Imagine someone is looking for a company to build their website or manage their Google Ads. In the past, that person would have typed a search into Google. Now a growing number of people put that question to an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini. The answer is not a list of links, but a short piece of text with a few names.
If your company appears in that answer, you get the attention of someone who already has a clear question. If your company is not mentioned, you are invisible at that moment. That is what GEO is about. In this article you will read what GEO is, how AI assistants make their choices and what you can do yourself to increase your chances of being mentioned.
What is GEO?
GEO stands for generative engine optimisation. It means optimising your online presence so that AI assistants know your company and mention it in their answers. A generative search engine is a system that writes an answer itself, rather than only showing links.
You may already be familiar with SEO. That is search engine optimisation, aimed at achieving a high ranking in Google. GEO is similar, but the goal is different. With SEO, you want a place in the search results. With GEO, you want an AI assistant to name your company in response to a question.
The field is still young. Nobody can say exactly how each assistant puts together its answers, and these systems change regularly. Anyone who claims they can guarantee a mention is therefore exaggerating. What you can do is improve your chances with steps that make sense in practice.
How do AI assistants choose what to mention?
An AI assistant is built on a language model. This is a program that has been trained on enormous amounts of text and learns from it what answers should look like. Some assistants also search the internet live and use what they find in their answer.
In both cases, the information comes from somewhere. It comes from things that are available online:
- your own website
- reviews and ratings
- mentions on other sites, such as trade media, industry directories and comparison sites
- your profiles on platforms such as Google Business Profile and LinkedIn
An assistant can only describe a company well if the information is correct and consistent everywhere. If your website says you work across the whole of the Netherlands and LinkedIn says you are only active in Utrecht, that creates a confusing picture. The clearer and more consistent your story, the greater the chance that you will be described accurately.
Repetition also counts. If several reliable sources say the same thing about you, a system will trust that information more readily.
What can you do yourself?
You do not need to be a technical expert to get started. Most of the steps are about clarity. These are the most important ones:
- Describe clearly what you do. Say in plain language on your website what you offer, for whom and in which area. Avoid vague slogans.
- Put the facts in order. Think of your founding year, service area, specialisations, certifications and contact details. Put them in a fixed place, such as your About Us page.
- Answer real questions. Create a page with frequently asked questions and give short, clear answers. Use the questions that customers actually ask.
- Keep your details consistent everywhere. Check your company name, address and description on your website, on Google Business Profile, on LinkedIn and in other directories.
- Collect reviews. Ask satisfied customers for an honest review and respond to what they write.
- Get mentions elsewhere. Write a guest article, give an interview or appear in a relevant industry directory. This way, other sources confirm what you say.
- Use structured data. This is extra code on your website that tells search engines what is on a page, such as a business, a question or a product. Your developer can set this up for you.
Start with the first three. They mainly cost time and thought, and they also help your regular visitors.
Write for people and for machines
An AI assistant prefers to take short, clear passages of text from a page. This also works well for your visitor. So put the answer to a question directly under the heading, in one or two sentences. Only then explain in more detail.
Use headings that are phrased as a question or as a clear topic. Keep paragraphs short. Explain technical terms in a sentence. This is not a trick. It is simply good writing.
Avoid text that seems to be written only for search engines. Pages full of repeated keywords work badly for visitors and do not make your site stronger.
A practical example
Suppose you have an installation company in Amersfoort that specialises in heat pumps. Your website has a general text about "sustainable solutions for every home". Your service area is not mentioned anywhere. On Google Business Profile there is a different description, and in an industry directory there is an old phone number.
Someone asks an AI assistant which company in the Amersfoort region installs heat pumps. The assistant finds little clear information about your company. A competitor mentions its service area, its specialisation and its experience in several places, and has recent reviews. That competitor is mentioned. You are not.
Now turn it around. You rewrite your homepage with a clear sentence about what you do and where. You create a page with frequently asked questions about heat pumps, such as installation time and the conditions for subsidies. You make your details consistent everywhere and ask customers for a review. This does not guarantee a mention, but you become a lot easier to find and understand, including for people who simply use Google.
SEO remains the foundation
GEO is not a replacement for SEO, but an extension of it. A fast, well-structured website with strong content gets found by search engines and by AI assistants. Much of what works for SEO therefore also helps with GEO.
So check the basics first:
- Does your website load quickly, including on a phone?
- Does each page have a clear topic and a logical structure?
- Can search engines find and read your pages?
- Is your content up to date and reliable?
You can also track your progress yourself. Ask a few questions to different AI assistants, as your customers would. Note which companies are mentioned and whether you are among them. Repeat this after a few months. Also check your analytics, the tool you use to measure website traffic, to see whether visitors are arriving from AI assistants. The numbers often remain small for now, but you will see whether there is a trend.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay to be mentioned in ChatGPT?
Not at the moment, at least not in the way you buy advertising in Google. You can only increase your chances of a mention by putting your information online clearly, consistently and in several places.
Do I need to change my SEO approach completely for GEO?
No. A good SEO foundation remains the foundation. You mainly add attention to clear facts, questions and answers, and mentions on other sites.
How quickly will I see results?
That varies by assistant and by industry. Assistants that search live sometimes pick up changes on your website faster than systems that rely mainly on older data. Expect months rather than days, and measure your progress regularly.
Free 30-minute introductory meeting
Would you like to know how visible your company is in search engines and AI assistants? Then book a free 30-minute introductory meeting with Adventio Marketing in Amersfoort. Together we will look at where you stand now, what opportunities there are and what you can tackle first. There is no obligation.
