What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?

Answers · SEO and GEO

Generative engine optimization, or GEO, means making your business easy for AI assistants to find, understand and name when people ask them questions. It sits next to SEO, which is about showing up in Google’s list of links. At Westward, a GEO agent asks AI engines the questions your customers ask and records whether you are named.

What GEO means

A generative engine is an AI tool that writes an answer instead of showing a list of links. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode are examples. GEO is the work of making sure your business shows up in those answers, and shows up correctly.

You may also see it called AI search optimization. The names change, but they mostly describe the same job.

Why a business owner should care

Some of your customers now ask an AI a question they used to type into Google. If someone asks, “Who is a good accountant for a small restaurant near Culver City?”, the AI may name two or three businesses. If you are not one of them, that person may never see your website.

What GEO work looks like

Most of it is plain housekeeping. Put a short summary of what you do, where and for whom at the top of each page. Write headings as the questions customers ask. Add structured data, which is a set of labels in a page’s code that tell machines facts like your business name, services and location.

Keep your Google Business Profile accurate, earn real reviews, and use the same name, phone number and description everywhere. Being mentioned on other sites about your trade or area can also help.

Nobody outside the AI companies knows exactly how each engine picks its sources, and the engines change. Treat any promise of a guaranteed mention with suspicion.

How to check where you stand

Write down five questions your customers might ask, and ask each one in a few AI tools. Save the answers and note whether you were named. Answers can differ from one ask to the next, so repeat the same questions and keep a count over time.

Westward’s own result, so far

On October 4, 2026, we put 11 customer-style questions to Google AI Mode and Perplexity. Westward was named in 0 of the 11 answers. Google AI Mode answered local questions from Google Maps profiles with reviews, and Perplexity confused us with a firm that has a similar name.

That is a small sample, taken early. It told us where to work: our business profile, our reviews and making our name unmistakable.

Who can do this for you

Westward builds these and sets them up. Each page shows what it does and what it has done.

GEO agent

Gets you named by ChatGPT and AI search

Asks AI engines your customers’ questions and counts who gets named.

See what it does

SEO agent

Gets you found on Google

Checks eight things a day and writes down what it did.

See what it does

Questions

Is GEO the same as SEO?

No, but they overlap. SEO is about ranking in Google’s list of results. GEO is about being named in an AI-written answer. Clear pages and accurate business information help both.

Can anyone guarantee that ChatGPT will name my business?

No. The engines do not publish how they choose, and they change. We set targets, check the answers on a schedule and report the real count, including when it is zero.

Can I do GEO myself?

Yes, the basics are free: clear pages, an accurate business profile, reviews and a monthly check of the questions your customers ask. An agent helps if you do not have time to check regularly.