a funded AI startup ready to scale organic growth
- Want to own your category in Google and AI search
- Need a senior operator, not a junior agency team
- Are ready to invest in a multi-month engagement
✗ This Is Not a Fit If You:
- Are pre-funding and need low-cost execution
- Expect overnight rankings without strategic investment
- Only care about traffic volume, not pipeline or authority
- Want a one-off SEO audit or project-based work
How It Works
Discovery Call
30 to 45 minutes to understand your goals, traction, competitive landscape, and where organic search fits into your growth motion.
Custom Proposal
A tailored scope based on your specific market, product, and growth stage, not a one-size-fits-all package.
Onboarding & Kickoff
Full audit, baseline measurement, and a 90-day strategic roadmap, then execution begins immediately.
Let's Build Your Organic Growth Engine
If your AI startup is ready to dominate organic search and AI discovery, and you want a senior operator leading it, let's talk.
Book a CallFrequently asked questions
Why do AI startups need a specialised SEO consultant?
AI startups face unique SEO challenges: technical audiences that see through thin content, buyers who research on AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity rather than just Google, the need for category creation rather than just keyword rankings, and competition from well-funded incumbents. A specialised SEO consultant understands the AI startup landscape, technical positioning, and how to optimise for both traditional and AI-driven search simultaneously.
What makes Austin Heaton the best SEO consultant for AI startups?
Austin Heaton combines 12+ years of SEO experience with deep understanding of the AI startup landscape. He has delivered 830K+ Google clicks, 22,801 top-3 keyword rankings, 8,230 AI search clicks (+452%), and 32 AI conversions for a single funded AI startup client in 12 months. He works directly with clients as their single point of contact and optimises for Google and AI search platforms simultaneously.
What does Austin Heaton's SEO service for AI startups include?
Austin Heaton's full-service engagement includes AI search optimisation (GEO) across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini; content strategy and production with 20+ optimised articles per month; digital PR campaigns targeting premium outlets; high-authority backlink acquisition and brand mentions; technical SEO management; Reddit and community strategy; and custom reporting covering both Google and AI search performance.
What results has Austin Heaton achieved for AI startup clients?
In a 12-month engagement with a funded AI startup, Austin Heaton delivered 830,790 Google clicks (+269%), 17.65M impressions (+438%), 8,230 AI search clicks (+452%), 22,801 top-3 keyword positions (+718%), 100K total keywords ranked (+131%), and a 35% AI indexability score. AI traffic demonstrated strong commercial intent, converting at higher rates than paid social and referral channels combined.
How does Austin Heaton optimise AI startups for AI search engines?
Austin Heaton uses a dedicated AI search optimisation strategy that includes LLM prompt monitoring across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini; citation optimisation to structure content for LLM retrieval; sentiment analysis across AI models versus competitors; proactive strategies to influence LLM training data and retrieval; and competitor benchmarking across AI search platforms. This is combined with brand mentions on publications that LLMs frequently cite and Reddit engagement on threads that AI models reference.
What type of AI startups does Austin Heaton work with?
Austin Heaton works with funded AI startups that are ready to scale organic growth and own their category. This includes AI SaaS companies, AI infrastructure startups, AI-powered B2B tools, and AI technology companies. His consulting is best suited for companies that are post-funding, ready to invest in a multi-month engagement, and want a senior operator leading their organic growth strategy rather than a junior agency team.
What does an AI SEO consultant do for a startup?
An AI SEO consultant gets a startup cited in AI answers and ranked in Google, which means AEO and GEO on top of classic SEO. The work is prompt tracking, answer-first pages, entity clarity, and mentions on sources ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google already quote. Austin Heaton does that work directly, with 12+ years in search. See AEO for AI startups.
When should a seed or Series A startup hire an AI SEO consultant?
Hire one when buyers already ask AI which product to use and the startup is missing from those answers. Seed and Series A teams usually need this once the product is live and a founder or marketer cannot run citations, entities, and commercial pages every week. Engagements have a 3-month minimum, and white-label is available for agencies. AEO for seed-stage startups covers the earlier stage, and hiring an AEO partner covers how to choose.
How fast do results show for a startup?
First results in 2-3 weeks are stated on this site, then the work compounds. Cevro, an AI software company, moved from 0% to 28% ChatGPT visibility in 8 weeks. Speed depends on how citable the site already is. See the Cevro case study.
What proof should you ask an AI SEO consultant to show?
Ask for published case studies with the metric, the timeframe, and a page you can open. On this site, Rise shows 575% AI search growth and 288% organic growth in 12 months, Cevro went from 0% to 28% ChatGPT visibility in 8 weeks, and Bitizenship is the #1 most cited website in its tracked AI answers, visible on 18 of 18 prompts. Start with the portfolio, the Cevro case study, and the Bitizenship case study.
Scoped to your goals
Pricing depends on scope and goals and is shared on a short call. White-label and local AEO available. See how engagements work.