GEO expert: visible in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews & PerplexityGet recommended –not just found.
GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the work of making your website and brand known to AI search tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, so they understand what you do and cite or recommend you. GEO doesn’t replace SEO – it builds on it. As a GEO expert I test daily what works in these systems and put it into practice for you with my team at SEOeffekt.
What is GEO?
GEO stands for generative engine optimisation: optimising for AI systems that answer questions with their own written responses instead of just a list of links. The goal is for your business to be named, cited and recommended in those answers.
Your customers no longer search only on Google. They ask ChatGPT for a provider, read the AI Overview above Google’s results, or research with Perplexity, Gemini or Claude. These tools are called generative search engines because they generate answers. Will they recommend you – or does your business stay invisible?
The term GEO comes from a 2023 research paper in which researchers from Princeton University and other institutions studied which content AI search engines prefer to cite. Since then, GEO has become the name for the whole field. You’ll also see “AI SEO”, “LLM optimisation” or “AEO” (answer engine optimisation) – they essentially mean the same thing.
| Aspect | SEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | rank high in search results | be named and recommended in AI answers |
| Where | Google, Bing | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude |
| Success shows as | ranking position, clicks | mentions, citations, recommendations compared with competitors |
| Foundation | technical SEO, content, links | the same foundation plus a clear entity, evidence and presence in the sources AI draws on |
I explain exactly how the two differ and where they overlap in my guide GEO vs. SEO.
How can you tell you’re missing out on GEO?
These situations aren’t exceptions. They’re everyday reality for many companies that do good work and still lose visibility.
Your SEO still works – but clicks are falling
Your rankings are stable, yet traffic is dropping. A common reason: Google answers questions directly in the results with AI Overviews, and many users never click through.
ChatGPT recommends your competitors, but not you
You’ve tested it yourself: you ask ChatGPT about your industry and your competitors get named – you don’t. That’s a clear sign AI systems either don’t know your business or don’t consider it relevant.
You sense something is shifting – but nobody can tell you what to do
Your team or agency gets vague when you ask about GEO. There are plenty of fuzzy strategies but little that demonstrably works. You don’t know where to start.
Why isn’t classic SEO enough on its own anymore?
Search is changing fundamentally. For a long time Google was the gatekeeper to your customers. Now AI systems are taking over part of that role: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and others answer questions directly – often without anyone clicking through to a website.
That means your rankings can be stable and you still lose visibility and enquiries if you don’t appear in AI answers. GEO is the response to this new reality.
Important: GEO isn’t a replacement for SEO, it’s an extension. The best strategy combines both – classic SEO for search results and GEO for AI-generated answers. AI search tools themselves rely on search indexes, so if you’re easy to find on Google and Bing, you start from a stronger position in AI search too. How Google ranks pages is explained on my page about SEO for Google.
What does GEO involve in practice?
GEO isn’t magic – it’s systematic work in the right places. Six areas decide whether AI systems mention you.
Topical authority
For ChatGPT to know you as the source on your topic and name you, your content has to cover the subject fully and in depth. We structure it so AI systems recognise you as an authority: one strong main page, plus guides that each answer an important question on their own.
Structured data and entities
An entity is something that can be identified unambiguously – a person, a company, a product. For AI systems to attribute your business correctly, they need clear information: who you are, what you do, where. Well-implemented structured data (schema markup, a machine-readable format for this kind of information) and consistent profile details everywhere are the foundation.
Brand presence in the sources AI uses
Reddit, YouTube, specialist forums, LinkedIn, industry portals and trade media: these are the sources AI systems learn from and cite. If you’re present there with genuine expertise, you won’t just be mentioned – you’ll be recommended.
Google Maps and local signals
For businesses that serve a local area, Google Maps and local AI answers are crucial. When someone asks for “a good provider in my city”, AI systems lean heavily on business profiles and reviews. More on my local SEO page.
Reviews and brand signals
Reviews, mentions and the way people talk about your brand all feed into AI answers. A systematic review strategy makes sure your reputation works for you – in AI search too.
Money pages and E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Your service and product pages – the ones that bring in revenue – in particular need to show who’s behind them, what’s backed by evidence and why you can be trusted, for humans and machines alike.
Plus the technical basics
For any of this to work, AI systems have to be able to access your content in the first place:
- don’t accidentally block AI crawlers in your robots.txt,
- deliver the full content in the HTML rather than loading it later with JavaScript,
- start every page with a short, quotable answer,
- write clear definitions (“X is …”) and give figures with a source and date.
This website is built to exactly these rules, by the way. I show how in my lab.
How do you measure visibility in AI search?
Unlike Google, ChatGPT has no ranking position. So measurement works differently:
- Mentions: how often is your business named for the questions your audience actually asks?
- Context: in what way – as a recommendation, as a source, or just in passing?
- Competition: how often are you named compared with your main competitors?
- Impact: do visitors and enquiries from AI tools actually reach your website?
There are now specialised analytics tools for this. In every audit I add targeted manual tests and my AI tool for SEO and GEO, which my team and I use to optimise pages for Google and AI search. For a free first impression of where you stand on Google and in AI search, try my SEO Compass:
Which guides help you get started with GEO?
This page is the overview. You’ll find the details on individual questions in my guides:
- GEO vs. SEO: what separates the two, what they share, and where you should start.
- How to get visible in ChatGPT: how ChatGPT picks providers and what you can do so it names you.
- Optimise for Google AI Overviews: how to appear as a source in Google’s AI summaries.
- Create content with AI: how to use ChatGPT and Gemini to create content that holds up on Google and in AI search.
Who is this a good fit for?
I don’t take on every project. That’s not a marketing line – it’s the only honest way to deliver results.
A good fit if …
- your business already generates steady revenue,
- a new customer is worth a lot to you,
- you think in long-term investments, not quick effects,
- you want a partner who delivers,
- trust and expertise drive buying decisions in your industry.
Less of a fit if …
- you need fast, cheap leads – that’s what Google Ads is for,
- you want to learn everything in-house – that’s what my SEO coaching and SEOrocket are for,
- your product or market isn’t established yet.
What does working together look like?
A monthly strategy call with me; my team at SEOeffekt does the implementation. You keep full control over goals and direction without carrying the operational load. No reports nobody reads – just results you can check yourself: you can ask ChatGPT the same questions we do, any time.
The starting point: the GEO audit
Not sure where you stand? The GEO audit is the right place to start. You get:
| Component | What’s included |
|---|---|
| Visibility analysis | how visible you are today in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity |
| Competitor check | a direct comparison with your main competitors: who’s visible, who isn’t |
| Clear priorities | specific weaknesses and the three strongest levers for your business |
| Joint meeting | a personal online meeting where we go through the results together |
How it works: send me a message using the form below, or book a call directly. In the online meeting we go through the analysis together. No obligation and no commitment to work together – an honest assessment that’s useful to you even if we don’t continue.
All channels together
For companies that want to become the go-to name in their niche, we combine every channel that decides visibility today: classic SEO, Google Ads, GEO, Google Maps, brand signals, review management, presence on Reddit and in specialist forums, and targeted PR. The overview of my SEO solutions shows which building blocks can be part of it.
Why do I work on GEO?
I’ve been building on the web since 1999, and I’ve watched companies stop investing in search because they’d been let down. Usually with good reason.
When AI Overviews arrived and ChatGPT became a source of recommendations, I could have carried on as before. Instead I’ve worked with these systems every day since: testing what works, which patterns emerge and what changes. As an AI tinkerer, I try new technology on my own projects first.
I don’t know everything about GEO. Nobody does right now – the field is too young and changing too fast. I pass on what I test and observe – without buzzwords or hype. You talk to me directly, not to a project manager handling your account from a distance. And I’ll tell you when something isn’t working before I keep doing it for months.
My own visibility shows I know the craft: since 2013 my German page has ranked on page 1 of Google for “SEO-Experte Hamburg”, often in first place. More about my work in Hamburg is on my page as an SEO consultant in Hamburg.
5.0 from 80+ Google reviews300+ clients since 19991,263 top-3 rankings
Frequently asked questions about GEO
Updated on · by Hamed Farhadian
Is GEO the same as SEO?
No. SEO optimises for classic search results – rankings, technical SEO, backlinks. GEO optimises for AI systems such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, so that they know, understand and recommend your business. The two complement each other, and GEO without a solid SEO foundation works much less well. The full comparison is in my guide GEO vs. SEO.
Will I lose my existing SEO if I invest in GEO?
No. GEO adds to SEO, it doesn’t replace it. If you rank well, you keep those rankings – and they give you a strong base for AI search. GEO adds another layer of visibility where classic rankings alone no longer reach.
How long until I see results?
Changes in AI answers can often be observed sooner than classic SEO gains – in some cases within four to eight weeks. Stable, lasting visibility comes from six to twelve months of consistent work. Promises that sound faster are usually not honest.
Is GEO worth it for my business?
If your customers research online before they get in touch, and a new customer is worth a lot to you, the answer is usually yes. The question isn’t whether GEO will matter in your industry, but when. Starting early builds a lead that’s hard to catch up with later.
Do you work with small businesses?
Yes, as long as a new customer is worth enough to you. Company size matters less than what a new client means to you. A trades business with large projects can be a better fit than a mid-sized company with very thin margins.
What does working together cost?
It depends on scope, competition and your industry – from a one-off GEO audit to ongoing support. We work out the right setup in our first conversation, and you then get a clear proposal. I don’t publish prices.