What is GEO and why does it matter for your business?

More and more people no longer ask Google, but an AI assistant: “which accountant near me is good?” or “which agency can build an app for me?” The answer doesn’t come as a list of ten blue links, but as one coherent piece of advice — containing a few company names. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the discipline that gets your business among those names.

How AI assistants form their answers

AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI overviews combine two sources: what the model learned during training, and what it looks up live on the web (often through search engines such as Bing and Google). In both cases the same rule applies: the AI can only recommend what it can find, understand and trust.

GEO versus SEO: what is the difference?

The foundations overlap heavily — and that is good news: a technically healthy, fast site with clear content scores in both worlds. But the emphasis differs:

• SEO optimises to rank: appearing at the top of the list of results.
• GEO optimises to be cited: the AI must be able to use your content as the answer to a question.

In practice GEO means: content that answers questions directly and completely (instead of writing around them), a clear structure with headings and lists, structured data (schema.org) so the AI knows who you are and what you do, and verifiable business details — name, location, registration number, real projects.

Where to start

1. Get the basics right — a fast site, correct technical signals, business details visible and consistent (including LinkedIn and trade registers).
2. Answer your customers’ questions — an FAQ and articles around the questions your customers search with. Write the answer the way you would explain it to a customer: direct and honest.
3. Be citable — clear headings, short paragraphs, facts an AI can safely adopt.
4. Be findable for AI crawlers — don’t block them in robots.txt and guide them with an llms.txt file.

Our approach

We combine SEO and GEO in one service: technology, content and structure done right in one go — for Google and for the new generation of search engines. Curious where your site stands today? Get in touch.