GEO explained: getting your business into AI answers
What AI assistants look for, and what you can control.
By Himanshu Bansal, Chief Operations ·
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More customers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews before they search the usual way. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making sure those assistants know your business and mention it when it's relevant.
How AI answers are built
Most assistants combine what the model learned in training with live results from the web. When someone asks for "the best accountant near me", the assistant searches, reads a handful of sources and summarises them. If your business isn't in those sources — or the sources disagree about you — you're unlikely to be mentioned.
What you can control
Be easy to crawl
AI systems can only cite pages they can read. Check that your robots.txt doesn't block the crawlers that matter, that key content is in the HTML rather than hidden behind scripts, and that pages load quickly.
Be consistent everywhere
Your name, address, phone number, services and opening hours should match across your website, Google Business Profile, directories and social profiles. Inconsistent details make it harder for a system to be confident it has the right business.
Answer the real questions
Write pages that answer what customers actually ask, in plain language, with the answer near the top. A clear service page with prices, locations and FAQs is far more quotable than a vague homepage.
AI assistants repeat what the web agrees on. Your job is to make sure the web agrees about you.
Use structured data
Schema markup — Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage — tells machines exactly what your pages describe. It doesn't guarantee a mention, but it removes ambiguity.
Earn mentions elsewhere
Reviews, local press, industry directories and partner sites all act as independent confirmation. Assistants tend to favour businesses that other credible sources talk about.
What you can't control
The models themselves change, and the same question can produce different answers on different days. Anyone promising guaranteed AI mentions is guessing.
That's why testing matters. We run each customer question in fresh sessions, twice, across platforms, and only report results that repeat. It turns a fuzzy topic into something you can track month by month.
Where to start
Pick the ten questions your best customers ask before buying. Ask them in each assistant and note who gets mentioned. That list is your baseline — and usually your to-do list.