AI search optimization (GEO)
AI search optimization: helping AI assistants understand, trust and name your business
AI assistants name businesses they can understand and verify. We research the questions your customers ask, record what AI tools answer today, fix what your website controls, and show you what else influences the answer.
- A documented method
- A dated baseline, not a score
- No guarantees we can't keep
Short answers
The essentials, answered
What is AI search optimization?
Also called GEO (generative engine optimization), it's the work of making your business easy for AI assistants and AI search features to understand, verify and cite. Much of it is good SEO; the rest is research into the questions people ask and the sources AI answers rely on.
Can you guarantee that ChatGPT or Google will recommend me?
No, and nobody honestly can. AI answers vary by person, location and day, and they draw on your website, reviews, business profiles and independent mentions. We build the part you control so your business is easy to understand and cite, and we show you how to observe the rest.
Does ranking in Google mean ChatGPT will mention me?
No. The two overlap, but they aren't the same. AI answers draw on search indexes, your website, reviews, business profiles and other mentions, and they vary by person, place and day.
Which AI crawlers should my website allow?
Allow search and retrieval crawlers (such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot, plus Googlebot and Bingbot, whose indexes feed Google's and Microsoft's AI features) and user-triggered fetchers such as ChatGPT-User. Whether to allow AI training crawlers is a separate business decision.
How it works
How AI assistants decide which businesses to mention
When someone asks an assistant who to hire, the answer is assembled from what the system can find and interpret: search indexes, business websites, reviews, business profiles, directories and other mentions.
Businesses that are easy to understand (clear services, a stated service area, direct answers to common questions) and easy to verify (consistent details, independent mentions, real reviews) give those systems more to work with. That's what we work on.
Google says there are no extra requirements or special markup for its AI features, only a site it can crawl and index. Other platforms publish less, so be wary of anyone selling a secret technique.
Clear terms
SEO, AI visibility, entity authority and citations
Four related things that are often lumped together.
SEO
Being crawled, indexed and ranked in search engines. We build it into the website and check indexing.
AI visibility
Being mentioned or cited in AI-generated answers. We research the questions, record a baseline and optimize the pages you control.
Entity authority
Search and AI systems knowing confidently who you are and what you do. We make your details consistent and add structured data that matches the page.
Third-party citations
Other sources describing or recommending you: reviews, directories, press. We find the gaps and advise; you (or your PR partner) act on them.
AI Authority · €3,490
Full AI search optimization: we research, build and document your visibility.
A defined project on top of everything in AI Growth, so you know exactly what you get.
- 1
Research the questions
We document the questions potential customers ask AI tools and search about your services and locations: 30 to 50 questions, in your customers' language.
- 2
Record a baseline
We run 20 core questions on Google's AI features, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, and log who gets named and which sources are cited. Then we compare competitors and find source gaps.
- 3
Plan content and structure
A page map that connects customer questions to pages, internal links and the credibility details (team, experience, reviews, service areas) that show your expertise.
- 4
Optimize in detail
Detailed optimization of the core pages agreed in your proposal, relevant structured data, and the 3 AI/SEO blog posts included in AI Authority.
- 5
Check technical access
Deeper crawl, indexing and rendering checks so key content is readable text, plus a checklist to align your business profiles with your website.
- 6
Hand over a report
What we found, what we changed, how to observe your visibility over time, and recommended next steps, walked through with you.
A defined project delivered at handover. Off-site work such as reviews, directories and press is advised, not carried out. Ongoing checks and updates are part of the Care plans. No one can guarantee what an AI platform recommends. We build what makes your business understandable and citable, and show you how to observe it.
Honest limits
What no one can promise, and why that matters
Access isn't a recommendation
A site AI crawlers can read is necessary, but it doesn't guarantee a mention.
Structured data isn't a citation
Markup helps systems read your details. It doesn't make them cite you.
Google rankings aren't ChatGPT answers
Doing well in one doesn't guarantee the other.
Off-site evidence counts
Reviews and independent mentions are often what tips an answer. They take time to earn.
Answers change
Results vary by person, location, wording and day. Single screenshots prove little.
No one can guarantee placement
We build what makes your business understandable and citable, and show you how to observe the rest.
Measurement
How we measure
We use a fixed, dated set of customer questions, run on the same platforms more than once, and log who is named and which sources are cited. Over time that shows the share of questions where your business is named or cited, as observations, never as a score.
Clicks from Google's AI features are reported together with normal web results in Google Search Console, so we measure enquiries and search clicks alongside the AI observations.
Options
Options and prices
Foundation in every website, from €490
Clear structure, business and service-area details, answers to customer questions and matching structured data on every included page.
AI Authority, €3,490
Everything in AI Growth plus the full AI search optimization project above, three articles and a handover report.
Authority Care, €139/month
Authority Care's quarterly AI visibility check covers up to 10 agreed customer questions on 3 AI and search platforms, with a short note on what changed and what to improve next.
Free AI visibility check
Five customer questions on three platforms, with a one-page summary within 3 working days.
Guides
Read before you decide
How Does a Business Get Mentioned in ChatGPT? What You Can Control, and What No One Can Promise
A plain-English guide for small businesses: how ChatGPT finds businesses to recommend, the five things you can actually influence, how to check where you stand, and why nobody can guarantee a mention.
Read the guideWhich AI Crawlers Should Your Website Allow? Search Bots, Training Bots and User Fetchers Explained
GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended: what each AI crawler does, which ones affect whether your business can appear in AI answers, and how to set your robots.txt.
Read the guideWill AI Recommend Your Business? A 15-Minute Self-Check for Local Businesses
A simple, honest way to see whether Google's AI answers, ChatGPT and other assistants mention your business, and what to fix if they don't. With examples for Dutch and Belgian businesses.
Read the guideFAQ
Questions before you decide
I already pay for SEO. Isn't this the same thing?
Much of the foundation is good SEO, and we say so openly. The difference is that we build it into the website from the start: structure, customer answers, business details and structured data. AI Authority adds research into the questions people ask AI tools and a documented baseline. If your SEO partner already does this, we're happy to work alongside them.
Do my customers actually use AI to find businesses?
Some do, and Google now shows AI-generated answers inside ordinary searches, so the same foundation serves both. We don't quote a percentage for your market. The free check shows what your customers see today when they ask.
What exactly is included in basic SEO and AI search optimization?
On the pages in your package: page titles, descriptions and headings; accurate business, service and service-area details; short answers to key customer questions; crawlable, indexable pages with a sitemap and internal links; structured data that matches your visible information; and a mobile, speed and launch check. It adds no extra pages to your package.
What's the difference between AI Growth and AI Authority?
AI Growth gives you up to six custom pages with copywriting, booking and payments, and the basic SEO and AI foundation on every page. AI Authority adds a full AI search optimization project: question research, a baseline of today's AI answers, a content and structure plan, detailed optimization, three articles and a handover report.
Good to know
- A defined project delivered at handover. Off-site work such as reviews, directories and press is advised, not carried out. Ongoing checks and updates are part of the Care plans.
- We can't guarantee what any AI platform recommends, and we'll never claim otherwise.
Find out what AI says about your business today.
Send us your business name, location and website. Within three working days you'll get a short, honest visibility check, and a call if you want one. No cost, no obligation.