What is GEO? A plain-English guide for business owners (not marketers)

You have probably heard someone mention GEO in the last few months. Perhaps a marketing newsletter, perhaps a blog post, perhaps a consultant trying to sell you something. And if you are like most business owners, your reaction was something between mild curiosity and "oh no, not another acronym I need to worry about."

I understand that reaction completely. The marketing industry has an almost pathological need to create new terminology for things that could be explained simply. So let me do what the industry rarely does and explain GEO in terms that a busy person can actually use.

GEO in one sentence

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It means making your website and online presence easy for AI tools — like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity — to find, understand, and recommend.

That is it. That is the entire concept. Everything else is detail.

Why should you care?

Because the way people search is changing, and it is changing fast. Here is what is happening:

A few years ago, when someone needed a plumber, they typed "plumber near me" into Google, looked at the results, clicked a few websites, compared options, and called someone. The process involved visiting multiple websites.

Today, increasingly, that same person opens ChatGPT and types: "I need a reliable plumber in Portland who can fix a leaking water heater. Who would you recommend?" And ChatGPT gives them a direct answer — a few business names, with reasons why they are recommended. The person calls the first one. They never visit a single website.

Or they search on Google, and instead of seeing the familiar list of ten blue links, they see an AI-generated summary at the top of the page that answers their question directly, with a few businesses mentioned. Many people read that summary, get what they need, and never scroll down.

The numbers tell the story:

• Over 400 million people use ChatGPT every week
• AI Overviews now appear on 15-30% of Google searches
• AI-referred traffic to websites grew 527% in the past year
• Up to 58% fewer clicks on organic results when AI Overviews appear

The point is not that traditional Google search is dying — it is not. The point is that a significant and rapidly growing portion of your potential customers are making decisions based on what AI systems tell them. And if those systems do not know about your business, those customers go to your competitors.

How is GEO different from regular SEO?

Here is the good news: GEO is not a completely separate discipline. It is more like SEO with a few extra considerations. If you are already doing decent SEO, you are most of the way there.

Think of it this way:

SEO is about making your website rank well when someone searches on Google. You optimize your pages, build links, get reviews, and create good content so Google shows your site near the top of the results.

GEO includes all of that, plus making sure AI systems can easily understand your content, trust your information, and cite you as a source when answering questions.

The key difference is in how AI systems work compared to traditional search. Google ranks a list of websites and lets the user choose. AI systems read multiple sources, synthesize the information, and give one answer — maybe mentioning a few businesses or sources. To be in that answer, your content needs to be:

1. Findable — the AI system needs access to your website and business information
2. Understandable — your content needs to be structured so a machine can parse it easily
3. Trustworthy — the AI system needs signals that your information is reliable
4. Citable — your content needs specific facts and details that the AI can extract and include in its answer

What you actually need to do (the practical part)

I promised no jargon, so here are the specific actions in plain language:

Make sure AI can find you

• Claim your Bing Places listing. ChatGPT uses Bing's search engine behind the scenes. If you are not on Bing, ChatGPT cannot find you. Go to bingplaces.com — you can import your Google Business Profile directly.
• Keep your Google Business Profile complete and active. Google's AI Overviews draw from Google's own data, and your business profile is a primary source.
• Do not block AI crawlers. Some websites accidentally block the bots that ChatGPT and other AI tools use to read the web. Check your robots.txt file to make sure you are not blocking OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT) or PerplexityBot.

Make your content easy for AI to understand

• Add structured data to your website. This is a special code format that tells AI systems exactly what your business does, where it is, what you offer, and your hours. Think of it as a standardized form that machines read instantly, instead of making them interpret your marketing copy. Most website platforms have plugins for this.
• Use clear headings and structure. Instead of one long block of text, organize your content with headings that describe each section. AI systems use this structure to understand and extract information.
• Answer questions directly. When someone asks "how much does X cost in Y city?" your page should answer that question in the first paragraph, not after a thousand words of background.

Build trust signals

• Get more reviews. AI systems frequently cite businesses described as "highly rated" or "well-reviewed." A strong review profile on Google and Yelp is one of the most powerful GEO signals.
• Be consistent everywhere. Your business name, address, phone number, and hours should be identical on your website, Google, Bing, Yelp, Facebook, and every other platform. Inconsistencies make AI systems less confident in your data.
• Create genuinely expert content. AI systems are surprisingly good at distinguishing between generic marketing copy and content written by someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Share your real expertise — the specific knowledge that only someone in your profession would have.

Make your content worth citing

• Include specific facts. Instead of "we offer competitive pricing," write "our average drain cleaning costs between $150 and $300, with most residential jobs completed in 1-2 hours." AI systems cite specific information, not vague claims.
• Answer common questions with FAQ pages. Create a page with the 10-20 questions your customers ask most often, and answer each one specifically. This is the exact format AI systems love to cite.
• Share your unique expertise. What do you know that your competitors do not? What advice would you give that contradicts the generic industry wisdom? Original perspectives are exactly what makes AI systems choose to cite your content over someone else's.

What you do NOT need to worry about

Let me save you from some unnecessary anxiety:

• You do not need to rebuild your website. GEO improvements layer on top of your existing site.
• You do not need to learn to code. Most GEO improvements can be made through your website's settings or simple plugins.
• You do not need to stop doing regular SEO. Everything good for SEO is also good for GEO. You are adding to your strategy, not replacing it.
• You do not need to pay for expensive GEO tools. The most impactful actions — Bing Places, structured data, better content, reviews — are free or nearly free.
• You do not need to panic. AI search is growing fast, but traditional Google search is still the majority. You have time to adapt. The key is to start now rather than waiting until it is urgent.

The 30-minute GEO quick start

If you want to start today, here is what to do in 30 minutes:

1. Claim your Bing Places listing (5 minutes — import from Google Business Profile)
2. Check if AI crawlers are blocked — visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and look for "OAI-SearchBot" or "PerplexityBot" in any Disallow lines (2 minutes)
3. Ask ChatGPT about your business category in your city. Note whether you appear and who does (5 minutes)
4. Identify your top 5 customer questions and draft quick answers with specific facts (10 minutes)
5. Run a free SEO check at licheo.com/seo-standings to see your overall visibility (3 minutes)

GEO is not rocket science. It is not a revolution that requires you to throw out everything you know about marketing. It is simply the next logical step in a world where more and more people get their information from AI systems instead of clicking through search results. And the businesses that take that step now — while most competitors are still ignoring it — will have an advantage that compounds over time.