AI search optimization · AEO & GEO

Get Your Business Recommended by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews

By Karina Zein, fractional CMO at Point Média · Updated September 2026

AI search optimization — answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) — makes your business easy for AI tools to find, understand, and cite. It combines technical access for AI crawlers, answer-first content, consistent facts about your business across the web, and third-party mentions, measured monthly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.

Why AI search matters now

Buyers increasingly ask AI tools the questions they used to type into Google — often longer and more specific: “best natural mattress store near Austin,” “who should I hire to fix our marketing?”. ChatGPT alone passed 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, according to OpenAI. The answer those tools give names a handful of businesses. If yours isn't one of them, the buyer never reaches your site.

SEO, AEO, and GEO: what's the difference?

	Goal	Where it shows up
SEO	Rank in search results	Google and Bing result pages
AEO — answer engine optimization	Be the direct answer to a question	Google AI Overviews, featured answers, voice assistants
GEO — generative engine optimization	Be named and cited in AI-written answers	ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude

They build on each other. Strong SEO fundamentals are the base AEO and GEO rely on — which is why I run all three as one program, sometimes called AI SEO or AI search optimization.

What I do

AI visibility audit. The prompts your buyers actually use, checked across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews: where you're cited, where you're missing, and who's named instead.
Technical access. Pages AI crawlers can read: crawlers allowed, fast pages whose content doesn't depend on JavaScript, structured data that states who you are and what you do.
Answer-first content. Pages that answer specific buyer questions directly, with real numbers and named sources — the format AI engines extract and cite.
Consistent facts everywhere. The same name, description, location, and offer across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, and directories, so AI tools can trust what they find.
Third-party mentions. Reviews, directories, partners, press — the outside signals that weigh heavily in which businesses get recommended.
Monthly measurement. The same prompt set, re-checked every month, alongside rankings and AI referral traffic.

What no one can promise: a guaranteed citation. What you can control: being the clearest, most consistent, most credible source in your category.

Proof: my own site is the first case study

I rebuilt pointmedia.ca in September 2026 on exactly this method — answer-first pages, structured data, open access for AI crawlers — and measured its AI visibility before launch. I'll publish the before-and-after at 90 days, with the numbers. For the SEO foundation this builds on, see how Futon d'or's organic program supported ~85% net sales growth over two years.

How it fits your retainer

AI search optimization isn't a separate add-on: an SEO and AI-search program is part of every Point Média tier, alongside strategy, content, and reporting. No minimum commitment: plan on about six months to see results, but you can stop anytime. See the services.

Frequently asked questions

How long does AI search optimization take to show results?

It depends on the engine. Tools that search the live web, like Perplexity, can cite a well-structured page within weeks of it being indexed. Google AI Overviews follow your Google rankings, which usually take 4 to 12 months to build. What models learned in training changes only with new model versions, which no one controls.

Can you guarantee ChatGPT will recommend my business?

No — and anyone who guarantees it is overselling. No one controls AI answers. What you can control is being the clearest, most consistent, most credible source on your topic, which is what AI engines select from.

Do I still need SEO if I focus on AEO and GEO?

Yes. Google AI Overviews draw on pages that already rank, and AI tools with web search rely on search indexes. Strong SEO is the foundation; AEO and GEO build on it.

What is llms.txt?

A proposed plain-text file that summarizes a website for AI tools. It's cheap to add, but there's no solid evidence yet that it affects citations, so treat it as a small extra, not a strategy.

How do you measure AI visibility?

With a fixed set of prompts your buyers would actually type, checked in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews every month: are you cited, named, or absent, and who appears instead. Plus AI referral traffic in Google Analytics.

Want to see where you stand in AI search? One conversation is enough to tell.

Talk through your priorities

Sources

ChatGPT weekly active users (900 million, February 2026, per OpenAI): ALM Corp, “ChatGPT Reaches 900 Million Weekly Active Users”