When someone asks AI where to get Botox nearby, is your med spa the name it gives?
People now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude where to get Botox, book a filler top-up or find the best laser near them — and the engine answers with a short list of clinics. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the work of making your med spa one of those names, instead of the clinic down the street.
Anmol Talwar, founder of The AEO Loop
Your next regular may never reach Google.
Aesthetic clients research privately — and more of them now start by asking an AI assistant where to go for Botox, filler or laser. If it doesn't name your clinic, you never enter the shortlist, and you lose not one visit but years of repeat treatments.
AI is the new word of mouth
Before checking your Instagram or booking page, people ask an assistant 'best med spa near me' — and treat the answer as a personal recommendation from someone they trust.
One client returns for years
A Botox or filler client comes back every few months, then adds laser packages and memberships — so a single name in an AI answer is worth thousands in repeat treatments, not one appointment.
Great clinics still get skipped
A polished site and a full waiting room don't help here — engines read signals like clear structure, entity clarity and cited reviews that most med-spa sites never optimise for. It's a gap, and it's fixable.
Search gives a list. AI gives a name.
Your SEO agency competes for a link on a results page. AEO competes to be the clinic an engine actually names when someone asks where to go — a different game, read from different signals.
| SEO | AEO | |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | Rank your website in a list of links | Be the business AI names and recommends |
| Where you show up | The Google results page | Inside a ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity answer |
| What it optimises | Keywords, backlinks, page speed | Entity clarity, extractable content, cited authority |
| How it's measured | Keyword rankings and traffic | Whether engines recommend you, by written rule |
| Winning looks like | A blue link on page one | Your name in the answer, ahead of competitors |
Being indexed by Google is not the same as being recommended by ChatGPT — most marketing only does the first.
See how a Gap Report works.
Our sample report is an actual, redacted diagnosis — a practice that scored 21/100 and was excluded from three of four engines. It's a plastic-surgery example, but the four-engine method and the 11-section report read exactly the same for med spas.
AEO for med spas — answered.
Why does ChatGPT recommend other med spas instead of mine?
Usually because those clinics give AI engines clearer signals to work with — structured, extractable content about their injectables, lasers and pricing, plus citations in the directories and review sites engines trust. When your med spa lacks those signals, the engine confidently names a competitor down the street and never mentions you, even if your reviews are better.
How do clients actually find med spas through AI?
They ask an assistant a buying-intent question — 'best place for Botox near me' or 'where to get laser hair removal in my city' — and the engine replies with a short list of clinics. There's no page two, so a med spa that isn't on that list is invisible to that client, and you never see the conversation happen.
How is this different from the SEO and marketing I already pay for?
SEO works to rank your website in a list of links, and most med-spa marketing chases clicks and ad spend. AEO works to make AI engines name and recommend your clinic directly. They read different signals and are measured differently — being indexed by Google isn't the same as being recommended by ChatGPT, and most agencies only do the former.
What kinds of clinics do you work with?
Med spas and aesthetic clinics offering non-surgical treatments — Botox and dermal filler, laser, skin treatments, body contouring and memberships — whether you're nurse-injector-led or physician-supervised. If your clients research by asking AI and come back for repeat treatments, AEO fits. We keep this separate from surgical practices, which we cover on a dedicated page.
How do I find out where my med spa stands?
Run the free scanner. It asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude real client buying-intent questions about your treatments and city, shows whether you're recommended, mentioned, cited or excluded, and emails a founder-reviewed Gap Report within 1–2 business days — with the clinics being named ahead of you and what to fix first.
How AEO works — and who else we help.
What is Answer Engine Optimization? →
The plain-English explainer of how AI answer engines decide who to name and recommend.
The AEO Loop method →
The repeatable observe, diagnose, optimize system we run on a cadence.
Every industry we serve →
See all the practice types we help get named inside AI answers.
Related industries: AEO for Plastic Surgeons · AEO for Dentists · AEO for Healthcare Practices
Find out what AI tells your clients.
Run the free scanner with your treatments and city. You'll see whether you're recommended, mentioned, cited or excluded across four engines — and which med spas get named instead of you.