# Marketing & AI

> Marketing & AI is a Houston, Texas marketing and software studio. We build fast websites, local SEO, and AEO/GEO (answer and generative engine optimization) so businesses get found on Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, plus custom AI tools and automation that cut repetitive work. Formerly Marketingai.de; also known as MarketingAide.

- Location: Houston, Texas. Serves Houston, Katy, Sugar Land, Spring, The Woodlands, Humble and Kingwood, Pasadena, Clear Lake, and remote clients.
- Contact: creative@marketingaide.io · 832-314-9517
- How to start: a free 30-minute audit of your site, search presence, and tools. A written scope follows before any commitment.

## Services

- [Web design & development](https://marketingandai.com/services/accessible-web-development/): fast, accessible websites (designed toward WCAG 2.1 AA), ecommerce, and Square/WooCommerce checkout.
- [Technical & local SEO, AEO, GEO](https://marketingandai.com/services/technical-local-seo/): search structure, local visibility, structured data, and answer-ready content for AI search.
- [AI tools & workflow automation](https://marketingandai.com/services/automation-internal-tools/): custom web apps, portals, data parsing, reports, and lead intake.
- [Competitive intelligence](https://marketingandai.com/services/competitive-intelligence/): search and market research that sets priorities.
- [AI SEO & AEO agency](https://marketingandai.com/services/ai-seo-aeo-agency/): what the work includes and how results are measured, with no ranking guarantees.
- [Roofing SEO](https://marketingandai.com/industries/roofing-seo/): SEO for Houston and Texas roofing contractors.
- [Contractor SEO](https://marketingandai.com/industries/ai-marketing-for-contractors/): SEO and AI marketing for Houston trades.
- [All services](https://marketingandai.com/services/)

## Definitions

- AEO (answer engine optimization): making a business the clear, citable answer when people ask search features and AI assistants a question.
- GEO (generative engine optimization): helping AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews name and cite a business in generated answers.

## Proof

- [Immaculate Car Wash case study](https://marketingandai.com/case-studies/immaculate-car-wash/): website and local SEO/AEO/GEO; +76% organic clicks in 30 days.
- [Appliance Outlet Texas case study](https://marketingandai.com/case-studies/appliance-outlet-texas/)
- [Selected work](https://marketingandai.com/work/)

## Free tools

- [AI search visibility check](https://marketingandai.com/free-tools/ai-search-visibility/): scans one public page for indexability, metadata, headings, structured data, mobile setup, and image alt text.
- [AEO answer readiness check](https://marketingandai.com/free-tools/aeo-answer-readiness/): scores whether a passage answers a customer question clearly.
- [Local business schema generator](https://marketingandai.com/free-tools/local-business-schema/): builds LocalBusiness JSON-LD from your business facts.
- [AI citation factor check](https://marketingandai.com/free-tools/ai-citation-factor-check/): checks a homepage for the six website factors that held up in our test of 40 factors on 880 Houston business sites (meta description, reviews, a specific schema type, prices, years in business, city pages), with the study's evidence for each.

## Research

- [Houston AI Visibility Index, October 2026](https://marketingandai.com/research/houston-ai-visibility-index/): original study of 2,474 Houston small business websites; only 31% pass four AI-ready basics, 45% have no business schema, about 5% block AI search crawlers. Data: CC BY 4.0, DOI [10.5281/zenodo.23130268](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23130268).

- [Houston AI Citation Study, October 2026](https://marketingandai.com/research/houston-ai-citation-study/): 232 local questions asked to Google AI Mode and Perplexity (3,102 citations, 937 recommendations, 15 industries, 8 Houston-area cities). 95% of AI Mode's picks were Google Business Profiles (median 4.9 stars, 323 reviews); Perplexity cited business websites (49%) and directories (45%); the engines shared a top pick 8% of the time; sites passing four AI-ready basics were 4x as likely to be cited. Data: CC BY 4.0, DOI [10.5281/zenodo.23820176](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23820176).
- [Which AI citation factors matter (Houston AI Citation Study)](https://marketingandai.com/research/houston-ai-citation-study/ai-citation-factors/): 40 website factors tested on 880 Houston-area business sites (492 cited by Google AI Mode or Perplexity, 388 not cited, same industries). Six held up in every test: a meta description (96% of cited sites vs 79%), reviews or testimonials on the homepage (odds ratio 3.4), a specific schema business type (3.0), prices (2.5), years in business (1.8) and city pages. Business schema, FAQ schema, llms.txt and freshness were linked but explained by other factors; link authority was mixed; page speed, domain age and firewall settings showed no clear link. Data: CC BY 4.0, DOI [10.5281/zenodo.23820175](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23820175).
- [What gets a business named by all four AI engines (Houston AI Citation Study)](https://marketingandai.com/research/houston-ai-citation-study/ai-engine-consensus/): the 24 Houston business picks named by Google AI Mode, Perplexity, ChatGPT and Claude (of 1,582), compared with 375 other businesses in the same 21 Google Maps markets on 66 factors (November 2026). Four signals separated them, all off the website: a Google Maps top-3 spot (63% vs 7% of never-named businesses), mentions on two or more cited third-party sites (88% vs 29%), Bing local results (75% vs 23%) and review volume (median 767 vs 196 Google reviews; rating did not differ). None of 44 website, schema and social checks differed (LocalBusiness schema 52% vs 56%, llms.txt 38% vs 35%). Consensus picks were more stable: 76% still named a week later vs 43% of single-engine picks. Data: CC BY 4.0.
- [Houston restaurants and AI search](https://marketingandai.com/research/houston-ai-visibility-index/restaurants/): restaurant slice of the Index; 24% pass the basics, 33% nearly empty without JavaScript, by part of town.
- [Andres Rusic](https://marketingandai.com/about/andres-rusic/): founder and creative director of Marketing & AI; lead of the Houston AI Visibility Index. ORCID 0009-0001-8836-1796.
## Learn
- [AI search and SEO glossary](https://marketingandai.com/learn/glossary/): plain definitions of AEO, GEO, AI Overviews, AI search crawlers, robots.txt, llms.txt, JSON-LD and more.

- [AI SEO vs traditional SEO](https://marketingandai.com/compare/ai-seo-vs-traditional-seo/)
- [GEO vs SEO](https://marketingandai.com/compare/geo-vs-seo/): differences, where to start by business type, and how to measure AI citations.
- [AEO vs SEO](https://marketingandai.com/compare/aeo-vs-seo/): how to write answers search features and AI assistants can use.
- [AEO vs GEO](https://marketingandai.com/compare/aeo-vs-geo/): AEO optimizes one page for a direct answer; GEO optimizes how AI tools describe the whole business. Includes Houston data.
- [AEO for Houston small businesses](https://marketingandai.com/learn/aeo-for-houston-small-business/)
- [AI SEO for local businesses](https://marketingandai.com/learn/ai-seo-for-local-business/)
- [FAQ](https://marketingandai.com/faq/)

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