What is GEO? How to get your brand cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity
GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the practice of making your brand easy for AI assistants to understand, trust and cite. It builds on SEO: the same well-structured, expert content that ranks on Google is what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity quote in their answers.
What GEO means
When someone asks an AI assistant "which agency should I hire" or "best MBA colleges in Chennai", the assistant writes one answer and names a handful of sources. Generative engine optimisation is the work of making sure your brand is one of those names, described accurately.
Unlike a results page with ten blue links, an AI answer has room for only a few brands. That makes clear positioning, consistent facts and genuine expertise far more important than keyword density.
SEO vs AEO vs GEO
| Goal | Where it shows | |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Rank pages for search queries | Google and Bing results |
| AEO | Be the direct answer | Featured snippets, AI Overviews, voice |
| GEO | Be cited and recommended | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot |
The three overlap. Pages that rank well are more likely to be retrieved by AI tools, and content written answer-first is easier for both snippets and assistants to quote.
How AI assistants pick sources
Assistants that browse the web retrieve a set of pages for a question, then summarise them. Assistants answering from training data rely on what they learned about your brand across the web. In both cases, they favour sources that are:
- Clear about who they are and what they do, in one consistent sentence
- Specific, with real numbers, names, dates and locations
- Structured, with headings, lists, tables and direct answers
- Corroborated, with the same facts on your site, listings and profiles
- Current, updated recently and easy to crawl
Seven steps to become citable
- Write one entity description and use it everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories.
- Open every service and city page with a two or three sentence quick answer.
- Add schema: Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, Article and Person.
- Publish case studies with approved, specific results instead of vague claims.
- Get listed and reviewed on the platforms AI tools read, such as Google, Clutch and industry directories.
- Publish an llms.txt file that points AI crawlers to your most important pages.
- Keep content fresh: update key pages and articles every few months.
Measuring AI visibility
There is no single GEO ranking report yet. We track a fixed set of buyer questions across assistants each month, record mentions and cited sources, and watch referral traffic from AI tools in analytics. Over time, this shows whether your brand is becoming the default answer.
FAQ
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. GEO builds on SEO. Strong technical SEO and useful content are still the foundation that AI assistants draw from.
How long does GEO take to work?
Assistants that browse can reflect changes within weeks. Answers based on training data change more slowly, over months.
Can small businesses do GEO?
Yes. Consistent profiles, clear service pages and a few strong case studies make a real difference, even for small brands.
Founder of Ariar Technology. A product engineer and growth strategist who leads every client engagement personally, from brand strategy to measurable results.