What is GEO? How to show up in ChatGPT and Gemini

People used to type “plumber in Manchester” into Google and scan the top results. Now many ask the same question in ChatGPT, Gemini or the AI summary at the top of Google. The AI doesn't give ten links. It gives two or three names. If you're not one of them, that call goes to someone else.

What GEO means

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization: getting your business ready so AI assistants understand it and recommend it. It doesn't replace SEO. It builds on it, because AI assistants read almost the same sources as Google.

Where AI assistants get their data

• Your website: what you do, where and for whom.
• Your Google Business Profile and its reviews.
• Directories, trade bodies and other sites that mention you.
• Search engines like Google and Bing, which many assistants check live.

When that information is clear and consistent, the AI trusts it. When your website says one thing, your Google profile another and a directory lists an old phone number, the AI hesitates and recommends someone else.

What you can do

• Have one page per service, with a clear first line: what you do and where.
• Use the same name, address and phone number on your website, Google profile and directories.
• Ask customers for reviews and reply to every one, including the bad ones.
• Answer on your website the questions people ask on the phone: rough prices, timelines, areas you cover.
• Check your website can be read without JavaScript and that robots.txt doesn't block AI crawlers.
• Get mentioned on other sites: local press, trade associations, suppliers.

How to see where you stand today

Try it: open ChatGPT and ask “which [your trade] do you recommend in [your town]?”. Do the same in Gemini and Google. Note who comes up and whether you do. Repeat every month with the same questions.

Nobody can promise an AI will recommend you. What works is clear, consistent information and good reviews. It's steady work, not a trick.