What is GEO?
GEO is the work of getting a brand into the answers AI assistants give. Here it is in one sentence, with examples.
In one sentence
GEO is the work of making sure that, when someone asks an artificial intelligence what to choose, your brand is in the answer.
The letters stand for Generative Engine Optimization. The name is technical; the idea is not.
What has changed
For twenty years, finding something online meant typing a few words into a search engine and choosing from a list of links. Today many people do something else: they put a full question to an AI assistant and get a written answer back, with two or three options.
The change is easy to describe and large in its effect: the shortlist is now drawn up for you before you see anything.
This is not niche behaviour. According to a McKinsey survey published in October 2025, half of the consumers polled now intentionally seek out AI-powered search engines.
Source: McKinsey, “New front door to the internet: Winning in the age of AI search”, October 2025. Consumer survey.
An example
“italian restaurant madrid”
Ten links. You decide which one to open.
“Recommend an Italian restaurant in Madrid that's gluten free”
An answer with two or three names. The AI has already chosen for you.
In the first case, being on the list was already a chance. In the second, if you are not among those two or three names, for that person you do not exist.
Where it happens
In the AI assistants people use every day, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. And inside Google itself, which for many searches shows a summary written by AI before the links.
Each one works in its own way and they do not always agree: a brand can appear in one and be missing from another. That is why it is worth looking at several, not only the best known.
Who it affects
Any brand whose customer asks before deciding: a fashion label, a clinic, a restaurant, a hotel, a law firm. The more considered the purchase, the more likely someone will ask first.
What the work involves
- Measuring. Asking AI the questions your customer would ask and seeing whether it names you, how it describes you and where it gets its information.
- Putting things in order. Making your website clear and your details the same everywhere, so you are understood without doubt.
- Getting talked about. Getting trusted media and websites to talk about you, because AI leans heavily on what third parties say.
- Measuring again. Repeating the same questions every month and comparing with the starting point.
What GEO is not
- It is not a technical trick you apply once and forget.
- It is not advertising: you do not pay the AI to appear.
- It is not a guarantee. Nobody controls what an AI answers. You can work to deserve a place in the answer, not secure it.
Frequently asked questions
Are GEO and SEO the same thing?
No. SEO aims to get your website into a search engine's list of results. GEO aims to get your brand into the answer an AI writes. They support each other, and we explain how in the next chapter.
Can you pay to appear in the answers?
The work we describe here is not advertising. It consists of making the information about your brand clear, consistent and backed by third parties, so that AI has reasons to mention you.
Does it work for a small or local business?
Yes. Many of the questions people ask AI are local and very specific, such as a dentist in a particular neighbourhood. Businesses of every size compete there.
How long before it shows?
The first signs usually appear from the third month. It depends on each brand's starting point, and a specific result cannot be guaranteed.