GEO Casa · overview of four situations
Getting named by AI assistants
What works, what nobody can promise, and where to start
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This is how customers now look for you
The assistant stitches several sources into one answer and links to some of them.
Is there a beginner-friendly Pilates studio near me?
Two options stand out: Studio A runs small beginner classes until 9 pm, and Studio B has well-reviewed trial lessons. Check current prices on their sites.
- Map listing
- Review platform
- Studio website
Illustration with made-up studios, not a real product screenshot.
What GEO means
Generative engine optimization: helping AI answers find, use and name you.
The term comes from a 2023 research paper; some changes, such as adding citations, quotations and statistics, raised source visibility in the systems it tested.
Research · Aggarwal et al., arXiv:2311.09735 (KDD 2024)Google says optimizing for its generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, "and thus still SEO".
Official · Google Search Central
SEO gets the page found. GEO also asks whether it then gets cited and named.
Behind the answer: retrieval, then sources
What you can influence is what the assistant finds.
Read the full guideOne question becomes many searches
This is called query fan-out. Your page can be found for a sub-question the user never typed.
Google: fan-out is "a set of concurrent, related queries generated by the model" to fetch more relevant results.
Official · Google Search CentralAI Overviews and AI Mode may use fan-out, which lets Google show a wider and more diverse set of links than classic search.
Official · Google Search CentralA separate page for every search variation is scaled content abuse, and Google calls it "an ineffective long-term strategy".
Official · Google Search Central
Three big AI search products, three rulebooks
Each one decides for itself how pages get in and how you opt out.
| Product | How a page gets in | What switches it off | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews, AI Mode | Indexed and eligible for a snippet; nothing extra | The Search generative AI control in Search Console | Official |
| ChatGPT search | OAI-SearchBot surfaces sites in search | Blocking OAI-SearchBot; GPTBot is training only | Official |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot surfaces and links sites | Blocking PerplexityBot; user fetches may ignore robots.txt | Official |
From each platform's own documentation. Rules change; check the wiki entry for the latest.
An answer cites pages it could reach first
Each step filters. Content work only pays off for pages that pass the earlier ones.
- 1ReachableCrawlers and firewalls let the bot in
- 2IndexedThe page is in the search index the assistant uses
- 3SelectedRetrieved as a source for this question
- 4NamedYour brand appears in the answer
For Google, a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet; no special markup or AI files are required.Official · Google Search Central
Readers can pick you as a preferred source
This Google feature depends on readers who choose you.
Content from a preferred source is more likely to appear in Top Stories, and can carry a "preferred" badge in AI Mode and AI Overviews.
Official · Google Search CentralTo show there, "you must make sure your site is included in Search generative AI features in Search Console."
Official · Google Search Central
Opting out of AI features also opts you out of the badge.
Myth 1: an llms.txt file
Adding an llms.txt file makes AI assistants cite us more.
Google Search ignores the file. No study so far shows it raises citations elsewhere. It costs little, but don't pay for it as a visibility project.
Google: such files "will neither harm nor help your site's visibility or rankings in Google Search, as Google Search ignores them."Official · Google Search Central
Myth 2: AI-written content
Google penalizes any content written with AI.
How content is made doesn't decide its fate. Mass-producing pages that add nothing for readers does, and so do errors nobody checked.
Google: "Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines." Use aimed mainly at manipulating rankings is.Official · Google Search Central Blog
Can you pay to be recommended by AI?
Google: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."
Official · Google Business Profile HelpGoogle counts "attempting to manipulate generative AI responses" as spam.
Official · Google Search CentralChina's 2026 Qinglang campaign treats GEO used for malicious marketing as AI data poisoning.
Official · 新华网（中央网信办通知）
An agency that guarantees AI rankings isn't telling the truth.
Myth 3: structured data
Adding schema markup directly earns citations in AI answers.
Markup can earn rich results and keeps facts unambiguous. Google says AI features need none, and that markup must match what the page shows.
Google: there is "no special schema.org structured data that you need to add" to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.Official · Google Search Central
Myth 4: chop pages up for AI
All our content must be rewritten into small chunks so AI can read it.
Clear headings and direct answers help human readers, and that is reason enough. A rewrite of the whole site just for AI is not something Google asks for.
Google: "There's no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces for AI to better understand it."Official · Google Search Central
Whose writing does AI use to describe you?
In DATA17's sample of one AI assistant (297 citations), 80.5% of cited sources were third-party sites; the top four were all category lists.
Observation · 2026-08 · DATA17 AI Research Lab · 解数智能The DataStory report suggests AI answers lean towards sources that can be verified and traced; the study did not test this.
Hypothesis · 数说故事
What you can do is publish clear product facts, so reviewers and list writers describe you accurately.
Myth 5: seeding brand mentions
Planting mentions of our brand across forums and blogs boosts AI visibility.
Real discussion of your product can show up in AI answers. Planted mentions run into spam systems, and Google treats manipulating AI answers as spam.
Google: "seeking inauthentic 'mentions' across the web isn't as helpful as it might seem."Official · Google Search Central
One screenshot proves nothing
Answers change from run to run. Press the buttons to sample a made-up brand that appears in about a third of answers.
No answers yet.
Simulated answers for illustration, not real data.
Miaozhen found results reach basic stability only at 30+ runs per prompt; low-visibility brands need 60+.Observation · 2025-09 · 中国商务广告协会AI营销应用工作委员会 · 秒针营销科学院
Google now reports AI impressions
Search Console's Generative AI performance report counts how often your links were shown in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
The report shows impressions: "how many times links to your site were shown to a user in a generative AI feature".Official · Google Search Console Help
What the official reports can tell you
Google: sites in AI features "are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console", under the Web search type.
Official · Google Search CentralMicrosoft: "AI Performance does not measure rankings, authority, performance, or importance. It simply shows which content was cited."
Official · Microsoft Bing
Official reports count appearances. They don't explain why a number moved.
What third-party tools can and can't see
Tap each card. Tools are useful for sampling answers, as long as you know their limits.
Google: "No third-party tool has access to our internal ranking or AI systems."Official · Google Search Central
China: GEO is now on regulators' radar
The 2026 Qinglang campaign's second stage targets AI "digital slop", fabricated information and fake-account networks; MCN agencies that break the rules face penalties.
Official · 新华网（中央网信办通知）Since 1 September 2025, AI-generated content must carry labels, and users who publish it must declare it.
Official · 国家互联网信息办公室The CAAC published a five-part GEO group standard on 14 September 2026, covering provider evaluation and pricing.
Observation · 2026-09 · 界面新闻（东方财富转载）
If content an agency posts for you breaks the rules, your brand takes the blame.
Hiring an agency: ask how they measure
Ask for a past report and have them explain each number. Good answers include:
- A fixed question set from real customer questions
- Brand and category questions reported separately
- Platform, app or API, account, location and date of every run
- Shares with sample sizes, per platform
- Raw answers you can inspect
- Repeated sampling, never single screenshots
If they guarantee an AI ranking, don't sign.Read the full guide
Start with a pilot, not a year-long deal
A one-to-three-month pilot should end with a baseline, a change log and a re-test.
Read the full guideBefore you sign: five questions
Answer each one. A "no" shows what to fix first.
1Do they avoid promising a rank or a set number of leads?
Walk away. No platform documents a way to buy placement, and answers vary run to run.
2Will they name every place they publish for you?
Require a full URL list, with each piece published in your name and approved by you.
3Are brand-name questions kept out of the target?
Brand-name questions almost always return your brand. Agree the question set before work starts.
4Is the first contract a short pilot?
Buy a diagnosis and a one-to-three-month pilot before any large retainer.
5Do you own the questions, raw answers and reports?
Write data ownership, banned tactics and handover at exit into the contract.
A provider that passes all five is worth a pilot.
A 90-day roadmap
The phases overlap on purpose. Report the foundations you built, and don't promise rankings.
- Weeks 1–4Target and baseline
- One-line description of who you are
- 20–30 real customer questions
- Baseline with enough repeats
- Weeks 3–5Access
- Key pages indexed in Google and Bing
- Crawlers and firewalls let search bots in
- Weeks 5–9Core pages
- Rework three to five core pages
- Direct answer in the first paragraph
- Weeks 6–12Third parties
- Correct listings on cited list sites
- Give reviewers real material
- Weeks 10–13Re-measure
- Same questions, same repeats
- Add the search engines' own reports
Not being named yet is normal at day 90.Read the full guide
Which situation are you in?
Pick the one that fits best. Each has its own short deck.
What comes first?
Make sure AI can reach your site, then work on being named. Every slide repeats a claim from the GEO Casa Wiki, with its evidence level and source.