What is GEO? How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI

Search is changing. Instead of typing a few keywords and clicking through ten blue links, more people now ask an AI assistant a full question: "What's the best CRM for a 10-person sales team in India?" or "Which dental clinics in Koramangala are good for kids?" — and get a direct answer, often with a short list of recommended businesses.

If your business appears in those answers, you get a highly qualified customer. If it doesn't, you may never know you were considered. That's why a new discipline has emerged alongside SEO: Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO.

What exactly is GEO?

GEO is the practice of improving how often — and how favourably — your brand, products and content appear in answers generated by AI systems. Those systems include:

• Google AI Overviews and AI Mode — AI summaries shown within Google Search
• ChatGPT — especially when it searches the web for up-to-date answers
• Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity
• AI features inside other apps, browsers and voice assistants

While SEO aims to rank a page in a list of results, GEO aims to have your information used, cited or recommended within a synthesised answer.

How AI assistants decide what to say

Different AI tools work differently and their methods change, but most follow a broadly similar pattern when answering questions about current businesses, products and services:

1. 1

   They interpret the question

   The system works out what the user really wants — a recommendation, a comparison, a definition, a local business, a price.

2. 2

   They retrieve information

   Many assistants search the web or an index in real time, pulling relevant pages. Their underlying training data also shapes what they "know" about brands.

3. 3

   They weigh sources

   Content that is clear, relevant, specific and from trustworthy sources is more likely to be used. Consistent information across multiple sources increases confidence.

4. 4

   They generate an answer

   The system summarises what it found, often citing or linking to sources and naming businesses that appear repeatedly and credibly.

The practical takeaway: AI assistants reward the same things good SEO rewards — helpful content and trustworthiness — but they particularly favour content that is easy to extract and summarise, and brands that are well-represented across many reputable sources.

GEO vs SEO: what's the difference?

GEO isn't a replacement for SEO. It's an extension. If your site isn't crawlable, trustworthy and useful, AI systems are unlikely to rely on it either.

Practical GEO strategies for businesses

1. Answer questions directly and clearly

AI systems look for passages that directly answer a question. Structure important pages so that the answer appears near the top, in plain language, followed by detail.

For example, a page about "How much does a root canal cost in Pune?" should state a clear price range early, then explain what affects it — rather than burying the number under paragraphs of general information.

2. Use clear structure

Descriptive headings, short paragraphs, bullet points, tables and FAQs make content easier for both people and machines to understand. Comparison tables and step-by-step lists are especially easy for AI to use.

3. Be specific and factual

Vague marketing language ("world-class solutions", "best-in-class service") gives AI nothing useful to repeat. Specifics do: prices or price ranges, timelines, locations served, materials, qualifications, number of projects, and named processes.

4. Publish original information

AI answers often draw on sources that offer something unique: original data, surveys, case studies, expert opinions, detailed guides from real experience. If your content only repeats what everyone else says, there's little reason to cite you.

5. Add structured data

Schema markup (Organization, LocalBusiness, Product, Service, FAQ, Article, Review) helps machines understand facts about your business precisely. It won't guarantee mentions, but it reduces ambiguity.

6. Build mentions across the web

When an AI assistant recommends businesses, it tends to favour names that appear consistently in trustworthy places:

• Reputable industry publications, news sites and blogs
• Review platforms and Google Business Profile reviews
• Directories and "best of" lists in your niche
• Forums and communities where your customers ask questions
• Partner, supplier and association websites

This looks a lot like good PR. Earned mentions build both human trust and machine confidence.

7. Keep your brand information consistent

Your business name, description, services, location and contact details should match across your website, Google Business Profile, social profiles and directories. Contradictory information makes AI answers less confident — or wrong.

8. Make your site easy to crawl

AI crawlers and search engines need to access your content. Check your robots.txt settings, ensure important content is in the HTML (not only inside images or heavy scripts), keep pages fast, and maintain an up-to-date sitemap.

How to measure GEO

Measurement is still immature, but you can track useful signals:

• Referral traffic from AI tools — in Google Analytics, look for visits from domains like chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com.
• Manual checks — regularly ask AI assistants the questions your customers ask and note whether you're mentioned, and how you're described.
• Branded search growth — more people searching your brand name can indicate growing awareness from AI and elsewhere.
• Search Console — Google includes AI feature impressions within overall Search performance data.
• Lead source questions — ask new customers "How did you hear about us?" and include "ChatGPT / AI assistant" as an option.

The bottom line

AI assistants are becoming a new front door to the internet. The businesses they recommend are the ones with clear, specific, trustworthy information that appears consistently across the web. The good news: the work that improves GEO — helpful content, strong structure, genuine reviews and real reputation — also improves SEO and conversions. Start now, while many competitors are still ignoring it.

Frequently asked questions