GEO and AI readability

Generative Engine Optimization: make your website readable for AI

When people ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews which company to pick, those assistants answer from the websites they can read. Many websites can't be read.

We fix that, so AI assistants can find you, understand what you do and cite you.

Book a GEO audit

What is Generative Engine Optimization?

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the work of making a website easy for AI assistants to read, understand and cite.

Search engines show a list of links. AI assistants write an answer and name a few sources in it. SEO is about ranking in that list. GEO is about being one of the sources in the answer.

The two overlap. Content that is in the HTML, a clear structure, structured data and fast pages help both. GEO adds what only AI needs: access for AI crawlers, files written for language models, and content where a single paragraph can stand on its own as an answer.

Why AI assistants can't read most websites

The content only appears after JavaScript runs

Many modern websites send an empty page and build it in the browser. The crawlers of OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity don't run JavaScript, so they see nothing.

AI crawlers are blocked

A line in robots.txt or a bot-protection setting can shut out GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot without anyone noticing.

There is no structured data

Without schema.org markup, an assistant has to guess what your company is, what you offer, where you are and who is behind it.

The answer is buried

When the facts are spread over marketing copy, an assistant can't lift out a clear answer. Pages that state the answer first, with dates, numbers and names, are the ones that get cited.

On JavaScript: Vercel and MERJ, The rise of the AI crawler, December 2024.

What we do

GEO audit

We look at your site the way an AI crawler does, and ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions your customers ask.

  • What each crawler can and can't read
  • Whether and how you are mentioned today
  • A list of fixes, ordered by effect and effort

Technical implementation

We make the fixes on the site you have, or as part of a new one.

  • Prerendering or server-side rendering
  • Structured data (schema.org)
  • robots.txt, sitemap and llms.txt
  • Speed and clean, semantic HTML

Content that gets cited

We rewrite your key pages so a model can quote them without guessing.

  • The answer first, then the detail
  • Facts with dates, numbers and sources
  • FAQs built from real customer questions

Monitoring

We track over time whether AI assistants mention and cite you, and what changed.

  • The same question set, tested every month
  • AI crawler visits from your server logs
  • A short report with what to do next

How we work

  1. Audit. We measure where you stand, in the crawlers and in the answers.

  2. Plan. You get the fixes in order, with what each one takes.

  3. Build and rewrite. We implement the technical fixes and rewrite the pages that matter most.

  4. Measure. We test the same questions again and keep track every month.

Questions about GEO

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

GEO is the work of making a website easy for AI assistants to read, understand and cite. Where SEO aims at a ranking in a list of links, GEO aims at being the source an assistant like ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity quotes in its answer.

Does GEO replace SEO?

No. Most of what helps AI also helps search engines: content that is in the HTML, a clear structure, structured data and fast pages. GEO adds work on top: access for AI crawlers, files such as llms.txt, and content written so a single paragraph can stand on its own as an answer.

Why can't AI assistants read my website?

The most common reason is that the content only appears after JavaScript runs in the browser. The crawlers of OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity do not run JavaScript, so they see an empty page. Other reasons are crawlers blocked in robots.txt or by bot protection, and missing structured data.

What is llms.txt?

llms.txt is a plain text file at the root of a website that tells language models what the site is about and where its most important pages are, in Markdown. It is a proposed standard, not an official one, and cheap to add.

Do we need to rebuild our website?

Usually not. Many fixes, such as prerendering, structured data, robots.txt and llms.txt, can be added to the site you have. The audit shows what is needed and what it costs before you decide.

How do you measure the result?

We test a fixed set of questions your customers ask in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, and record whether and how you are mentioned and cited. We repeat the same set over time, and check in your server logs which AI crawlers visit and what they read.

Book a GEO audit

Find out what AI assistants see when they look at your website. Start with an audit: a clear picture of where you stand and a list of fixes, before you commit to anything else.

Book a GEO audit