The short answer
- SEO is about where your pages appear in a list of results.
- GEO (generative engine optimisation) is about whether an AI assistant, such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, uses your information and names your business inside the answer it writes.
- The two overlap a great deal. Good GEO is built on good SEO, not instead of it.
The real change is in the result the customer sees. A search results page shows ten or so options and lets the person choose.
An assistant often does the choosing for them: it reads several sources, writes a summary and mentions a handful of businesses, sometimes only one. If you are not in that answer, the customer may never see you at all.
What stays the same
Most of what makes a site strong in search still matters when the reader is an AI assistant.
Useful content that answers real questions
Assistants need something to work with. Pages that answer a specific question clearly, in plain language and near the top of the page, are easier to use than pages that circle the subject. This was good SEO practice before AI assistants existed, and it still is.
Technical health
If a page cannot be crawled, it cannot be read. The basics carry over: pages that
- load properly;
- are not blocked by robots rules or a login;
- have sensible titles and headings;
- do not hide their main text behind scripts that crawlers struggle with.
Schema markup (structured data that labels what a page is about) helps both search engines and assistants understand the page.
Trust and accuracy
Accurate, current facts that are backed up elsewhere help in both. Out-of-date prices, old addresses and claims that cannot be checked work against you in both.
What is different
The goal is to be named, not just listed
In search, success is a position on a page. With an assistant, success is being mentioned in the answer, ideally with a link to your site as the source.
There is no fixed position to hold. The answer is written fresh each time, so the question becomes how often you are named across many asks, not where you sit on one page.
Consistent facts about the business
Assistants try to work out what a business is, what it does and where it operates, then match that to the question. Marketers call this entity consistency.
If your website, your Google Business Profile, Companies House, directory listings and social profiles describe the business differently (different names, old addresses, services you no longer offer), the assistant has a muddier picture. It may leave you out or describe you wrongly.
A quick test: write down, in one sentence, what the business does and where. Then check that the same sentence would be true on every profile and listing you control.
Mentions on other sites carry more weight
Links still matter, but assistants also pay attention to who talks about you and how. These can all shape whether a business comes up for a question:
- Reviews
- Trade association listings
- Local news and comparison articles
- Genuine discussion in forums
You cannot control these directly, but you can make it easy for them to happen and make sure what they say is accurate.
Questions are longer and more personal
People type short phrases into a search box. They ask assistants full questions with context: who is a good accountant for a small charity near Leicester, or which agency can help a software company with its first product launch.
Content that covers these specific situations has more to offer than a page written around one short keyword.
Answers change from one ask to the next
Ask the same question twice and you may get two different answers. That is normal, and it changes how you measure: a single screenshot proves very little, good or bad.
Side by side
| Question | SEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|
| What the customer sees | A list of results to choose from | A written answer that may name a few businesses |
| What success looks like | A higher position for a search term | Being named, or cited as a source, more often |
| How stable it is | Fairly steady from day to day | Varies between asks, so needs repeated checks |
| Where the data comes from | Search Console, rank trackers, analytics | Mostly your own repeated checks of the assistants |
| What you control most | Your pages, site health and links | Your pages, consistent facts and the mentions you earn |
How to measure it
Because answers vary, measurement has to be built on repetition. The method is simple; tools only save time.
- Agree a fixed set of questions. Use the words your customers actually use. Ten to twenty questions is plenty to start. Write them down and do not change them between checks, or you cannot compare.
- Ask each question several times. Record whether the business is named each time, whether your site is linked, and who is named instead.
- Note the conditions. Which assistant, the date, and whether you were signed in. Answers can differ between assistants and over time.
- Repeat on a schedule. Monthly suits most businesses. Compare each round with the first one, your baseline.
- Look at the trend, not one result. Being named in more of your asks over several months means something. One good or bad answer does not.
It is also worth checking what the assistant says about you when it does name you. A mention with the wrong opening hours or a service you stopped offering is a problem to fix, not a win.
Where to start
- List the questions that bring you your best customers, and check how assistants answer them today.
- Make sure each of those questions has a clear answer on one of your pages.
- Tidy the facts about the business across your site and profiles so they match.
- Fix crawl problems and add schema markup where it is missing.
- Think about where the business could reasonably be mentioned by others, and ask for it.
Where GEO Agency fits, and its limits
GEO Agency has self-serve tools that:
- score a page across seven areas;
- draft FAQs and schema markup;
- audit a site;
- simulate how an assistant might answer a question.
They run on Google's Gemini models, so their results are estimates. They cannot tell you exactly what ChatGPT or any other assistant will say to a particular customer, and nobody can promise you a place in an AI answer.
If you would rather someone else did the checking and fixing, the done-for-you AI visibility audit follows the method above: agreed questions, repeated asks, a ranked fix list and a re-check. For reporting this work to clients or colleagues, see our guide on how to report AI visibility without overpromising.
Quick answers on the practical side: how to check if ChatGPT recommends your business, how to get your website cited in AI answers and whether schema markup helps.
Common questions
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. Most of the groundwork is shared: pages that answer real questions clearly, a site that search engines and AI crawlers can read, and accurate facts about the business. GEO adds a different goal on top, which is being named inside the answer an assistant writes, and a different way of measuring it.
Do I need a separate GEO budget?
Not always. Much of the first GEO work is SEO work re-ordered: answering customer questions, tidying facts about the business and earning mentions on trusted sites. A separate budget makes sense for regular measurement of AI answers, which SEO reporting does not include.
Can I see how often ChatGPT or Gemini names my business?
Not from an official dashboard for most assistants. The practical way is to agree a fixed set of questions, ask each one several times on a regular schedule, and record whether the business is named and who is named instead.
Why does the same question give different answers?
AI assistants generate each answer fresh, and many also look things up on the web at the time of asking. The wording of the question, the assistant, the date and even the previous messages can change the result. That is why one answer proves very little and repeated asks are needed.
What should I fix first?
Start with the pages that should answer your most valuable questions. Make sure they answer them plainly near the top, that the facts about the business match everywhere they appear, and that the page can be crawled. Then look at where else the business is mentioned on the web.