More and more buyers start their research with a question to an AI assistant instead of a search box: “What is the best running shoe for flat feet under €150?” or “Which espresso machine is easiest to clean?” The answer often names specific products and stores.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of making your brand, products and content more likely to appear in those AI-generated answers. It builds on SEO, but adds a few new priorities.
How AI assistants choose what to mention
Systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google’s AI features usually combine two sources:
- What the model learned during training from public web content
- What it retrieves live through a search or browsing step when answering
For product questions, the live retrieval step is often decisive. The assistant searches, reads a handful of pages, and writes an answer based on them. If your pages are not found, cannot be read, or do not clearly answer the question, you are not in the answer.
GEO vs SEO: what changes
| Classic SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank a URL in results | Be cited or mentioned in an answer |
| Unit of competition | Page | Facts, passages and brand mentions |
| Key signals | Relevance, links, experience | Clear facts, consistency across sources, authority, accessibility to crawlers |
| Measurement | Rankings, clicks | Mentions, citations, referral traffic from AI tools |
The foundations are the same: good technical SEO, useful content and trust. GEO adds focus on extractable facts and consistency across the web.
1. Make sure AI crawlers can read your site
- Check your
robots.txtfor rules about AI-related crawlers (for example OpenAI’s, Google’s and Perplexity’s user agents) and make a deliberate decision about which you allow - Make sure important content is in the HTML, not only rendered by JavaScript after interactions
- Keep pages fast and free of interstitials that block content
Blocking all AI crawlers is a valid choice for some publishers, but for a store that wants to be recommended, it usually works against you.
2. Write content that answers buyer questions directly
AI systems extract passages. Content that states things clearly is easier to use:
- Start sections with a direct answer, then explain
- Use specific, factual statements: dimensions, materials, compatibility, warranty, use cases
- Add comparison content: “X vs Y”, “best for…”, “who should not buy this”
- Add FAQs based on real customer questions (your support inbox is a goldmine)
3. Make product data complete and consistent
- Complete product attributes on your site
- Accurate structured data (
Product,Offer,Review,Organization) - An up-to-date Google Merchant Center feed
- The same prices, availability and policies everywhere
Inconsistent data across your site, marketplaces and feeds makes it harder for AI systems to trust any version of it.
4. Build mentions beyond your own website
AI answers often reflect what others say about you:
- Reviews on trusted review platforms
- Mentions in independent comparison articles and “best of” lists
- Discussions in communities and forums relevant to your niche
- Industry publications and partner sites
This is classic digital PR, and it matters even more for GEO.
5. Show real expertise
Buying guides written by people who know the product category, with original photos, test results and honest pros and cons, stand out from generic text. Name the author and explain their experience.
6. Prepare for agentic commerce
The next step after recommendations is AI agents that can compare, add to cart and buy on behalf of users. Structured product data, clear APIs and emerging protocols for agent-to-store communication will matter more and more. I wrote about this in my post on UCP and agentic commerce.
How to measure GEO
GEO measurement is still young, but you can track:
- Referral traffic from AI tools (for example chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com) in GA4
- Manual prompt testing: a fixed list of 20–50 buyer questions you ask AI assistants monthly, noting whether and how your brand appears
- Search Console data for queries and pages that appear in Google’s AI features where reported
- Brand search volume over time
Common mistakes
- Writing for machines instead of people. Content stuffed with keywords or fake “AI-friendly” text does not help.
- Ignoring technical basics. If Google cannot index you well, AI search will not find you either.
- Expecting quick results. Mentions and authority build over months.
Frequently asked questions
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. GEO builds on SEO. Most AI systems rely on search indexes and the web, so good SEO remains the foundation.
Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT answers?
Organic AI answers are not something you can directly buy. Some platforms are testing advertising formats, but GEO is about earning organic mentions.
How long does GEO take to work?
Technical fixes and better content can show effects within weeks for assistants that search live. Brand mentions and authority take longer.
Want your store to show up in AI answers?
I help online stores improve their visibility in both Google and AI assistants, from technical fixes to content strategy and measurement. See my technical SEO service or request a GEO review.