GEO
What is GEO? How to get ChatGPT and Google’s AI to recommend your business
What generative engine optimization is, how it differs from SEO and six steps to start today.
Until recently there was one question: do I show up on Google? Now there’s a second. When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google’s AI answers about a business like yours, do they name you? Getting your business ready for that second question is called GEO.
GEO in one sentence
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the set of practices that help an AI assistant understand who you are, trust your information and include you in its answers.
SEO and GEO: similar, but not the same
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you appear | In a list of results | Inside a written answer |
| What the user does | Compares and clicks | Often decides without clicking |
| What gets measured | Rankings, clicks and calls | Mentions, accuracy of your details and traffic from assistants |
The good news: they share a foundation. A site search engines can read, consistent data and a solid reputation serve both.
How does an assistant decide whom to cite?
There’s no public formula, and every system works differently. But assistants that search the web to answer tend to rely on observable signals:
- Access: whether they can read your site.
- Clarity: whether your information is structured and easy to interpret.
- Consistency: whether your name, address, phone and description match across sources.
- Authority: whether trusted sites mention you — press, guides, directories, reviews.
- Direct answers: whether your content answers the question plainly.
Six steps to get started
1. Let assistants read your site
Check your robots.txt file. If it blocks AI crawlers, those assistants can’t read you directly. If you want to be cited, allow access and state your preference with Content Signals (for example, ai-input=yes).
2. Add structured data
Schema.org markup — types like LocalBusiness or Organization, Service and FAQPage — tells machines unambiguously who you are, what you offer and where.
3. Publish an llms.txt file
It’s a markdown file, proposed in 2024, that summarizes your site for language models. It isn’t an official standard and not every system reads it, but it’s cheap to maintain and organizes the information you want cited. This site has one.
4. Unify your data
The same name, address and phone on Google Business Profile, Yelp, Apple Maps, your social accounts and your website. Conflicting data makes an assistant hesitate — or repeat the wrong detail.
5. Answer your customers’ real questions
Service pages and FAQs that answer in the first few lines, with concrete facts: what you do, where, for whom and how to reach you.
6. Earn third-party mentions
Local press, “best of” guides, industry associations and real reviews. These are the sources both Google and AI use to decide whom to trust.
How to measure GEO
Each month, ask several assistants the questions your customers would ask — in English and Spanish — and note whether you appear, how you’re described and whether your details are right. Because answers vary by user and moment, the trend matters more than any single test.
What no one can promise you
No provider controls what an AI model answers. Be wary of anyone who guarantees that “ChatGPT will recommend you.” The honest approach is to work the signals and measure the results.
At ConectaNYC we measure your visibility in AI assistants as part of our 10-dimension audit, and we build it through our GEO service.