GEOExplained
What is GEO?
A practical guide to Generative Engine Optimization
Massive adoption
G2 found that 51% of B2B software buyers now begin their purchasing process inside an AI chatbot (The Answer Economy, March 2026, n=1,076).
Here are three worth considering. I read each vendor's own site for what they do, who they do it for, and how they compare, and these three answered the question directly.
Rather than ranking pages, I am assembling this from the vendors that explain themselves clearly enough for me to quote.
A practical guide to Generative Engine Optimization, and why it changes everything about search.
What is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of structuring your content so AI platforms can discover, understand, and cite your brand.
Someone asks ChatGPT which tool to use, or researches suppliers in Google AI Mode. GEO decides whether your brand is in that answer.
In practice that means an assistant reads your website to understand what you sell, who it is for and how you compare. Answer the questions a buying committee actually asks, on your own site, in language a model can lift without guessing, and you start appearing in the answers it builds.
GEO does not replace SEO. It sits on top of it, on the same foundations, but the score is citations and mentions rather than clicks and positions.
Why GEO matters
2-4 yrs
AI search traffic is projected to surpass traditional search within two to four years.
Higher
Clicks from AI platforms convert at higher rates, visitors arrive with more context and intent.
70%
Of B2B research now begins with an AI powered tool before visiting a company website.
GEO vs SEO
Complementary strategies. Different metrics. Both essential.
Traditional SEO
Generative Engine Optimization
Primary Goal
Rank higher in search results and drive clicks
Be mentioned or cited in AI generated answers
Target Audience
Human readers scanning search result pages
Answer engines, and readers, indirectly
Success Metrics
Rankings, clicks, impressions, CTR
Mentions, citations, AI referral traffic, share of voice
Content Format
Keyword optimized pages and meta descriptions
Structured, retrievable content across formats
Optimization Focus
Backlinks, domain authority, keyword density
Content structure, answer clarity, multi format accessibility
Primary Goal
SEO
Rank higher in search results and drive clicks
GEO
Be mentioned or cited in AI generated answers
Target Audience
SEO
Human readers scanning search result pages
GEO
Answer engines, and readers, indirectly
Success Metrics
SEO
Rankings, clicks, impressions, CTR
GEO
Mentions, citations, AI referral traffic, share of voice
Content Format
SEO
Keyword optimized pages and meta descriptions
GEO
Structured, retrievable content across formats
Optimization Focus
SEO
Backlinks, domain authority, keyword density
GEO
Content structure, answer clarity, multi format accessibility
How GEO works, with your team involved
An assistant reads your site to work out what you do
- It is looking for plain statements: what you sell, who it is for, what you are not
- Category labels and brand language give it nothing it can repeat, so it moves on to a vendor that is clearer
- Anything locked inside a JavaScript bundle or a PDF is not read at all
- The clearer your own pages are, the less it has to infer about you from somewhere else
So we answer your buyers' questions on your site, in the shape a model can lift
- We measure the vendor prompts your market actually types, then write the answer to each one
- The core answer goes in the first 40 to 60 words, where an answer engine takes it from
- Use cases, comparisons, alternatives and documentation: the questions a committee asks before procurement
- Structured so each passage stands alone and can be quoted without the surrounding page
Then you appear in the answers, and we measure which ones
- The same prompts are re-run on a schedule across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Claude
- You see which vendors get named, and which of your pages the answer was built from
- Consistent facts across your own pages are what let a model name you with confidence
- The GEO layer keeps extending as new questions show up in the census
GEO for B2B companies
An assistant asked who to shortlist reads the vendors' own sites to understand them. Answer the buyer's question on yours, clearly enough to quote, and you become one of the names it gives.
Positioning a model can restate
Say what you do, for whom, in language an assistant can repeat accurately without softening it into a category label.
The answers your buyers ask for
Use-case, comparison, alternatives and integration pages: we write the answer to each question a committee asks, on your site, before procurement starts.
Documentation as a citation surface
Technical docs are among the most cited B2B sources and the least owned by marketing. We treat them as part of the answer.
Measurable shortlist presence
Track which prompts name you, which name a competitor, and which of your pages each answer was built from. Repeated on a schedule, not estimated.
GEO stripped to essentials
It reads. When a buyer asks who to shortlist, the assistant pulls together what it can understand and verify about each vendor, and your own website is the primary thing it checks. Vendors whose pages answer the question directly get quoted. Vendors who describe themselves in category language give it nothing to lift, so it names someone else.
Classic SEO maximises rank and clicks. GEO maximises showing up inside the stitched assistant reply. Skill sets overlap; scoreboards do not.
Because the buying committee changed where it starts. G2 surveyed 1,076 B2B software buyers in March 2026: 51% now begin in an AI chatbot, and 69% ended up choosing a different vendor than planned. A shortlist you are absent from is one you never compete in.
Short ledes, titled chunks, comparison grids and fast-scan bullets. Anything that still makes sense when it is lifted out of the page and dropped into an answer. That is the shape the GEO layer is written in.
No. The GEO layer installs on whatever you run, and we run it for you. What we build is the same everywhere: entity clarity, structured data, and answers written in the shape a model can lift.
Ready to find out what AI says about you?
We run the vendor prompts your buyers type and show you the answers, including which vendors get named today and what their pages said that yours did not.
