When people ask ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot for a recommendation, such as “best web design company in New York” or “who should I hire to fix my roof,” the AI gives a short answer and names a handful of businesses. If your business isn’t one of them, you’re invisible to that customer. Vandulo’s AI Search Optimization service, also called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), helps your business get understood, trusted, and cited by AI assistants and AI-powered search results.
What’s Included:
For two decades, getting found online meant ranking on the first page of Google. That still matters, but it’s no longer the whole picture. Google now shows AI Overviews at the top of many searches, summarizing an answer before any traditional results appear, and has introduced AI Mode for conversational searches. Hundreds of millions of people use ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot to research purchases, compare providers, and ask for recommendations. Instead of scanning ten results and visiting several websites, they read one synthesized answer and act on it.
That shift changes the rules. In traditional search, a business on page one still had a chance to earn the click. In AI answers, a small number of businesses get named and cited, and everyone else is left out. Many websites are also seeing fewer clicks from informational searches because the AI answers the question directly. The businesses that adapt early, by making sure AI systems understand and trust them, are positioned to win a growing share of high-intent customers.
Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of improving how your business appears in answers produced by generative AI. It builds on SEO but focuses on different questions: Does the AI know your business exists? Does it understand what you do, where you do it, and who you serve? Does it consider you trustworthy enough to recommend? And when it cites sources, is your website one of them?
AI systems form their answers from several sources: content they were trained on, live web search results they retrieve when answering, structured data, business profiles, reviews, and mentions across trusted sites. GEO works on all of those inputs so that when someone asks about your type of service, your business is part of the answer.
The good news is that GEO and SEO reinforce each other. A fast, well-structured website with genuinely helpful content and a strong reputation tends to perform well in both.
1. AI visibility audit. We test a set of real questions your customers ask, such as “best [service] in [city],” “how much does [service] cost,” and “[your business] reviews,” across major AI platforms. We record whether your business is mentioned, how it’s described, whether the information is accurate, which competitors appear instead, and which sources the AI cites. This gives you a clear baseline.
2. Gap analysis. We compare your presence with the businesses AI recommends. Often the difference comes down to clearer service pages, more detailed answers to common questions, stronger review profiles, or mentions on sites that AI trusts and cites.
3. Content optimization. We restructure and expand your key pages so they answer questions directly: clear service descriptions, pricing guidance where you’re comfortable sharing it, service areas, process explanations, credentials, and well-organized FAQs. We write in a way that is easy for AI to extract and quote while staying useful and natural for human readers.
4. Technical foundations. We add and validate structured data such as Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ, Article, and Review schema; make sure AI and search crawlers can access the content you want found; improve site speed and internal linking; and keep business details consistent across your site.
5. Entity and reputation building. We strengthen the signals AI uses to judge trust: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent listings across directories, a steady flow of genuine reviews through our reputation management service, and earned mentions on industry and local sites through off-page SEO and digital PR.
6. Monitoring and reporting. Each month we re-test your priority questions, track your share of mentions versus competitors, flag inaccurate descriptions of your business, and report on progress alongside traffic and leads.
AI assistants sometimes describe businesses incorrectly, with outdated hours, wrong services, old prices, or confusion with a similarly named company. Those errors can cost you customers before you ever hear from them. Part of our work is identifying inaccurate AI descriptions and correcting the underlying sources, such as your website, business profiles, and directory listings, so future answers improve.
GEO is especially valuable for local service businesses whose customers ask AI for recommendations, professional services such as law, accounting, and consulting firms, real estate professionals and brokerages, B2B companies whose buyers research vendors with AI tools, eCommerce brands whose products are compared in AI shopping answers, and any business that has noticed declining organic clicks despite steady rankings. If your competitors are already being recommended by AI and you aren’t, now is the time to act.
No one controls what an AI system says, and anyone who guarantees a specific placement in ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews is overpromising. AI answers vary between platforms, change over time, and can differ for each user. What we can do is systematically improve the signals these systems rely on and measure the results consistently. Most businesses see the clearest gains when GEO runs alongside ongoing SEO and reputation work over several months. To learn more, read our articles on getting your business ready for AI search and how AI Overviews are changing local search.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. AI systems rely heavily on the same foundations as search engines. GEO extends SEO to cover how AI assistants understand, describe, and cite your business.
Which AI platforms do you track?
We track the platforms that matter most for your customers, typically ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot.
Can I add GEO to an existing SEO plan?
Yes. GEO can be added to an existing Vandulo SEO plan or provided as a standalone audit and optimization project.
How long does it take to see results?
Some fixes, like correcting business information and adding structured data, can be picked up relatively quickly. Building the content and reputation that earns consistent AI recommendations takes several months of steady work.
Do I need to rewrite my whole website?
Usually not. We prioritize the pages and questions that matter most to your revenue and improve them first.
Related: SEO Services · Local SEO · On-Page & Technical SEO · AI Content & Email Automation
Call or text (347) 470-7724 to get an AI visibility audit for your business.