Get named when your buyer asks an AI instead of Google.
More people now start with an assistant than with a list of links. Ranking on a page and being the business the assistant names are two different jobs.
The work has a name — Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO — and almost nobody is doing it yet.
Ranking is no longer the same job as being recommended
Only about a third of what assistants cite still comes from the top ten results. They pull from what other sites say about you, your reviews, the answers you have published, and whether your details agree everywhere. Different work to SEO — and work your team can keep running.
How an assistant decides which business to name
There is no ranking algorithm to game here. An assistant assembles an answer from what it can find and what it trusts, which in practice means four things:
What other sites say about you
Directories, associations, suppliers, press, partner pages. Third-party mentions carry more weight than your own claims.
Your reviews
What they actually say, rather than just the star count.
The answers you have published
If nobody has written down what you charge, how you work, or who you serve, there is nothing for an assistant to quote.
Whether your details are consistent
Name, phone, address, hours and service list matching everywhere. Contradictions make an assistant hedge or skip you.
What the engagement actually involves
It is deliberately unglamorous, and most of it is work your own team can take over:
Find the questions your buyers actually ask an assistant, in their words.
Record what the assistants currently say about you — named, ignored, or described wrongly. This becomes your baseline.
Correct what is wrong, at the source, not just on your own site.
Publish the answers they are missing, in the shape assistants can quote.
Make your details consistent across your site and every listing that matters.
Get you cited by the sources assistants already read.
Set up a monthly check that your team runs, so you can watch it move without me.
What it is too early to promise
This is early work and I would rather say so than oversell it. In BrightLocal's July 2026 survey, only 8% of consumers began a local search inside an AI tool, against 52% who started on Google. Traditional search is not finished, and anyone telling you it is finished wants something from you.
The case for starting now is narrower and more honest than that: the work compounds slowly, the inputs it depends on take months to change, and very few businesses have begun. That is a real advantage while it lasts, and it is not one you can buy quickly later.
Questions I get about getting found by AI.
Can you help my business get found by AI assistants like ChatGPT?
Yes, that work is called Generative Engine Optimization. We ask the assistants the questions your buyers ask, record whether you get named, ignored or described wrongly, then fix the gaps: publish the answers they are missing, make your details consistent across your site and listings, and get you cited by sources assistants already read. Your team runs the monthly check afterwards.
Is GEO the same as SEO?
No. SEO is about ranking a page in a list of links. GEO is about being the business an assistant names when there is no list. Assistants draw on what other sites say about you, your reviews, the answers you have published, and whether your details are consistent everywhere they look. Only about a third of what they cite comes from the top ten organic results any more.
Is it too early to bother with this?
Partly. In BrightLocal's July 2026 survey only 8% of consumers began a local search inside an AI tool, against 52% who started on Google. Traditional search is not finished and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. The case for starting now is that the work compounds slowly and very few competitors have begun.
What do I end up with?
Your own answer library, consistent details everywhere it matters, a record of what the assistants said about you before and after, and a simple monthly routine your team runs without me.