
The AI SEO agency for the new word of mouth
When your customers ask ChatGPT and Google's AI who to call, the answers name a handful of businesses, and we think people tend to pick the names they know. Plate Lunch Collective is an AI SEO agency that gets brands named when buyers ask, in search, on social, and in AI. The goal is more calls, bookings and sales. SEO is still the foundation of the work. AI search is built on top of it, and SEO on its own isn't enough anymore.
Making sure you're part of the conversation
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- Claude
- Gemini
- Google's AI answers
- Meta AI
- Copilot
- DeepSeek
- Grok
What an AI SEO agency does
An AI SEO agency gets a business named and recommended when people ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity or the AI answer at the top of Google. Then it makes sure that business looks right if those people Google the name to check it out. The work gets judged by your calls, bookings and sales, measured against where you started. At Plate Lunch Collective that work has four parts.
- Entity SEO
Clear facts about your business
Before ChatGPT or Google's AI names a business, it checks what's said about it across the web, from your own site to the places that list and review you. We get the facts right on your site and the listings that matter, and we earn mentions in the places your buyers already read.
- Citation-ready content
Pages that answer what buyers ask
We find the questions your buyers ask, in their words, and build pages that answer each one plainly, with the prices, places and details that get a business quoted. It's the same SEO work that gets you found on Google.
- Social search optimization
Social, where buyers also search
Some people search TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and Instagram for recommendations, and AI answers can draw on what's said there. We get your accounts found by the people searching there, in the words they use, and keep what you say there in line with your site.
- How we measure the work
Judged by your calls and bookings
Each quarter we put your calls, bookings and sales next to where you started, whether they moved or not. Along the way, we check each month what ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI say when your customers ask.
What buyers hear when they ask AI
A buyer asks ChatGPT, or Googles it and reads the AI answer at the top, and gets business names back with a reason for each.
- The question carries the budget, the place and what's already been ruled out.
- What it says about each business comes from what's written about that business online.
Fictional business and question, shown to illustrate the format.
Three steps to being named
We work as an ongoing partner, in 90-day cycles. Each cycle finds what's keeping you out of the answers, fixes it, and asks the same questions again. The first one also sets up tracking for your calls and bookings, so you can see what changes from where you started.
- 1
Find
Every place online that describes your business, and what an AI assistant says when a buyer asks about your category.
- 2
Sort
What matters and what's noise. Which facts are missing, which ones disagree, and which places your buyers look that don't mention you yet.
- 3
Fix
We get the facts from you, put them on your site and listings, earn mentions where your buyers look, and ask the same questions again to see what changed.
Monthly AI checkSample
Kaimana Tile & Stone · October
Tile installer in Honolulu who does lanai and pool decks
NamedPorcelain tile supplier on Oahu with contractor pricing
NamedWho can regrout a shower in Kailua this month
Not namedNatural stone countertop installers near Kapolei
NamedTile shop on Oahu that delivers to Maui job sites
Not named
Fictional business and questions, shown to illustrate the format.
AI search impressions you can count
Google Search Console now counts how often a site shows up in Google's AI answers. Across two Plate Lunch Collective client accounts, that count was 338,775 in 140 days, from 18 May to 4 October 2026. About 2,420 a day.
- 338,775
- times two client sites showed up in Google's AI answers, in 140 days
- 2,420
- a day, on average, over the same window
These are appearances in Google's AI answers, not clicks or calls. They're the number this report lets us show without naming a client.
Google Search Console, Performance on Search, Generative AI features report, Search type Web, 18 May to 4 October 2026, both accounts combined.
An AI SEO company built for this work, from Hawaii and Canada
Plate Lunch Collective was founded in March 2025 to do AI search optimization from the first engagement, on search engine optimization work that began in 2004. We work from Aiea, Hawaii, and from LaSalle, Ontario, in Windsor-Essex, which serves all of Canada.
- You work with the two people who do the work.
- It's one continuing partnership, scoped each quarter to whatever's holding your business back in search and AI.
- Old-school SEO stays at the heart of the work, because Google is still where people go to look a business up.
Two offices
- Aiea, HawaiiHeadquarters.
- LaSalle, OntarioIn Windsor-Essex, serving all of Canada.
Founded March 2025 on more than 20 years of search engine optimization experience.
Every service, built for how AI answers
One continuing partnership, run in quarterly cycles, across Google, social search and AI. Each service below is one part of the same work, and we put together the parts your business needs.
AI SEO & Generative Engine Optimization
The full practice
Getting your brand named when buyers ask, across AI answers and the search results that confirm them. Traditional SEO, AEO and GEO in one program.
AI SEO & GEOAnswer Engine Optimization
Google's answer features
Pages that answer your buyers' questions in a few plain sentences, so Google can show you as the answer in its AI answer, in voice search and in the answer boxes.
AEOEntity SEO
The same story everywhere
Your name, address, services and story kept the same on your site, Google, your listings and your profiles, so Google and ChatGPT know exactly who you are and can recommend you.
Entity SEOSocial Search Optimization
TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Instagram
Your social accounts set up to come up in the searches people run on those apps, saying the same thing as your site and listings.
Social searchCitation-Ready Content
Pages built to be quoted
Content where every section answers one buyer question completely, with its sources, so it's easy to quote with your name on it.
Citation-ready contentAI Search Game Plan
What your customers ask
Where you stand in search and AI answers, who comes up instead, and your first moves. From $1,500.
AI Search Game PlanFractional CMO
A marketing lead with AI search fluency
A senior marketing leader who makes decisions, manages vendors and owns outcomes, with AI search built into the plan.
Fractional CMO
Who we work with, and where
Different buyers ask different questions. A hotel guest and a parts buyer get different answers, and so do a Honolulu resident and a Canadian planning a trip.
Industries
Hospitality, manufacturing, tourism, local business, e-commerce, SaaS, skincare, and surf and fitness brands, among other fields. Their buyers ask different questions and check different places, so we build the work around each one.
Where we work
The United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America, with on-island depth in Hawaii: Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island.
Research we publish and keep current
Original reports on AI search tools, platform behavior and citation patterns, with every figure labeled by source.
- Read the report
AI Search Market Share and Referral Traffic Report
AI assistant usage and referral traffic by platform, with every figure labeled by source. Updated quarterly.
- Compare the tools
AI Visibility Tools, Compared
56 AI visibility tools for GEO and AEO, compared by type, budget and fit: pricing, coverage and method. Verified Oct 2026.
Questions buyers ask Plate Lunch Collective about AI SEO
AI SEO here means getting brands named when buyers ask, in search, on social, and in AI. Short answers below. The long ones live on the service pages.
Google says AEO and GEO are still just SEO. Is that true?
For Google, yes. Google's guidance on AI features says SEO best practices still apply to its AI answers, with no extra requirements. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude are run by other companies, and ChatGPT, for one, can search the web on its own. So we do the SEO, then work on what each AI assistant finds about you, fixing what's wrong and adding what's missing.
Google's guidance on AI featuresIs GEO a real thing or just a buzzword?
It's real, though the name is new. Generative engine optimization means getting your brand named and cited when people ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or the AI answer at the top of Google. The work behind it builds on SEO: pages that answer buyers' questions plainly, business details that match everywhere, and other trusted sites that talk about you. Our AI SEO and GEO service does that work in every place your buyers ask.
AI SEO & GEOIs AEO just SEO with a new name?
It's part of SEO. SEO gets a page found and ranked, and answer engine optimization sets up that page so a section answers a buyer's question in a few plain sentences. We do the two together, and our AEO service handles the second part.
Answer engine optimizationHow do you measure AI search visibility? My rank tracker doesn't show it.
Rank trackers show where you sit on Google's list. They don't show whether ChatGPT or Google's AI names you when a buyer asks, or whether any of it brings in business. So each quarter we put your calls, bookings and sales next to where you started. In between, we ask the questions your customers ask in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers each month, plus Claude for software companies, and show you who gets named. Our AI Search Game Plan is the place to start if you want to see where you stand, and who gets named instead.
AI Search Game PlanI'm ranking well on Google but invisible in AI answers. Why?
Ranking well means Google can find and trust your pages. A page can rank and still be missing three things: a short, plain answer to the buyer's exact question, business details that agree from one listing to the next, and other sites that talk about you. Our AI SEO and GEO practice works on those, on top of your rankings.
AI SEO & GEOHow do I find out what AI is saying about my brand?
Ask it. Open ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini and ask what they know about your business by name. Then ask the questions a buyer would ask, without your name, and see if you come up. That gives you a rough starting point. Our AI Search Game Plan does this properly: it runs the searches and asks the AI questions your buyers ask, the AI ones twice, a week apart, then shows who keeps getting named, why, and what to do first.
AI Search Game PlanHow do I create content that AI actually cites?
Write it so each section answers one specific question well enough to stand on its own, on a page Google can find and rank. An AI answer can quote a single passage, and a passage that answers one question plainly, with a named source, gives it something to quote. No format guarantees a citation, and studies of what moves citations disagree. That's what we mean by citation-ready content.
Citation-ready contentHow is social search optimization different from social media management?
Social media management is about posting, engagement and growing an audience on a platform. Social search optimization is about being found when someone searches TikTok, YouTube, Instagram or Reddit for a recommendation, and about what AI answers pick up from those apps about your brand. That means profiles, captions, video titles and descriptions in the words people search, kept in line with your site and listings. Our social search optimization service does that work.
Social search optimizationDo you also do traditional SEO?
Yes. SEO is still the foundation of the work: keyword research in your buyers' words, the pages and copy, the technical side, local search, and links earned through real coverage. Google's guidance for site owners says the usual SEO best practices carry over to its AI answers. When ChatGPT names you, people may Google your name to check you out, and you need to be there. We do both, so Google and the AI assistants tell the same story about your business. Our Entity SEO service addresses both.
Entity SEOWhat does a fractional CMO do that a marketing consultant doesn't?
A consultant gives you recommendations. A fractional CMO makes decisions, manages vendors and owns outcomes, so the plan gets carried out. Ours comes with AI search built in: the person making your marketing calls knows how Google and ChatGPT pick the businesses they name, and plans for that alongside your other channels.
Fractional CMOFrom the blog
Marketing for Manufacturers in Windsor-Essex: What ChatGPT Cites for SuppliersWe asked ChatGPT where to find suppliers around Windsor-Essex, then searched its picks by name on Google. What came back, and what a shop can check this week.Read
Vacation Rental Marketing on Maui: What ChatGPT Names and What Google Shows NextWe asked ChatGPT where to stay on Maui, then searched its picks on Google. What came back, and what a hotel, resort or rental owner can check this week.Read
AI Search Has Six Buyer Paths. Your AI Referral Traffic Shows One.AI search can send a buyer down six paths, and only one shows up as AI referral traffic. Here's what the other five leave behind.Read

Find out who AI is sending your customers to
Send us your website, and we'll come back within one business day with a time to talk. Before we do, we'll ask ChatGPT and check the AI answer at the top of Google for your category, so the first call starts with something specific. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.