GEO: How to Get Your Business Cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity
5 min read
Thierry Gustin — SEO & GEO Consultant
Thierry Gustin is a GEO and SEO consultant based in Madrid. He helps French and Spanish businesses get found on Google and cited by AI assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews). He created the open-source tools Arachnide SEO Spider and Vigie and is the author of La Bible de Claude AI.
Your future customers no longer just type a few words into Google. They ask an AI: "Which firm should I choose for…?", "What's the best solution for…?". If your business doesn't appear in the answer, you're not even on the shortlist.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means making your brand visible, cited and accurately described in the answers of generative engines. Here is what the available 2026 data says, and how to take action.
Why this is a business issue, not a gimmick
AI assistant usage has gone mainstream. ChatGPT grew from 400 million weekly users in February 2025 to 900 million in February 2026. On Google's side, AI Overviews already reached more than 2 billion users a month in 2025, and AI Mode has been available in Spain since October 2025 and in France since July 2026.
Above all, these tools are used at the decision stage: comparing providers, choosing software, finding an expert. An AI recommendation often carries more weight than one link among ten.
What makes a brand get cited
AI models don't "rank" websites the way Google does. They synthesize what they find on the web and give weight to a brand when reliable sources mention it consistently.
Ahrefs' study of 75,000 brands measures the correlation between different signals and visibility in AI answers:
| Signal | Correlation with AI visibility |
|---|---|
| Brand mentions on YouTube | 0.737 (the strongest signal measured across ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews) |
| Brand mentions on the web (linked or unlinked) | 0.664 (AI Overviews) |
| Anchor text containing the brand name | 0.527 |
| Backlinks | 0.218 |
Correlation is not causation, but the message is clear: what the web says about you matters more than how many links point to you.
Two more findings complete the picture. According to AirOps, around 85% of brand mentions in AI answers come from third-party pages: press articles, comparisons, directories, forums, reviews. And analyses of tens of millions of citations (Peec AI, Profound, Semrush) consistently rank Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn among the domains AI cites most. LinkedIn, for example, appears in about 15% of Google AI Mode answers according to Semrush.
What research says about the content itself
The founding GEO study was published by Princeton researchers at the KDD 2024 conference. They tested nine ways of modifying content across about 10,000 queries. The three most effective methods: adding statistics, citing sources and including expert quotations, with visibility gains of 30 to 40% depending on the metric. On Perplexity, in real conditions, the gain reached 37%. Keyword stuffing, on the other hand, reduced visibility by about 10%.
Two honest caveats: these figures are a ceiling observed in a lab setting, and these techniques only work on content that is already findable and relevant. Adding three statistics to a thin page won't get it cited.
Watch out: AI visibility is unstable
An analysis of 11.1 million citations (Wellows, December 2025 – March 2026) shows that the sources AI cites change by about 65% within two weeks, and that 98.8% of citations sit in the first five positions of an answer. The takeaway: a one-off test means nothing. You need to track your visibility over time against a stable set of questions.
A 6-step action plan
1. List your customers' questions. Write down 30 to 50 real questions your prospects ask an AI before buying: "best [service] in [city]", "[your solution] or [competitor]?", "how much does … cost". This is your tracking panel.
2. Measure your starting point. Ask these questions every month in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode. Note whether you're cited, in which position, how you're described, and which competitors and sources appear.
3. Clarify your company identity. A precise "About" page (who you are, what you do, for whom, where, since when), identical information everywhere (website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories), and identified authors with real expertise.
4. Publish content AI wants to cite. Your own data (customer figures, studies, real cases), direct answers, cited sources, update dates. Unique content is far more likely to be picked up than content that rephrases what already exists.
5. Build your presence on third-party sources. Trade press in your industry, comparisons, recognized directories, LinkedIn, YouTube, specialized forums, customer reviews. Identify the pages AI already cites for your questions: those are your priority targets.
6. Stay authentic. Google states it plainly in its official May 2026 guide: chasing inauthentic mentions doesn't help. Fake reviews and paid mentions put your reputation at risk and have no place in a sustainable strategy.
Frequently asked questions
Does GEO replace SEO?
No, it extends it. AI largely relies on content that already ranks well and on recognized sources. Solid SEO remains the foundation; GEO adds work on reputation, mentions and how AI describes your brand.
How long does it take to appear in AI answers?
Web-connected tools (ChatGPT with search, Perplexity, AI Mode) can cite new content within days or weeks. Building a strong, consistent presence through third-party mentions usually takes several months.
Can GEO be measured?
Yes: your brand's presence rate across your question panel, position in answers, share of voice against competitors, AI-referred traffic in your analytics, and the conversions it drives.
Conclusion
GEO isn't a technical trick: it's in-depth work on the clarity of your offer, the quality of your content and what the web says about you. Businesses that start measuring and building their presence in AI answers now are taking a lead that will be hard to close.
Want to know what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer when your customers look for a provider like you? Contact me for an AI visibility audit.
Sources
- Princeton, Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization", KDD 2024 (opens in new tab)
- Summary and limitations of the Princeton study (opens in new tab)
- ChatGPT and Gemini usage statistics 2026 (opens in new tab)
- Ahrefs, correlations across 75,000 brands (summary) (opens in new tab)
- Contently, sources most cited by AI in 2026 (opens in new tab)
- AirOps, tracking brand citations in LLMs (opens in new tab)
- 5W, State of AI Citations 2026 (opens in new tab)
- Wellows, analysis of 11.1 million citations (opens in new tab)
- Trending Topics, AI Mode launch in Europe (October 2025) (opens in new tab)
- Google Search Central, optimization guide for generative AI features (May 2026) (opens in new tab)
