More and more B2B decision-makers ask an AI model before they ask Google. This guide explains what Generative Engine Optimization is, how it differs from SEO and how to get your company cited in the answers of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the set of techniques that get a company cited in the answers of generative AI engines —ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity— when a prospective customer asks them a question. Unlike SEO, which chases rankings on Google, GEO aims to be the source the model chooses to build its answer.
GEO means optimising your digital presence so that language models understand you, trust you and cite you. It is the equivalent of SEO, but for AI answers instead of Google's list of blue links.
The term (Generative Engine Optimization) describes a new reality: a growing share of searches no longer ends in a click to a website, but in an answer written by a model. If that model does not know your company, it will not name it, and you disappear from a buying conversation where you at least used to show up on Google.
SEO and GEO share a lot of foundational work —useful content, clear structure, structured data, speed— but they optimise for two different things. Here is the difference in a table:
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank on Google's results page. | Get cited in an AI model's answer. |
| Where you appear | List of links (SERP). | Inside a written answer (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity…). |
| Main signal | Domain authority, links, relevance. | Clarity, structure, a recognisable entity and reliable sources that mention you. |
| Winning format | A full, well-ranked page. | Direct answers, definitions, lists and extractable data. |
| How it is measured | Position, clicks, impressions (Search Console). | Whether the model mentions you and which sources it attributes you to. |
The practical takeaway: it is not GEO or SEO, it is GEO and SEO. Much of what you do for one helps the other.
In B2B, the decision is researched before anyone speaks to a salesperson. The buying committee looks for suppliers, compares approaches and rules out options long before filling in a form. If that research starts by asking a model —"which B2B growth consultancies are there in Spain?", "how do I scale sales without growing the team?"— appearing in that answer means appearing on the shortlist from the very first minute.
It does not replace your website or your sales team: it is a new layer of visibility, further up the funnel, where almost no small or mid-sized company is working today. That is precisely why the cost of getting in is still low.
In your robots.txt, authorise GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended. If you block them, you cannot be cited.
A direct answer up front, question-shaped headings, lists and tables, clear definitions. A model cites what it can isolate and understand without ambiguity.
Mark up your site with schema.org (Organization/ProfessionalService, Article, FAQ) and link your profiles with sameAs. It helps the model know who you are and associate you with your category.
Models cite reliable sources: industry media, LinkedIn, directories, reviews and communities. Being mentioned off your own site counts as much as what you say on it.
Content that resolves your buyer's specific doubts, with verifiable data and examples. No inflated promises: models penalise unreliable sources.
Ask each model about your category and see whether it names you and with which sources. Repeat every few weeks and adjust whatever is missing.
Let me be clear so as not to sell you smoke: there is no guarantee of being cited. Models decide what they cite and refresh their sources at different rates. What you can do is systematically increase the probability that they choose you, starting with what you already control —your website, your robots.txt, your structure and your structured data— and building authority and mentions over time. It is compounding work, not a switch.
In the free diagnosis we check whether the models already mention you, what is holding you back and where to start with GEO and B2B lead generation.
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