IDEAInstitute of Digital Excellence & AdvertisingWhat is GEO?
In short
GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the work that makes AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews name and cite your brand when people ask for a recommendation in your field. It covers your website and the places AI takes its sources from: reviews, directories, Reddit and industry publications. The result is measured in citations: for a fixed list of buyer questions, whether AI names your brand, in what context and next to whom.
GEO in one paragraph
When someone asks an AI assistant "which accounting firm in Warsaw should I use" or "best CRM for a small agency", the assistant does not return ten links. It writes an answer and names a few companies. GEO is the set of methods that make your company one of those names, and make the assistant cite your pages as the source.
GEO and SEO side by side
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| What you optimise for | A ranked list of links | One written answer |
| How many winners | Ten results on the first page | Usually one to three named companies |
| Where the work happens | Mostly your website | Your website plus reviews, directories, Reddit, industry media |
| What is measured | Positions, clicks, organic traffic | Mentions and citations for a fixed list of questions |
| Who reads your content | Search engine crawler, then the visitor | AI model, which then speaks for you |
SEO and GEO are not rivals. A site that search engines can crawl and understand is the base for both.
How AI assistants choose what to say
- They look for clear answers. Pages that state facts plainly (who you are, what you do, for whom, at what price, where) are easier to quote.
- They check consistency across sources. If reviews, directories, discussions and your own site describe you the same way, the assistant is more likely to repeat it.
- Assistants with web search retrieve pages live. Perplexity, ChatGPT with search and Google AI Overviews pull current pages and show them as sources.
- Models also carry what was widely written before. A brand that is discussed in many credible places has a better chance of appearing even without a live search.
What GEO work includes
- Question list. The real questions your buyers ask AI before choosing a supplier.
- Audit. Who is named today, which sources the answers rely on, where you are missing.
- On-site work. Structure, facts and direct answers on your pages; structured data; FAQ that matches how people ask.
- Off-site work. Honest mentions in reviews, directories, Reddit and industry publications.
- Weekly measurement. The same questions every week, recorded per assistant.
How IDEA measures GEO
We do not report a single "AI ranking". For each question on your list and each assistant we record one of three states: named in the answer, cited as a source, or not mentioned, plus the context and which competitors appear next to you. The report shows how those states change week by week.
Questions and answers
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the work that makes AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews name and cite your brand in their answers. It combines changes on your website with honest mentions in the sources AI relies on, and it is measured by how often and in what context AI names you.
How is GEO different from SEO?
SEO optimises for a ranked list of links; GEO optimises for a single answer, where only one to three names are mentioned. SEO is measured in positions and clicks, GEO in mentions and citations. GEO also puts more weight on sources outside your website.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. Search engines still send traffic, and a crawlable, well-structured site is what AI assistants read too. GEO extends SEO to the answer itself and to the sources around your site.
How do ChatGPT and Perplexity decide which companies to recommend?
They favour sources that answer the question clearly and describe a company consistently: its own site, reviews, directories, forum discussions and industry media. Assistants with web search also retrieve pages at the moment of the question and show them as sources. No one outside the AI companies controls this directly, which is why GEO focuses on clear facts and credible mentions rather than tricks.
How can I check if ChatGPT mentions my brand?
Write down the questions your clients ask before they buy, such as "best … in [city]" or "alternatives to [competitor]", and ask them in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google. Note who is named and which sources are shown. Answers vary between sessions, so a single check is a snapshot; repeat the same list regularly to see a trend. Our audit does this for you.
Why is my website traffic dropping if my Google rankings are the same?
Google AI Overviews answer many questions on the results page, so fewer people click through to any site. Your ranking holds, but the visit does not happen. Being named or cited inside the overview is how you stay visible.
What is the difference between GEO, AEO and LLMO?
They are names for overlapping practices. AEO (answer engine optimisation) and LLMO (large language model optimisation) are often used for the same goal as GEO: being included in AI-generated answers. We use "GEO" because it is the most common term for this work.
What does a GEO project include?
A list of buyer questions, an audit of current AI answers, changes to your website's structure and content, work on off-site mentions (reviews, directories, Reddit, industry publications) and weekly measurement, reported in an online dashboard. Work starts from 3,000 zł per month, with a minimum of 3 months.
How do you measure GEO results?
For each question and each assistant we record whether your brand is named in the answer, cited as a source or not mentioned, in what context and next to which competitors. We repeat this every week. Rankings and organic traffic stay in the report because they still matter.
How long does GEO take to show results?
It depends on your market, how much is already written about you and how often the assistants refresh their sources. Assistants with live web search can pick up changes sooner than answers that rely on a model's training data. With IDEA, the first changes usually appear from 2 months, depending on the niche, the city and the competition.
How much does GEO cost in Poland?
GEO with IDEA starts from 3,000 zł per month, with a minimum of 3 months. The price depends on the number of questions, markets and languages. Our audit is free and shows the scope first.
Can I do GEO myself, or do I need an agency?
You can start yourself: check your questions in the main assistants, make sure your site states the key facts plainly, and keep your profiles in reviews and directories accurate. An agency helps when you need regular measurement across assistants and markets, and work on off-site sources at scale. We also train in-house teams to run GEO on their own → Team training.
Find out what AI says about you
We run your buyer questions through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews and show who gets named, which sources the answers rely on, and where to start.