Something significant is changing in how people find businesses online. Google is no longer just a list of blue links. People are asking ChatGPT, using Perplexity, reading Google's AI Overviews. The businesses that appear in those AI-generated answers are getting traffic, trust, and customers.
What is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. It's the practice of making your business visible in AI-generated search results — the answers that ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews generate when someone asks a question.
Traditional SEO is about ranking in a list. GEO is about being cited or recommended by an AI synthesising the best answer. It's a different game — and most UK small businesses are not playing it yet.
How do AI search engines decide what to include?
AI systems pull from: high-quality, clearly structured content that directly answers specific questions; authoritative sources with good backlinks and trust signals; structured data (schema markup); reviews and reputation data; and consistent brand mentions across credible sources.
How is GEO different from SEO?
Traditional SEO focuses on keywords and rankings. GEO focuses on being the authoritative, clearly-explained answer to a question. That means writing content that directly answers questions in plain language, structuring pages so AI can extract your information, and building a reputation AI systems can verify through third-party mentions.
The good news: the fundamentals of good SEO also underpin good GEO. If you're already doing SEO properly, you're partway there.
What should you do now?
Start with: a clear FAQ section that answers the questions your customers actually ask; service pages that explain what you do in plain, direct language; a Google Business Profile that's fully filled in; schema markup on your key pages; and reviews on Trustpilot or Google.
We're already implementing GEO strategies for our clients. Talk to us if you want to understand what it would look like for your business.