Do the website first, then Google Ads if you want enquiries soon, then SEO for steady long-term visibility, and AEO last. Ads and search both send people somewhere, and they work much better when there is a good site waiting at the other end. AEO is genuinely growing and worth doing, but it is the newest of the three and the hardest to predict, which is why it goes last rather than first.
The three, in plain English
Google Ads — you pay Google to put your business at the top of the results when somebody searches for what you do. Your ads can be showing within days.
SEO, search engine optimisation — earning your place in the ordinary Google results rather than paying for the spot. Slower to build, but it keeps working once it does.
AEO, answer engine optimisation — the same idea again, for AI assistants like ChatGPT. Setting your site and your business details up so an AI can understand them and has a better chance of naming you when somebody asks it to recommend a business like yours.
Why the website comes first
All three of the others are ways of sending somebody to you. What they find when they arrive is what decides whether you get the job.
Plenty of businesses win work without a website — that is simply true, and anybody telling you otherwise is selling something. But money spent driving people to a page that does not convince them is money spent twice.
On a limited budget
The site and Google Ads come first. Ads appearing is not the same thing as enquiries arriving — how many follow depends on how many people are searching, how much competition there is, and how well the campaign is set up.
Nobody should promise you a number of enquiries, a position, or a date by which either arrives.
Related questions
Should I do AEO instead of SEO?
No. SEO is the established one and AEO is the newest and least predictable of the three. AEO is worth doing, but not at the expense of the things that are known to work.
How quickly do Google Ads work?
Ads can be showing within days. How many enquiries follow depends on search volume, competition and how the campaign is set up — that part nobody can promise.