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Quick answer: SEO (search engine optimisation) gets your spa found on Google and Bing. AEO (answer engine optimisation) gets it named when guests ask AI assistants like ChatGPT, Google's AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity or Copilot for a spa. They rest on the same groundwork: a complete, consistent business profile, a website that plainly lists your treatments, packages, day passes, hours and booking link, genuine reviews, and nothing blocking search crawlers. Then the last step most spas miss: answer the calls and messages those answers send you, day and night. CallPad answers and books every enquiry 24/7 and also offers SEO and AEO help for the spas it works with.
By Sean Scalabrini, CTO and co-founder of CallPad. Updated 12 November 2026. Google's and OpenAI's guidance below was checked 12 Nov 2026. CallPad makes an AI receptionist, so we have a stake in this topic.
SEO is how your spa shows up in the normal search results and on the map when someone types "day spa near me" or "couples massage in Brighton". AEO is how it shows up when a guest asks an AI assistant a full question, such as "Which spa near me has a day pass with a thermal suite on Sunday?" or "Where can I book a facial and massage for two this weekend?", and gets a written answer with a few names in it.
The good news is that you don't need two separate plans. Google's guide to AI features and your website (checked 12 Nov 2026) says SEO best practices remain relevant for AI Overviews and AI Mode, and that there are no additional requirements or special optimisations needed to appear in them. AI assistants that search the web, ChatGPT included, also read your website, your business profiles, directories and reviews. Get those right and you help both.
They pull from the same public information your guests use. That means your website, your Google Business Profile, spa and travel directories, and reviews. When these sources agree and are specific, an assistant has something solid to quote. When they disagree, for example on your opening hours, your phone number or whether you sell day passes, it has less to go on and may simply suggest someone else.
Specific beats generic. "Day spa with an outdoor thermal circuit and couples suites in Leeds" tells a guest, a search engine and an AI assistant far more than "luxury spa experiences". For the salon version of this, see will ChatGPT recommend your salon?
Your profile feeds Google Maps, the local pack and, increasingly, the AI answers built on top of them. Google's Business Profile guidelines (checked 12 Nov 2026) ask you to pick categories that complete the sentence "This business IS a", to choose the fewest categories that describe your core business, and to keep one profile per business. A hotel spa or a spa inside a gym can have its own profile when it operates as its own business, but follow those guidelines rather than listing every amenity as a category. Fill in real hours (holiday hours too), your booking link and a phone number someone actually answers. More on that in how the Google Business Profile call button drives bookings.
Guests and assistants look for the same things, so put them in plain text, not only in images or PDF menus:
If you have several locations, give each one its own page with its own details. See best AI receptionist for day spas and spa groups and CallPad for salon and spa groups.
Structured data is code that labels your details for search engines. Google's local business structured data guide (checked 12 Nov 2026) recommends using the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type and names DaySpa as an example. Mark up each location with its name, address, phone, opening hours and URL, and add FAQ markup to pages that really do have a visible FAQ. Keep it identical to what the page shows.
Check your website's robots.txt file, or ask whoever built your site. OpenAI's crawler documentation (checked 12 Nov 2026) says OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features, that sites opted out of it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, and that it recommends allowing it. It also says OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot are separate settings, so you can allow search without allowing your content to be used for training.
Keep your name, address, phone number, hours and booking link the same on your website, your Google profile and every spa, wellness and travel directory you appear on. Ask happy guests for honest reviews that mention the treatment they had. See how to get more reviews for your salon or spa.
Test it the way a guest would. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot the questions your ideal guests ask, such as "best day spa near [your town] for a birthday" or "hotel spa with a day pass near [your town]", not your spa's name. Note which spas come up, which sources the answer cites and whether your details are right. Repeat every month or so, because answers change. Where a competitor is named and you aren't, look at what their website and listings say that yours don't.
Because many spa bookings still start with a question. Can we book the couples suite on Saturday? Is the day pass available on a bank holiday? Can I use a gift voucher for a package? Guests often call or message to ask, and often in the evening or at the weekend when the front desk is busy or closed. If the call goes to voicemail, they can go straight back to the assistant and ask for the next spa. That's why answering is part of AEO. Read why day spas lose bookings to missed calls and how spas handle couples packages and gift vouchers by phone.
See AI for spas, best AI tools for spas, AI receptionist for spas, AI receptionist for hotel spas and AI marketing for beauty businesses.
CallPad books in real time into Zenoti, Vagaro, Meevo, Cliniko, Mindbody, Booker, Square, GlossGenius, Setmore, Zoho Bookings, SalonIQ, Salon Manager, Shortcuts, Simple Salon, Google Calendar, Book4Time and Boulevard. Phorest works when the business gets its own API key from Phorest. Using Trybe? Contact us about the CallPad Trybe integration. No CallPad Fresha, Treatwell, Timely, Booksy or Jane App integration yet; contact us and join the waitlist.
CallPad starts from US$150 a month per location in the US, £100 in the UK, A$200 in Australia and C$190 in Canada. It's a flat rate with all minutes included, and pricing for spa groups is custom. Setup takes about 10 minutes.
AEO, or answer engine optimisation, is the work of getting your spa named in answers from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. For a spa it mostly means making your treatments, prices, hours, location, reviews and booking options easy to find and consistent everywhere.
Less than people think. Google says the usual SEO best practices still apply to its AI features and that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode (Google Search Central, checked 12 Nov 2026). The difference is the question style: guests ask assistants full questions, so your site should answer them plainly.
There is no guaranteed way in. Make sure OpenAI's search crawler can reach your site: OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers (checked 12 Nov 2026). Then keep your profile, website and directory details consistent, describe what your spa is known for in plain words, and keep genuine reviews coming.
Google's local business structured data guide recommends the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type and names DaySpa as an example (checked 12 Nov 2026). Mark up each location with its name, address, phone number, opening hours and URL, and make sure it matches what the page shows.
It helps. Hotel spa guests search for the spa itself, day passes and treatments, so give the spa its own page with its own hours, treatment list, booking link and phone number that someone answers, rather than a line on the hotel's main page.
Because being recommended isn't the same as being booked. Many guests call or message with a question before they book a treatment, a couples package or a day pass. If nobody answers, they can go back to the search results or the assistant and pick the next spa.
Yes. Alongside its AI receptionist, CallPad offers SEO and AEO help for its clients, plus a website AI chatbot, AI messaging and texting, help filling empty slots, business analysis reports and predictive analysis. Contact CallPad to ask what's included for your spa.
CallPad starts from US$150 a month per location in the US, £100 in the UK, A$200 in Australia and C$190 in Canada. It's a flat rate with all minutes included, and pricing for spa groups is custom. Setup takes about 10 minutes.
Want your spa found on Google and in AI answers, and every enquiry answered and booked? Contact CallPad to ask about our AI receptionist and SEO and AEO help for spas, or see CallPad for spa and salon groups.
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