What is GEO? How to get your brand recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini

GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is the practice of improving how often AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention, cite and recommend your brand. Where SEO earns you a ranking in a list of links, GEO earns you a place inside the answer itself.

Why GEO matters now

More buyers start their research by asking an AI assistant: “What’s the best CRM for a small agency?” or “Which skincare brands are good for sensitive skin?” The assistant answers with a short list of names. If your brand isn’t on that list, you are invisible at the exact moment a buyer is deciding.

GEO vs SEO: what’s the difference?

• SEO optimises pages to rank in search engine results.
• GEO optimises your brand’s presence so AI models can identify it, trust it and quote it.
• They share foundations. AI assistants lean heavily on pages that already rank well and on sources they trust, so strong SEO makes GEO easier.

How AI assistants decide which brands to recommend

AI assistants assemble answers from what they learned in training and from live web sources. In practice, brands get recommended when they are:

• Clearly identifiable: consistent name, category and facts across your site, profiles and listings.
• Frequently mentioned by trusted sources: reviews, publications, comparison articles and communities.
• Easy to quote: pages with clear, specific, factual answers to the questions buyers ask.

Where to start: a 5-step GEO checklist

1. Map your buyer prompts. List 20 questions your buyers would ask an AI assistant about your category.
2. Measure your share of answer. Ask each assistant those prompts and record who gets named and which sources are cited.
3. Fix your brand facts. Make your About page, structured data and profiles say the same thing about who you are and what you do.
4. Publish citation-worthy content. Comparison pages, original data and clear FAQ answers give assistants something to quote.
5. Earn mentions where AI looks. Reviews, industry publications and the sites assistants already cite for your prompts.

How to measure GEO

Track the same set of prompts every month across assistants. The key numbers are share of answer (how often you are named), citations (how often your pages are linked as a source), sentiment and accuracy of what is said about you.

The bottom line

Search has split in two: the results page and the AI answer. Brands that win both will capture demand their competitors never see. If you want to know where you stand today, get a quote and we’ll start with a full AI visibility review.