"Recommend a reliable dental clinic in Istanbul." People no longer type that only into Google. They ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity too, and a brand that is missing from the answer simply does not exist for that customer.

GEO, short for generative engine optimisation, is the work of getting your brand into the answers AI assistants write. The term spread after a 2023 paper by researchers at Princeton and Georgia Tech. The practical question for marketing teams now is whether a brand that already invests in SEO shows up here automatically, or whether this is separate work.

How is GEO different from SEO?

In SEO the goal is a high position among ten blue links. The user clicks, lands on your site and decides there. In GEO there is often no click. The assistant reads a handful of sources, writes one answer, and the user decides from that answer. The contest shifts from being ranked to being mentioned.

The two are connected. Most assistants lean on search results when they answer, so a site that is badly indexed struggles in GEO as well. But not every well-ranked site gets cited. Three things make the difference: how directly the content answers a question, how consistently the brand is described across the rest of the web, and how easy the information is to quote.

What makes an assistant recommend a brand?

Nobody outside the labs knows the exact recipe, and anyone who claims to is guessing. The observable patterns are clear enough:

• Independent mentions. Assistants mostly learn about a brand from comparison articles, industry lists, forums and news, not from the brand's own site.
• A consistent identity. If your name, what you do and where you are differ between your site, your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories, a model has trouble treating you as one entity.
• Content that answers directly. Pages that say plainly what something costs, who it suits and how it differs from alternatives get quoted more easily.
• Structured data. Organization, Product and FAQPage markup help machines read a page correctly.

How do you measure where you stand?

Measurement is the hard part. There is no Search Console for GEO. The method that works is simple and a little tedious: write the 20 to 30 questions your customers would ask, put them to several assistants at regular intervals, and record whether you are mentioned, in what position and with what wording, which competitors appear, and which sources the assistant cites.

That last column is the valuable one. The sites an assistant cites are the list of places you need to be.

In SEO the question was "what position am I in". In GEO it is "do they mention me, and what do they say".

Where to start

• Entity clean-up: make your name, address, phone and service description identical across every profile.
• Answer pages: collect the ten questions your sales team hears most and write a short, direct, evidenced answer to each.
• Schema: add the right structured data to your organisation and service pages.
• Independent mentions: find a way into the lists, comparisons and publications assistants already cite.
• A tracking sheet: re-ask your question set monthly and log the change.

None of this is magic. Most of it is well-run SEO and PR done with more discipline. The difference is that a brand skipping it now loses more than clicks: it is absent at the exact moment the customer decides.

Frequently asked questions

Is GEO replacing SEO?

No. Most assistants draw on search results and web content when they answer, so good SEO remains the foundation. GEO adds a layer on top: brand consistency, mentions in independent sources and content that is easy to quote. Running both in one plan, rather than as separate budgets, is more efficient.

How soon will I see results?

An exact timeline would be dishonest, because assistants refresh their sources at different speeds. Entity clean-up and answer pages can show effects in search within weeks; earning independent mentions is PR and content work that takes months. That is why a monthly tracking sheet matters: you measure change with the same question set, not by impression.

Does a small business need GEO?

If your customers research before deciding, yes. In health, law, education, software and B2B services, people now ask assistants who to choose. For local businesses the first steps are usually a complete Google Business Profile, consistent contact details and real customer reviews, which support visibility on maps and in assistant answers alike.

We handle AI visibility together with SEO; see our search and AI visibility services, and for Google's side, our guide to AI Overviews.