Say someone blurts out “best [service] near me,” and poof—the assistant serves up one or two safe options. No ten blue links, no rabbit hole. It isn’t rifling through the whole web or rolling dice. It’s stitching together a tiny short list from trustworthy local sources, checking who’s open right now, weighing ratings and fresh reviews, and—if it can—reading a short, clean snippet straight from a site. Local AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is simply arranging your profiles, reviews, and on-site content so the assistant chooses you and literally speaks your answer.

Zero-click is the default.

On phones and smart speakers, folks tap to call, get directions, or book without ever loading your homepage. Your mission: be the safest, most complete, most quotable choice. Start with presence (complete, consistent profiles on Google, Apple, Bing, Yelp), proof (ratings, recency, real photos, weekly activity), and answers (crawlable, natural Q&A written the way people actually ask). I’ll thread a single example—Joe’s Plumbing in Austin—so every step feels concrete. If you want a deeper peek into how assistants glue answers together, see How Answer Engines Work and our guide to Zero-Click Searches.

At Be The Answer, we run this exact playbook for service providers, regional B2B teams, and high-CAC startups that win when assistants pick them first.

How assistants decide: proximity, prominence, relevance

These systems juggle three big signals: proximity, prominence, and relevance.

Proximity is literally where you are and if you’re open now. Keep standard and special hours identical in Google Business Profile (GBP), Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, and Yelp. “Open now” parity breaks ties more often than you’d think.

Prominence is a blend of star rating, volume and freshness of reviews, genuine photos, media mentions, and visible activity. New photos, weekly updates, and fast replies tell the robot you’re legit and awake.

Relevance starts with the right categories and the words you use. Increasingly, it hinges on whether you’ve got a crisp answer the assistant can quote cleanly in natural language.

Test on actual devices monthly. Ask your top questions, write down the exact sources assistants cite, and track the trendlines using our Measuring AEO Success framework. I do this myself—Siri is pickier than you expect.

What local voice/AI queries actually sound like

People talk like, well, people. It’s “Who does 24/7 plumbing near me?” not “plumber Austin.” They’re also blunt about cost and availability: “How much is drain cleaning in Austin?” and “What’s the wait time?” In B2B, the pattern’s similar: “Who offers same-day managed IT support near me?” and “Which SaaS implementation partner in Denver has SOC 2 experience?” Those little qualifiers (“open now,” “same-day,” “kid-friendly,” “wheelchair accessible”) aren’t fluff—they decide who gets picked.

Every assistant plays favorites with sources. Siri leans on Apple Maps and often shows Yelp photos and reviews. Alexa taps Yelp and Bing’s local data. Google Assistant blends GBP with site content and your review footprint. Bing Copilot uses Bing Places, authoritative citations, and will quote a page when it needs extra context. Be thorough, consistent, and competitive wherever those facts originate. For more voice-specific quirks across assistants, see Voice Search and AEO – Optimizing for Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.

Foundation first: fix your business data (NAP+)

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone, plus hours, categories, attributes, and action links. Use one exact business name everywhere (skip the keyword-stuffing). List a real local number and make it tap-to-call on mobile. Keep standard and holiday hours perfectly in sync; assistants reward “open now” accuracy.

Using call tracking? In GBP, set the tracking number as primary and your main line as additional, and mirror that in Apple, Bing, and Yelp. On your site, use dynamic number insertion so users see the tracking number, while your canonical number stays in your schema and footer.

If you’re a service-area business, hide your street address where required and define your service area by cities or ZIPs. Avoid virtual offices—suspension bait. Multi-location brands need unique NAP per spot and a “Locations” hub that links to each page with clear, indexable URLs. For technical prep, see Technical SEO vs. Technical AEO.

Google Business Profile: your strongest local signal

Categories control relevance.

Pick the most specific primary category you truly qualify for, then add accurate secondaries. Re-check competitor categories quarterly; tiny shifts can change who gets surfaced.

Descriptions and services pull weight.

Write a human intro that states your main services and city in a single sentence. Add services and products with recognizable names and (where supported) price ranges. Use the appointment_link field, and add UTM parameters to website and appointment URLs so you can actually measure what converts.

Photos, posts, and Q&A show you’re active.

Refresh photos monthly (interior, exterior, team, service-in-progress). Post weekly with a single-sentence update that sounds good read aloud. Treat Q&A like public FAQs: seed only real questions and answer succinctly in the phrasing customers use. For FAQ tactics that actually help, see Help Center & FAQ Optimization.

Messaging and response.

Turn on messaging and call history if you can staff it, and set a response-time SLA. Ask for reviews after successful jobs without gating (filtering for only happy customers is against Google policy). Reply to every review within 24–48 hours with useful context, not awkward keyword dumps. If you care about trust signals (you should), align with E-E-A-T for AEO.

For Joe’s Plumbing in Austin, that means picking “Emergency Plumber” or “Plumber” as the primary category, adding “24/7 emergency service” under services, using a booking link that works on mobile with UTM tracking, and posting weekly around seasonal issues (frozen pipes in the weird Austin cold snaps—been there).

Apple Maps and Siri: Apple Business Connect matters

Claim and verify each location in Apple Business Connect. Choose precise categories and subcategories, keep hours up to date, upload fresh photos, and link your place card to the most relevant deep page (your Austin location page or menu), not the homepage. Publish Showcase cards for timely promos—Siri can reference these. Encourage iPhone users to rate you in Apple Maps; Apple’s native stars are separate from Yelp. Test with Siri and review your Apple place card analytics to confirm everything’s accurate.

Yelp and Alexa: the review layer that gets quoted

Polish your Yelp profile with exact categories, detailed services, and current photos. Caption photos in everyday language (e.g., “latte art in Williamsburg”) so Yelp understands what’s what. Enable Request a Quote only if you can respond fast—slow replies tank conversion. Yelp Connect can help for certain verticals. Do not gate or incentivize reviews; Yelp’s filter is brutal and penalties sting.

Bing Places and the Microsoft ecosystem

Claim Bing Places and sync from GBP when that option appears, but don’t trust a blind sync—fields don’t map 1:1. Review categories, attributes, photos, and keep hours in lockstep. Test representative queries in Bing Copilot and note whether it cites your Bing profile, your website, or a third-party. Tiny tweaks in Bing Places can unlock Copilot mentions—I’ve seen this happen the same day.

On-site answers assistants can comfortably quote

Write key pages so a voice assistant can lift a 40–60-word answer right from the top. Put NAP in crawlable text on your contact page and footer, make the phone number clickable, and keep “Call,” “Book,” or “Get directions” visible above the fold. Keep pages fast and within Core Web Vitals. Kill pop-ups that smother the call button or map on mobile. Please.

Home page.

Lead with a plain H1 like “Plumber in Austin, TX — 24/7 Emergency Service,” followed by two tight sentences that answer the core ask. Reinforce trust with a short summary of your star rating, years in business, and the neighborhoods you serve.

Location pages.

Use a unique headline such as “Joe’s Plumbing — Emergency Plumber in South Congress.” In the first two sentences, say who you serve, what you’re best at, whether you’re open now or 24/7, and your typical response time or price range. Include exact hours, parking or transit details, recognizable neighborhoods or ZIPs, 3–5 local FAQs, 1–2 testimonials that name the city and service, a map, and real photos of the local team.

Service pages.

Add city-specific sections and realistic price ranges assistants can quote. Use short answer boxes and natural questions as subheads. For B2B, a “Managed IT in Austin—response times and SLAs” section clarifies what “same-day” really means.

For answer-first writing and practical upgrades, see Creating Answer-Focused Content and Optimizing Existing Content.

LocalBusiness schema: give machines the facts

Use JSON-LD and keep markup in parity with what’s visible. Choose the most specific LocalBusiness subtype (Restaurant, MedicalClinic, LegalService, AutomotiveBusiness, EmergencyService, etc.). Fill core fields (name, url, telephone, address, geo, openingHoursSpecification, priceRange, sameAs) and add vertical fields where relevant. For implementation details, validation, and edge cases, see Structured Data & Schema – A Technical AEO Guide.

Content that wins “near me” answers

Create short answer boxes at the top of priority pages so assistants have something safe to quote. Publish transparent “Best [service] in [city]” pages that explain your criteria, include two or three alternatives, and disclose any affiliations. Add city-specific cost explainers with realistic ranges and the factors that move price up or down. Build neighborhood mini-guides—“Plumbing in Zilker: common issues and code tips”—to position yourself as the local specialist.

For B2B, write “Managed IT in Austin: response times, SLAs, on-site fees” with a 40–60-word opener. For software with a regional go-to-market, publish “SaaS implementation partners in Denver—certifications, SOC 2 experience, and timelines.”

Reviews are content assistants read

Assistants look at stars, recency, and the words inside reviews. Ask happy customers for specific, detailed reviews that mention the service and the city or neighborhood. Do not gate reviews or offer perks (violates Google and Yelp). Aim for a steady monthly cadence on Google and Apple; add Yelp where it influences your category. Mine reviews for recurring phrases like “same-day service” or “great with kids” and reuse that wording in your FAQs and GBP posts. Respond within 24–48 hours, and never put PHI/PII in public responses. For broader trust signals, revisit E-E-A-T for AEO.

Citations and local authority beyond your site

Clean, consistent listings on trusted directories strengthen your entity in the knowledge graph. In regulated or specialized spaces, claim Avvo and Justia for legal, Healthgrades for medical, TripAdvisor and OpenTable for hospitality. For services and B2B, add Clutch, GoodFirms, and the BBB when appropriate. For software with a regional focus, use partner directories, local tech associations, and event sponsorship listings. If you genuinely meet notability, Wikidata can help with entity resolution—don’t manufacture notability. Read more in Off-Site AEO, Digital PR for AEO, and The Wikipedia Advantage.

Zero-click reality: turn answers into actions

Design every page for the action that comes right after the answer. Use tel: and sms: deep links, and add UTM parameters to website and booking links so you can attribute assistant traffic. Keep forms to five fields or fewer and offer SMS for urgent jobs. Write one-sentence, voice-friendly CTAs: “Need same-day AC repair in Dallas? Call 214-XXX-XXXX.” For strategy ideas, see Brand Visibility Without Clicks.

Multi-location playbook vs. single-location focus

Give each location its own GBP, Apple, Bing, and Yelp profile plus a unique location page. Use different photos, team bios, local testimonials, and neighborhood-specific FAQs. Provide a store locator with internal search and clear, indexable URLs like /locations/austin/. If you’re a single-location business, put your energy into a strong homepage, one standout city guide, and sections that cover your key neighborhoods.

Technical AEO for local: make it crawlable and speakable

Ensure location pages are indexable, listed in your XML sitemap, and linked from your header or a “Locations” hub. Avoid noindexing the very pages assistants need. Don’t render key content only with JavaScript; prerender or use server-side rendering for location pages. Use canonical URLs to prevent duplicate city/service sprawl. Hit Core Web Vitals, write clear headings, and use accessible semantics so screen readers and assistants can parse your structure. For more prep, read Technical SEO vs. Technical AEO.

Industry nuances (YMYL and regulated categories)

Healthcare, legal, and finance fall under YMYL (“Your Money or Your Life”) and require stronger E-E-A-T. Show licenses, practitioner profiles, and disclaimers. Never include PHI/PII in reviews or responses. Home services should display license and insurance details and make emergency availability unmistakable. Restaurants and hospitality should integrate reservations and ordering, add menu schema with dietary labels, and use attributes like kid-friendly or outdoor seating. I once watched a bistro triple Siri visibility by cleaning up menu schema alone—wild.

A 30-day local AEO launch plan

Week 1:

Fix every hours discrepancy across Google, Apple, Bing, and Yelp. Claim or verify any missing profiles. Publish or upgrade location pages with a 40–60-word answer box, precise hours, local FAQs, a map, and valid schema (validate using our Schema Guide).

Week 2:

Refresh photos and short videos. Publish three to four GBP posts with seasonal or “open now” hooks. Seed five to seven genuine GBP Q&As and answer them. Start a compliant review request flow and secure your first ten reviews that mention the city and service.

Week 3:

Publish a city-specific cost explainer and a seasonal how-to. Implement FAQPage schema where you added visible FAQs. Add UTM to GBP website/appointment links. Test tap-to-call, SMS, and booking flows on iOS and Android. Break anything? Fix it immediately—I’ve learned the hard way.

Week 4:

Ask each assistant your top five questions. Log the exact wording, cited sources, and gaps. Submit to five to eight priority vertical/local citations and land one community or media mention. Adjust pages and profiles based on what you found. For methodology, use Experimentation in AEO.

Measurement: KPIs for a zero-click world

Use GBP Performance (formerly Insights) to track Search and Maps views, calls, direction requests, website taps, messages, and bookings. Add UTM to GBP website and appointment links so you can see assistant-assisted sessions and conversions in analytics. Use dynamic number insertion on your site; keep your canonical number in schema and the footer. In GBP, keep the tracking number primary and your main line as additional.

Keep a monthly share-of-voice log. On real devices, ask your top five questions on Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Bing Copilot. Record the exact answer, the cited source, and whether it chose you. Tie everything back to revenue using call tracking, booking conversions, and click-to-call CTR on local pages. Dive deeper in Measuring AEO Success. It’s a bit tedious, but honestly it’s teh only way to see what’s moving.

Common pitfalls that cost you picks

Inconsistent hours—especially around holidays—make assistants say you’re closed when you’re open. Virtual office or mailbox addresses invite suspensions; list as a Service Area Business if you don’t serve customers at your location. Stock-only photos erode trust; show your team and real sites. Mismatched pricing between GBP and your site kills credibility. Ignoring Apple and Yelp gifts Siri and Alexa to competitors. Letting GBP Q&A and reviews sit unanswered signals low engagement. See more in Avoiding AEO Pitfalls.

Examples: from query to optimization

“Who offers 24/7 plumbing near me?” Assistants check for an “Emergency Plumber” category, verified 24/7 hours, proximity, and reviews that mention “emergency” or “after-hours.” For Joe’s Plumbing: put “24/7 emergency service” high on the homepage and services page, include it in schema, set special hours, publish a direct emergency FAQ with a click-to-call number, and ask for reviews referencing emergency work in Austin neighborhoods.

“Best coffee in Brooklyn, open now.” Tie-breakers include high average rating, recent praise for drinks or vibe, precise “open now” status, strong photos, and a visible menu link. Keep hours exact, post daily specials, double-check your menu URL, and encourage Apple Maps and Yelp reviews from regulars. I helped a spot in Williamsburg fix a stale menu link; Siri noticed within a week.

“How much does teeth whitening cost in Denver?” A dentist with a Denver-specific cost page that opens with a 40–60-word answer and realistic ranges, backed by LocalBusiness schema, gets picked more often. Fill out dental services in GBP and add patient FAQs on timing and sensitivity in plain language.

“Who offers same-day managed IT near me?” Assistants weigh proximity, the “Managed IT Services” category, verified “open now,” clear response-time claims on the site, and reviews that mention “same-day” or “SLA.” Actions: add “same-day support” to service pages and schema, specify the SLA in an answer box, keep hours accurate, and ask clients to mention response times in reviews.

“Which SaaS implementation partner in Denver has SOC 2 experience?” Assistants look for partner directory citations, certifications, case studies naming the city, and pages that answer timeline and data-security questions in 40–60 words. Actions: ship a “Denver SaaS implementations” page with a concise summary, list certifications, cite local clients (with permission), and sync details across GBP and Bing Places.

Practical templates without the fluff

A strong location page opens with a clear H1 and a 40–60-word answer that states the service, city, availability, and typical response time or price. Follow with NAP and hours, neighborhoods served, three to five FAQs phrased the way customers ask, one or two testimonials that name the city and service, recent photos, a map, and a simple CTA. Use the exact city and service in the first sentence so assistants and humans get it instantly. It sounds basic because it works.

Maintain and iterate: a quarterly habit

Re-audit categories, attributes, hours, and photo freshness every quarter across GBP, Apple, Bing, and Yelp. Refresh photo sets with new interior, exterior, and team shots. Update answer boxes and FAQs based on reviews and support tickets. Retest your top questions on each assistant, note behavior changes, and patch gaps such as missing booking links, unclear pricing, or outdated coverage. Publish two or three locally resonant pieces tied to seasons, regulations, or common headaches. Keep pages current using Content Freshness best practices.

Quick-reference checklist

• Profiles complete and verified on Google, Apple, Bing, and Yelp, with precise categories, hours, attributes, photos, and working deep links.
• Accurate “open now” and special hours everywhere; double-check before weekends and holidays.
• Location pages live with a 40–60-word answer box, local FAQs, map, recent photos, compliant schema, and clear CTAs to call, get directions, and book.
• Review program running without gating; responses within 24–48 hours; requests encourage city and service mentions.
• UTM on GBP website/appointment links; dynamic number insertion on site; canonical number in schema/footer; tracking number primary in GBP.
• Monthly Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Bing Copilot tests with a share-of-voice log of answers, sources, and fixes.
• Content that answers availability, coverage, and cost by city or neighborhood, written in natural language that mirrors how people ask.

Wrapping up: make your business the obvious spoken answer

Assistants reward completeness, credibility, and concise, human answers. Keep profiles sharp, earn honest reviews, and write pages the way an assistant would speak them, and you’ll turn more near-me moments into calls, bookings, and visits—with zero clicks. If you want a partner to operationalize this across Google, Apple, Bing, and Yelp, Be The Answer specializes in local AEO for service providers, software companies, and high-CAC startups. Explore our services or contact us to get started.