AI search (GEO)
Ten blue links became one answer.
Ask ChatGPT or Google where to go and you no longer get a page of options. You get a recommendation, and there is no second place in a single answer. Hardly anyone in your industry has worked this out yet. That is the opening, and it closes the moment they do.
You asked
Who does custom orthotics in downtown Calgary?
AI answer
In short
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of getting a business named and cited inside AI-generated answers — Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude — rather than only in traditional search results. It relies on server-rendered content that AI crawlers can read, direct question-and-answer writing, structured data, and consistent mentions of the business on third-party sites.
What’s included
What you get.
Every project, as standard. Nothing here is an add-on.
01
Content the crawlers can actually read
Most AI crawlers don't run JavaScript. If your site paints itself in after loading, they see an empty page. Yours renders on the server, so the text is there in the file.
02
Answers written as answers
AI engines lift passages that respond directly to a question in a sentence or two. Pages that circle the point for four paragraphs before saying anything don't get quoted.
03
Structured data on every page
Schema markup tells an engine, unambiguously, that you're a business in Calgary, that this is your service, and that this is your price. It's the difference between being read and being understood.
04
Mentions somewhere other than your site
Models weight what other sites say about you. Directories, reviews, local roundups and your Google Business Profile all feed the answer.
05
Facts that agree with each other
If your hours say one thing on Google and another on your site, an engine has no reason to trust either. Consistency is a ranking factor now in a way it never used to be.
06
Checked, not assumed
I ask the engines the questions your customers ask, see who gets named, and work the gap. It's the only honest way to measure this yet.
Usually a good fit for…
- Businesses whose customers research before they call
- Anyone in a category people ask AI to compare for them
- Sites already ranking on Google that get skipped in AI answers
AI search — questions people ask
What is GEO, or generative engine optimization?
It's optimizing to be cited inside AI-generated answers instead of only ranking in a list of links. Same underlying goal as SEO — be the business that gets recommended — but the mechanics differ, because an AI engine is summarizing sources rather than ranking pages.
Is GEO different from SEO?
It overlaps heavily and builds on the same foundation, but three things matter more: content that exists in the raw HTML without JavaScript, writing that answers a question directly in the first sentence, and being mentioned consistently on sites other than your own.
Does ChatGPT actually send people to small businesses?
It sends fewer visits than Google, but they arrive further along — someone who asked for a recommendation and got your name is closer to calling than someone on page one of a search. The volume is also growing quickly, which is the real reason to be there early.
How do I know if AI engines mention my business?
Ask them. Type the questions your customers would ask — 'best physiotherapist in downtown Calgary', 'who does custom orthotics near me' — into ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, and see who gets named. That's the baseline we work from, and we re-check it.
Do I need a special file like llms.txt?
No. It's a proposed standard that no major AI engine currently commits to using. Clean server-rendered HTML, real structured data and honest third-party mentions do the work today.
Let’s talk about your business.
Tell me what you do and what you need. I’ll reply within a day, usually with a couple of questions and a rough idea of cost.