Try this right now: open ChatGPT and ask something related to your industry. Something like “what tools do you recommend for X?” or “what are the best brands for Y?” Does your brand show up? Does your competitor’s?
If the answer surprises you (for better or worse), welcome to the world of GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. The discipline focused on making your brand visible in generative AI engines.
What exactly is GEO?
GEO is optimization for generative engines — platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, and other LLM-based systems that generate answers by synthesizing information from multiple sources.
Unlike Google, where your page appears as a link in a list, in an LLM your brand can be mentioned, recommended, or cited directly in the response. There’s no “position 1” — there’s presence or absence.
How do LLMs decide which brands to recommend?
There’s no public algorithm we can hack, but we know some factors that influence results:
- Mention frequency — If your brand appears frequently in the training corpus (articles, reviews, Wikipedia, forums), the model is more likely to know it.
- Mention context — It’s not just quantity, it’s quality. A mention in an authoritative article weighs more than a hundred mentions in spam.
- Structured data — Schema markup, Knowledge Panels, and structured data sources help models understand what you are and what you do.
- Consistency — If your brand is described consistently across all sources (same name, same category, same positioning), the model understands it better.
How to check if your brand appears
Step one is a manual audit. Ask across multiple models:
- “What [your category] do you recommend?” — e.g., “what SEO agencies in Latin America do you recommend?”
- “What is [your brand]?” — to see if the model knows anything about you
- “Compare [your brand] with [competitor]” — to see how it positions you relatively
- “What are the best tools for [your industry]?” — to see if you appear in lists
Do this on ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity at minimum. Results vary between models because they use different training data and real-time sources.
First steps to optimize your LLM visibility
1. Strengthen your presence on authority sources
Make sure you have presence on Wikipedia (if applicable), industry review sites, relevant directories, and specialized media. LLMs drink from these sources.
2. Implement structured data
Schema markup for Organization, Person, Product, FAQ — anything that helps define who you are and what you offer in a structured way.
3. Create content with original data
LLMs value sources with proprietary data, original research, and unique perspectives. If you publish a study with data nobody else has, you’re more likely to get cited.
4. Maintain branding consistency
Use the same brand name, the same categories, and the same positioning across all channels. Consistency helps models consolidate information about you.
This is just the beginning
GEO is a young discipline. There are no best practices carved in stone yet. But brands that start working on it now will have a huge advantage as generative AI usage continues to grow.
My advice: don’t wait for it to go mainstream. Start monitoring, start optimizing, and start understanding how LLMs see your brand. The future of organic visibility is here.