When someone asks ChatGPT "which company should build my website" or searches Perplexity for "a good accountant in Sofia", the assistant gives concrete recommendations with names. Those recommendations are not random: they come from what the model has learned and from what it finds on the web at the moment of the question. GEO, Generative Engine Optimization, is the discipline that makes your business visible to both channels.
How AI assistants “learn” about businesses
Two mechanisms work in parallel, and GEO addresses both:
1. Knowledge from training
Models are trained on vast bodies of web content. A business that is described consistently in many places, on its own site, in directories, articles, media and forums, has a chance of being present in the model’s own knowledge. A business that exists only as a name and a phone number effectively does not exist for the model.
2. Real-time search
Modern assistants increasingly search the web while they answer: Perplexity does it by default, ChatGPT on many questions. Here the rules of citability apply: clear pages, direct answers, machine-readable structure. That is why a site with a strong SEO and AIO foundation is also a strong GEO candidate.
The tools of GEO
llms.txt: a menu for the language models
llms.txt is a proposed standard: a text file in the root of the site that summarises who you are, what you offer and where your most important content is, in clean, ordered text. Not all AI systems read it today, but adding it takes an hour of work and makes your site easy to consume for machines. Think of it as a sitemap, but for models rather than for search-engine robots.
Structured data
Schema markup following the schema.org standard describes the business unambiguously: Organization with a name, address, services and contacts, Article for the articles, FAQPage for the questions. The less the machine has to guess, the more likely it is to relay you accurately to the user.
Mentions and authority
Models trust repetition: the same name, linked to the same expertise, in many independent places. Everything that builds classic authority works here too: publications in industry media, directories, reviews, interviews, client case studies. The difference is that here even a link with no click value carries weight, because it is text the model learns from.
Content that answers like an expert
Assistants love pages that say things plainly: what you do, for whom, how the process unfolds, what the indicative parameters are. Evasive marketing copy with no specifics is the worst possible material for GEO.
SEO, AIO and GEO: the three layers of visibility
| Criterion | SEO | AIO | GEO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where you appear | The classic Google results | AI Overviews and the answers inside the search engine | The answers of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and other assistants |
| How it is measured | Positions, impressions and clicks in Search Console | Citations in AI answers, impressions, brand searches | Periodic checks of what the assistants answer, referral traffic from them, enquiries saying "I found you through ChatGPT" |
| Time to effect | Usually months of consistent work | Similar to SEO, it goes hand in hand with it | The slowest and the least predictable: it also depends on the models' update cycles |
| Main lever | Technical soundness, content, links | Citable answers and structured data | Mentions, machine-readable descriptions, llms.txt, a consistent brand story |
Why starting early gives you a head start
GEO has a compounding effect. The mentions, structured data and expert content you publish today enter the sources the models will learn from tomorrow. A competitor who starts a year later cannot make up the gap with budget: the models will already have “remembered” who the authority in the niche is. In small markets like the Bulgarian one this is even stronger: on many topics there is still no established source and the place is open. The empty throne is taken most easily before the others realise it is there.
An honest warning: no one can guarantee that a given model will recommend you, and the results are harder to measure than with classic SEO. That is why, in our SEO, AIO and GEO optimisation service, GEO runs as an upgrade on top of a solid SEO foundation, not as a standalone promise.
Frequently asked questions
What is GEO in two sentences?
GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, is the optimisation of a business's presence in the answers of AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. The goal is that, when a user asks about a service or product in your field, the assistant knows and mentions your business.
Does GEO replace classic SEO?
No, it builds on it. AI assistants increasingly rely on web search and indexed content, so a site without an SEO foundation is invisible to them too. GEO adds a layer on top: citable content, structured data, mentions and machine-readable descriptions of the business.
What is llms.txt?
A proposed standard: a text file in the root of the site that gives language models an ordered summary of the site and links to its most important content in clean text format. Not every system reads it, but it is cheap to add and presents your content in a machine-friendly form.
How do I check what AI assistants say about my business?
Ask them directly, the way a client would: which company should I choose for this service in my city, what do you know about this particular brand. Repeat the check periodically and with different wordings, because the answers change as the models and their sources are updated.
How long does GEO take to have an effect?
Longer and less predictable than classic SEO, because it also depends on when the models refresh their knowledge and which sources they use for real-time search. That is exactly why starting early is an advantage: the mentions and content you accumulate work for you going forward.
Related reading
When the client asks the AI, let the answer be you.
We will check how your business looks through the eyes of search engines and AI assistants and propose a plan. We reply within 24 hours.