WHAT IS GEO?

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization: the set of work aimed at making a brand, product or piece of information appear accurately and visibly in the answers of generative AI systems. The term began to spread after an academic paper published in 2023. The same field is also called AEO or “AI visibility”.

• SEO aims to rank high as a link on the search results page. The user clicks the link and visits your site.
• GEO aims to be mentioned, or cited as a source, inside the answer an AI gives. The user often gets the answer without ever visiting your site.

They are not rivals but feed each other: AI systems also look largely at content on the web, the structure of sites and third-party sources.

What happens inside these systems cannot be fully seen from outside, and it keeps changing. A few factors that are observed and widely accepted:

• Clear content on your site that answers the question directly.
• Machine-readable structured data (schema.org / JSON-LD): who you are, what you do, which city you work in.
• Consistent brand information. The same name, address and service description on your site, Google Business Profile, social media and directories.
• Third-party sources. Being mentioned in directories, news, customer reviews and industry platforms.
• A crawlable, fast site. A working structure that doesn’t block AI crawlers.

• 1. Define the questions. What would your customers ask an AI tool? Things like “agency for product photography in Istanbul” or “what is hybrid production”.
• 2. Answer clearly on your site. A short, direct answer for each question with detail below. FAQ sections are ideal for this.
• 3. Add structured data. Organization, Service and FAQPage schemas.
• 4. Add llms.txt. A short file that summarizes your site for AI systems.
• 5. Align brand information. Name, address, service description and links should be the same everywhere.
• 6. Appear on third-party sites. Industry directories, business profiles and review platforms.
• 7. Keep content current. Make dates and update information visible.

There is no single “ranking report” for GEO. The practical method is to ask your chosen questions to ChatGPT, Gemini and similar tools at regular intervals and record whether your brand is mentioned and described correctly. Taking a first measurement, applying the changes and measuring again a few weeks later gives the healthiest comparison. Keep in mind that results can vary from person to person and day to day.

We applied most of these steps on our own site: structured data on our service, guide and home pages, guides and FAQs that answer questions directly, pages separated in two languages (Turkish and English) with hreflang, an llms.txt file. We don’t claim to prove with numbers that these work; our approach is to build the structure properly and monitor results regularly.

We build the same structure for your brand as part of our website service.

GEO is not a settled field yet. AI systems don’t explain how they work, their rules change often, and anyone who says “do this and you are guaranteed to appear” is speaking with more certainty than exists. The right approach is to invest in good content and good structure as a base and move forward by monitoring results.

Does GEO replace SEO?

No. AI systems also rely largely on content on the web; without a solid technical and content base, GEO delivers little. GEO is a layer added on top of SEO.

Can you guarantee a place in AI answers?

No, nobody can. From the outside, it is not fully known which source these systems use and why, and it keeps changing. What can be done is making sure your brand is findable in an accurate, clear and consistent way, and monitoring the results regularly.

Is an llms.txt file mandatory?

It is not mandatory. It is a proposal that tries to become standard, summarizing the site for AI systems, and not every system may use it. Since it costs little, adding it does no harm, but don’t expect it to deliver results on its own.

Does GEO need a separate budget?

Most of the time, no. Clear content, properly structured data and consistent brand information are already part of a good website and technical SEO work.