For twenty years, “being found” meant ranking high on Google. That is changing. More and more people ask ChatGPT “which company should build my e-shop?” or see the answer ready-made in Google’s AI Overviews, without clicking a single link. The new game is called GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, getting your business to appear inside AI answers.
How AI picks its sources
Language models do not scan the internet at question time the way Google does. They synthesize answers from content they have seen and trust: pages with clean structure, specific information and verifiable facts. They prefer content that already answers the question, not content that merely targets a keyword.
What works in GEO
- Answer real questions. Articles with a question as the title and a direct, complete answer in the first lines. Exactly like this one.
- Structured data. FAQ, Article, Organization and LocalBusiness schema help machines understand who you are and what you claim.
- Specific numbers and facts. “PageSpeed 90+ on every handover” gets quoted. “High quality services” does not.
- Third-party mentions. Google reviews, listings, references on other sites. AI weighs what others say about you.
- Technical cleanliness. A fast site, proper headings, a sitemap. Everything that helped SEO helps here too.
What does NOT work
Keyword stuffing, bought links and filler text that says nothing. The models are better than ever at recognizing empty content, and they ignore it.
SEO and GEO: not a dilemma
GEO does not replace SEO, it builds on top of it. One strategy serves both: useful content that answers questions, on a fast and technically sound site, with structured data and real reviews. Get those right and you appear in the blue links and in the answers.
Where to start
- Write down the 20 questions customers ask you before they buy.
- Answer them, one by one, in dedicated pages or articles.
- Add structured data everywhere it makes sense.
- Collect public reviews, consistently.
It is exactly the work we do in our own website projects, and the reason this blog exists. If you want your site ready for the next wave of search, let us look at it together.
