More and more people ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity instead of Google. If your brand is invisible to those tools, you are losing customers you will never even know about.
Imagine someone types into ChatGPT: 'What is a good hair salon in central London?' or 'Which agency does SEO for small businesses in my area?' If your business is not in the answer, you do not exist for that customer, no matter how good you are at what you do. AI search is not the future, it is the present, and it is changing how businesses need to think about visibility. This new discipline is called GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and in 2026 it is becoming as important as classic SEO.
How AI tools decide what to recommend
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity do not rank websites by clicks. They are trained on enormous amounts of text from the internet and respond based on what they consider most relevant, accurate, and authoritative. Perplexity and Google Gemini actively search and cite sources in real time, while ChatGPT combines trained knowledge with web search when that feature is enabled.
The common thread is the same: AI picks brands and content that are clearly defined, consistent, well-documented, and present on trusted corners of the internet. Those are criteria you can consciously meet with a planned strategy.
What you need to do to get mentioned by AI
Start with a clear definition of who you are and what you do. That sounds trivial, but many sites have vague About pages, undefined services, and no answers to the basic questions customers actually ask. AI needs to find consistent, clear information about your brand in as many legitimate places as possible.
Write content that directly answers customer questions the way customers ask them. FAQ pages, detailed service descriptions, blog posts that solve specific problems, all of that is what AI reads and uses to form answers. The more specific and useful your content is, the higher the chance it gets cited.
- Build a detailed About page with a clear description of your business, location, and expertise
- Write an FAQ covering the most common customer questions in your niche
- Publish case studies or work examples with concrete results
- Ensure your business data is consistent everywhere (Google, LinkedIn, directories)
- Seek mentions and links from trusted sites and industry publications
Search has changed. Customers no longer go to Google, they ask AI. The only question is whether AI knows you.
Authority: why AI trusts some brands more
AI tools give preference to sources they consider authoritative. Those are sites mentioned on other trusted platforms, with clearly named authors who have verifiable experience, cited in journalistic pieces or studies, and with a long history of consistently publishing useful content.
Concretely that means: publish expert articles under an author name with stated credentials, ensure that relevant portals and directories in your industry mention you, and build a reputation that can be verified online. This is not a sprint but a marathon, and every step has a measurable effect.
Structured data and technical signals AI reads
Schema markup is code you add to your site to clarify for Google and AI tools exactly what the content is: a recipe, a business profile, a review, an event, or an article. AI systems that crawl the web prefer structured information because it is easier to process.
Beyond schema markup, clear headings in your text matter, as do concrete data points (address, phone, hours), and using the terminology your industry uses to describe itself. When AI looks for 'digital marketing agency in Manchester', it reads pages and looks for exactly those words in a meaningful context.
- Add LocalBusiness schema to your contact page
- Use Article schema for blog posts with a named author and date
- FAQ schema directly increases the chance your answer gets cited
- Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone) is consistent across all platforms
Being present on platforms AI indexes
Perplexity, ChatGPT with web search, and Gemini regularly index certain platforms. Wikipedia, Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, reputable industry portals, and leading media outlets are particularly valued. Presence on those platforms increases your chances of being cited when AI formulates an answer.
This does not mean creating fake profiles and posting ads in forums. It means contributing to communities, answering questions from genuine expertise, and being present where your customers look for information. Authenticity here is not a philosophy, it is a strategy.
GEO + SEO: a strategy that covers both worlds
GEO and SEO are not opposites, quite the contrary. Good content that ranks on Google usually meets the criteria for AI recommendation too. The difference is in the nuances: GEO requires a stronger emphasis on direct answers, author authority, and consistent presence on quality platforms.
Izreklamiraj.me is one of the first agencies in the Balkans actively working on GEO optimization alongside classic SEO. With 10 years in digital marketing and a track record of tracking change from the pre-AI era, we know where search is going and how to position you there. Book a free consultation and find out where your brand currently stands in AI searches.
At izreklamiraj.me we combine classic SEO with GEO strategy so your brand is visible on Google, in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. As the most innovative creative studio in the Balkans, we track trends before they become standard practice. Visit izreklamiraj.me and book a free consultation, we will show you exactly where you stand and what needs to change.
