More and more people no longer google – they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude. Instead of a list of blue links, they get a finished answer with a few cited sources. So the question for your business is no longer just "Do I rank on Google?" but: Can AI find and cite my website at all?
What is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization – optimizing a website for generative AI search engines. While classic SEO aims to rank at the top of Google's results, GEO aims to be understood, selected and cited by a language model as a trustworthy source. The two complement each other – but the mechanics differ.
Why it matters right now
AI answers are replacing the classic click. People who ask a question and get a direct answer often don't visit a website at all – unless the AI names a source and they click it. Those citations are the new visibility. If you're not there, you simply don't exist for a growing share of users.
The 8 levers of AI visibility
Whether an AI can use your website depends on surprisingly concrete, technical things. Here are the eight most important:
- 1. Don't block AI crawlers. Your
robots.txtdecides whether bots like GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic) or PerplexityBot may read your site. Block them – often by accident – and you stay invisible. - 2. Make content readable without JavaScript. Many AI crawlers don't run JavaScript. If your text only appears after the browser loads it, the AI sees an empty page. Server-side rendering fixes this.
- 3. Structured data (Schema.org). Machine-readable markup tells the AI what your content means – who the author is, what it's about, when it was updated.
- 4. Clear meta description & Open Graph tags. They provide a clean summary that AI happily adopts as a short version.
- 5. Clean heading structure. Exactly one H1 and meaningful H2s make the structure clear – for humans and machines.
- 6. An
llms.txtfile. A new convention (llmstxt.org) that actively guides AI models to your most important content. - 7. Freshness signals. A visible modified date (
dateModified) signals that your content is current – AI prefers fresh sources. - 8. Technical basics. HTTPS and a set page language (
html lang) are mandatory for your site to be considered credible at all.
How to check your website in 2 minutes
You don't have to guess. We built a free AI visibility check: enter your address, and the tool checks all eight points live and gives you a score from 0 to 100 – plus a plain-language explanation of what's wrong. Check your website now →
Conclusion
GEO is not magic – it's solid craftsmanship. Most levers are technical and, once done properly, stay done. Those who start early secure visibility in a channel that is only just emerging. If you want to know where your website stands and what concretely to do, get in touch – we'll do the audit together.
