What is GEO and how to get ChatGPT to recommend your business
More and more people ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity before searching on Google. GEO is the practice of preparing your website so those engines understand it, cite it and recommend you. Here is how to start.
Until recently, being found online meant one thing: ranking in the top Google results. Today many people start somewhere else. They ask ChatGPT "which marketing agency would you recommend in my city?" or Perplexity "what’s the best software for medical appointments?", and they trust the answer.
If your business doesn’t show up in those answers, for that person it simply doesn’t exist. That’s what GEO is about.
What GEO is
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It’s the set of practices that help AI assistants — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google’s AI summaries — understand your site, use it as a source and mention you when someone asks about what you do.
How it differs from SEO
Traditional SEO aims to rank your page well in a list of results. GEO aims for your content to become part of the answer.
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you appear | In a list of links | Inside the assistant’s answer |
| What you optimize | Keywords and links | Clarity, concrete data and authority |
| How you win | Ranking position | Being cited as a trusted source |
They aren’t rivals. A site with good SEO is halfway there, because AI engines also need to be able to crawl and understand your pages.
How AI engines decide whom to cite
There’s no public formula, but the patterns are clear. Assistants tend to cite content that:
- Answers questions directly, without detours.
- Is easy to extract: clear headings, short paragraphs, lists and tables.
- Contains concrete data: prices, steps, definitions, comparisons.
- Comes from an authoritative source: a brand mentioned on other sites, reviews, directories and social media.
- Is technically accessible to their crawlers.
What to do on your site, step by step
1. Let AI crawlers in
Check your robots.txt file. Many sites unknowingly block crawlers like GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot. If they can’t get in, they can’t cite you.
2. Write to answer questions
Think about your customers’ real questions and answer them on your site. Start each section with the answer, then expand. A well-built FAQ section is some of the most citable content there is.
3. Use structured data
Schema.org markup (Organization, Product, FAQPage, Article) tells engines, without ambiguity, who you are, what you sell and which questions you answer.
4. Publish an llms.txt file
It’s a plain-text summary of your business and key pages, designed for language models. It’s simple to create and helps them understand you quickly.
5. Build brand mentions
Models learn from the whole web. Having your brand appear in directories, reviews, media, forums and social media with consistent information reinforces that you are a trustworthy reference.
6. Keep your content fresh
An active blog with useful, up-to-date articles gives engines new material to cite and shows the business is alive.
How to measure progress
The most useful approach is to get a baseline score and measure again after every change. A GEO analysis checks crawler access, structured data, content clarity and authority signals, and tells you what to fix first. Repeating it monthly shows whether you’re heading in the right direction.
In short
GEO is the answer to a shift in how people search. It doesn’t replace SEO: it extends it so AI assistants understand and recommend you. Start with the technical side (letting crawlers in and using structured data), continue with content that answers questions, and build your authority consistently.
With NavvyAI you can analyze your site with an SEO/GEO score, see what to fix first and track your progress version after version.
Frequently asked questions
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. GEO builds on good SEO: a fast, crawlable site with useful content. What it adds is preparing that content so AI engines can understand it, summarize it and cite it.
How long does it take to see results?
It depends on each engine and how often it crawls your site. Technical changes, like allowing AI crawlers in, can show up within weeks; authority and brand mentions are built over months of consistency.
What is the llms.txt file?
It is a proposed standard: a file at the root of your site that summarizes, in plain text, what your business is and which pages matter most, so language models can understand it quickly.
How do I know if my site is ready for AI engines?
With a GEO analysis: it checks whether AI crawlers can get in, whether your pages have structured data, whether your content answers questions directly and whether there are authority signals around your brand.