Be the referral ChatGPT makes.
You built this company on word of mouth. Your buyers still want a referral. They just ask an AI for one first, and it comes back with a handful of names.
A buyer in Mahwah is asking AI:
And we make sure your name is in the answer.
No commitment · Report in your inbox in 48 business hours · 5 AI platforms tested
WE OPTIMIZE YOUR COMPANY TO BE CITED IN
The referral still decides. The referrer changed.
For thirty years your best lead came from someone who already knew you. That still happens. But before your buyer calls the person they trust, they ask an AI, and it comes back with a handful of names. The list changes with every question, and it always comes out of the same short group. If you are not in that group, you never hear about the deal you were not in.
Most owner-led companies were built long before any of this existed. Their websites were written to be read by people, not quoted by machines. That gap is the entire opportunity, and in your market almost nobody has closed it yet.
76%
of CEOs now use generative AI themselves. You already trust it for your own research. Your buyers are using it to research you. Vistage CEO Confidence Index, Dec 2025 (1,202 CEOs)
45%
of U.S. consumers asked an AI for a local business recommendation this year. A year earlier it was 6%. BrightLocal, March 2026 (1,002 U.S. adults)
94%
of business buyers now use AI somewhere in the buying process, and they name it more often than vendor sites or sales reps. Forrester Buyers' Journey Survey
We make AI recommend your company.
A methodology built around 3 moves.
your company
We audit
We map the real questions your buyers ask, and show which ones cite your company and which ones hand the answer to a competitor, across the 5 leading AI platforms.
We optimize
We restructure your digital presence (site, schema, content, profiles) so AI reads your company as an authoritative source instead of decoration.
We report
Every month you get a dashboard with every citation won, against which competitors, on which questions.
Qualified inbound, without paying per click.
Unlike Google or LinkedIn ads, you are not renting temporary attention. You earn a place inside the answer, and it keeps producing buyers who arrive already convinced, month after month.
Built for owner-led companies between $5M and $100M.
If one new client, one new supplier contract, or one new project pays for the year, this is for you.
Specialty manufacturing & food production
A buyer at a regional chain asks AI who can supply your category. The list is short.
Wholesale, import & sourcing
Your category runs on relationships. The shortlist that precedes them is now machine-made.
Construction & custom building
A homeowner with a seven-figure project asks AI who builds in their county.
Wealth management & advisory
Clients vet credentials before the first call. That now starts in a chat window.
Healthcare & clinical services
Patients ask AI where to go before they ask their insurer, and they ask by town.
Self storage & local operations
"Near me" is now a question people put to a chatbot, not to a map.
Technical B2B services
A multimillion-dollar facility decision starts with "who designs these."
Training & certification programs
Prospects ask AI which program is legitimate. It names the ones it can read.
Another owner-led business that sells on trust? It probably works too. →
Isn't this just SEO?
Rank in Google results
User clicks through to your site
SERP position, organic traffic
6–12 months
Get cited in AI answers
User reads your name in a direct answer
Citation rate per question, share of voice in AI
First movement in 30 days
They complement each other. But one is crowded with agencies and the other is wide open in your market.
Frequently asked
I'm not a tech company. Does this actually apply to me?
It applies more, not less. When AI answers questions about physical, local and industrial businesses, it is working from thin and scattered information, so the company that publishes clear, structured, verifiable facts about what it does tends to win the citation outright. There is far less competition for those answers than there is in software.
My business runs on referrals and repeat customers. Why do I care?
Because the referral did not go away, it gained a step. Your prospect still asks a person they trust, then checks the name against an AI before picking up the phone. If the AI cannot confirm who you are and what you do, a warm referral cools off on the way to your office.
Is this SEO with a new name?
No. SEO competes for a click on a results page. AEO competes to be the answer itself, in a conversation where no results page is ever shown. They complement each other, and they are measured differently: not ranking position, but citation rate per question against your named competitors.
How fast does anything move?
The first question where you get cited usually shows up within 30 days. Full results are measured at 90.
You're in Costa Rica. Does that matter for a New Jersey company?
Not to the models. The work happens on your site, your structured data and your public profiles, and it is measured against the competitors in your own market. Everything runs in English on U.S. business hours, and you deal with me directly, not with an account manager.
What does the free audit include?
A PDF with the real questions your buyers ask, which of them cite you, which competitors take the answer when they don't, and the 3 prioritized gaps costing you the most visibility. You don't have to get on a call to receive it.
Find out what AI says about your company before your next buyer does.
Your free audit runs the real questions your buyers ask across the 5 leading AI platforms, from ChatGPT to Google AI Overviews: which ones name you, which name a competitor instead, and the gaps costing you the most.
Hi, I'm Daniel. Founder of Referido. I work with owner-led companies across the U.S. and Latin America, the kind that grew on reputation and never had to think about how a machine describes them. I personally audit every case in under 48 business hours.
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