AI SEO (GEO): How to Get Your Company Recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity

What is AI SEO (GEO)?

Classic SEO is about ranking a page in a list of links. AI SEO — or generative engine optimisation (GEO) — is about being named inside a generated answer. The surface is ChatGPT, Google’s AI summaries powered by Gemini, Perplexity and the assistants built into browsers and apps.

For twenty years, visibility meant one thing: rank on Google. You hired an SEO agency, picked keywords, built backlinks and fought for the top three results. That model isn’t dead, but it’s no longer enough.

Why is the AI shortlist the new first page?

Ask an assistant “what’s the best CRM for startups?” or “how does revenue-based financing work?” and you don’t get ten links. You get a conclusion — often with three or four companies named.

That short list is the new first page, and it’s far smaller than the old one. If your brand isn’t in it, a growing share of buyers will never see you.

How do AI assistants decide which companies to mention?

In simple terms, language models learn from huge amounts of text and pick up relationships between things. If thousands of articles, reviews and discussions link your brand with “AI accounting software for ecommerce”, that association gets strong. If your positioning is inconsistent, it stays weak.

Three things follow from that:

• Patterns beat pages. Being consistently tied to one topic across the web matters more than any single optimised post.
• Clarity wins. If your own site is vague about what you do, a model can’t place you.
• Reputation travels. Trusted publications, podcasts and reviews that describe you reinforce your place in your category.

You can’t bribe this system or stuff keywords into it. You can only strengthen the signals.

Step 1: Say what you are in one specific sentence

Most companies are too broad. “We help businesses grow” and “an innovative platform” tell a human nothing — and tell a model even less.

Replace that with a sentence a stranger could repeat:

• A payroll platform for remote engineering teams.
• Fraud detection for online marketplaces.
• Onboarding automation that reduces churn for SaaS companies.

The narrower the problem you own, the easier it is for an AI to connect you to it. Try to be everything and you’ll be mentioned for nothing.

Step 2: Own the basic explanations in your industry

Many companies skip beginner content because it feels “too basic”. That’s a mistake. When someone asks an assistant “what is usage-based pricing?”, it leans on the clearest explanations it has seen repeatedly. If yours is the clearest — and it gets referenced — your brand becomes attached to the concept.

Write pages that:

• define key terms in plain language,
• answer the questions beginners actually ask,
• compare the options honestly, including where you’re not the best fit,
• walk through processes step by step.

Don’t try to sound impressive. AI prefers clarity over cleverness.

Step 3: Get mentioned outside your own website

If your brand only exists on your own blog, your footprint is small. Assistants learn from media, interviews, industry blogs and public discussion. Digital PR is no longer just about backlinks — it’s about context. A respected publication calling you “one of the leading tools for X” strengthens the link between you and X.

Ways to build it:

• contribute expert quotes to industry articles,
• publish numbers journalists can cite,
• appear on podcasts in your niche,
• write guest pieces with clear positioning,
• encourage customers to leave detailed, specific reviews.

Step 4: Publish data only you have

If you repeat what everyone else says, you’re replaceable. If you publish data nobody else has, you become a source.

That can be a benchmark from your customer base, a study of industry trends, or real performance numbers from your work. Even a small research project works — what matters is that the numbers are yours. Original data is stronger than generic advice.

Step 5: Say the same thing everywhere

If your LinkedIn says one thing, your website another and your press coverage a third, the pattern turns to noise. Use the same one-sentence positioning across your homepage, About page, founder bios, press releases and social profiles. The clearer the pattern, the easier it is for an AI to repeat it.

How can I check whether AI mentions my company today?

Open an assistant and ask the questions your buyers ask:

• What are the best [your category] tools?
• Who are the leading providers of [your service]?
• Which companies solve [the problem you address]?

If you don’t appear, study who does. Look at how they describe themselves, where they’re mentioned, what they publish and how specific their positioning is. They’re usually clearer, and more visible across the web, than you.

What about ads inside AI answers?

As assistants become the main way people search, advertising will follow them. I expect clearly labelled sponsored placements inside answers to become a major channel — much as early search ads were cheap and powerful before everyone arrived.

Companies that understand how answers are structured and how users phrase questions will be better placed when that happens. Organic AI visibility and paid placements will work together.

Where should I start this week?

1. Write your one-sentence positioning and put it on your homepage.
2. Run the three test questions above and save the answers as a baseline.
3. Publish one plain-language explainer on a concept your buyers keep asking about.
4. Line up one external mention: a podcast, an expert quote or a guest article.

Don’t chase tricks. Aim to be the obvious choice in a narrow niche. In the old world, success meant ranking first. In the AI era, it means being included in the answer.