Search is changing. Your potential customers aren’t just typing keywords into Google anymore. They’re asking AI: “Who are the best companies for this?”, “What service should I use?”, “Which provider is most trusted?”, “Compare the top companies for me.”, “What company would you recommend?”.

The answer they receive can influence which companies they research, visit, and ultimately contact. That’s where Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) comes in.

Marketing 1on1 helps businesses increase visibility for their brands, products, and services across top AI search, answer, and recommendation platforms using our AI SEO, AEO, GEO, and LLMO services. We help businesses increase their visibility on Google AI Overviews and other AI-powered discovery experiences like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot. We focus on your website, content, brand signals, entity relationships, and off-site authority to help break down the barriers search engines and AI systems face in understanding your business, product and service offerings, your location, and why you are the most relevant and credible answer to your target customers’ questions. We don’t just help your company rank. We help your company become part of the answer.

What Is Generative Engine Optimization?

Definition: Generative Engine Optimization is the process of improving a brand’s visibility within answers generated by artificial intelligence platforms and AI-powered search engines.

Traditional SEO focuses heavily on questions such as:

“Where does my website rank?”

GEO introduces another question: “When someone asks AI about my products, services, or industry, does my company appear?”

For example, a potential customer might ask: “Who are the leading manufacturers of this type of equipment?”

AI can research and synthesize information from multiple sources before answering. Your company doesn’t necessarily need to be the #1 traditional organic result to become part of that conversation. But AI systems need enough understandable, credible, and consistent information about your business to recognize who you are, what you’re known for, and why you’re relevant to the question.

That’s what we work to improve.

Let’s Call These Acronyms What They Are

The labels AEO, GEO, AIO, and LLMO were invented for marketing purposes. They were created to package a legitimate shift in search behavior into sellable, differentiated service offerings. The problem is businesses think they need a new approach, a new vendor, and new content to “optimize for AI.”

They don’t.

LLMO and GEO became popular when ChatGPT and other AI tools entered public use. Since large language models (LLMs) draw and synthesize information differently than traditional search engines, people argue we need a new optimization framework. That’s partially true. But “partially true” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, because the foundation is identical.

Good SEO is AEO. Google has rewarded concise, authoritative content written in an organized, structured way that provides detailed answers for years. Before any of us called it AEO, Google’s featured snippets, “People also ask,” and Knowledge Panels were all answer engine optimization. The name is new, but the practice is not.

AI Results And Answers Are Not Static; They Are Dynamic

AI-generated overviews and answers that appear in search results are not fixed responses stored in a database. Instead, they represent dynamic, ever-changing content that shifts based on multiple factors and real-time data processing. When you search for information and receive an AI-generated overview, the answer you see today might differ significantly from what appears tomorrow or even hours later. This variability stems from the fundamental architecture of AI systems’ response generation. Rather than pulling from a static repository of pre-written answers, these systems actively synthesize information each time a query is processed.

AI overviews typically aggregate and synthesize information from approximately the top 20 search results across Google and other major search engines. This process involves scanning these high-ranking pages, extracting relevant information, and combining it into a coherent response. The AI doesn’t simply copy and paste; it analyzes patterns, identifies key facts, and reformulates the information into a unified answer.

The selection of source material changes constantly as search engine rankings fluctuate. Websites move up and down in search results based on algorithm updates, new content publication, changing user behavior patterns, and competitive dynamics. As these rankings shift, the pool of information that AI systems draw from evolves accordingly. The user’s geographic location, search history, and the time of the query also influence both the search results that feed into AI systems and how these systems prioritize certain information over others. This personalization layer adds another dimension of variability to AI-generated responses.

The Reality of Ranking in AI Overviews: What Actually Works

AI overviews don’t simply scan the internet anew for each query. They rely on established trust signals to determine which sources deserve citation. The truth that many AI SEO agencies won’t tell you is twofold:

First, your content must already rank within the top 20 organic results before AI overviews will even consider ranking you and displaying your website as a source. This baseline requirement serves as the initial threshold for consideration.

Second, and perhaps more crucial, AI places heavy weight on external validation signals when evaluating content’s worthiness. Brand mentions across the web, authoritative backlinks, and citations from sources that AI overviews already trust create a web of credibility that algorithms recognize.

How LLMs Actually Retrieve Information

To understand why SEO remains critical, you need to understand how large language models fetch information in real-time applications.

Most AI systems, including Google’s AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, Perplexity, and retrieval-augmented versions of ChatGPT, do not pull exclusively from their training data. They perform what’s called query fan-out: the model takes your question, breaks it into multiple related sub-queries, fans those queries out across search indexes (primarily Google), retrieves content from the top-ranking results, and synthesizes an answer from those sources.

Here’s the critical point that most “LLMO” service providers won’t tell you: if your content isn’t indexed and ranking well on Google, it doesn’t exist to these systems. The AI isn’t rummaging through the entire internet independently. It’s largely retrieving what Google has already deemed authoritative enough to rank.

Perplexity uses Bing and other web indexes alongside its own crawlers. Bing Copilot is built on Microsoft’s search infrastructure. Google’s AI Overviews draw from Google’s own index. The common thread is that search engine indexing, particularly Google’s, serves as the gateway before AI retrieval even enters the picture.

This means LLMO, at its technical core, begins with the same work: getting indexed, earning rankings, and building authority.

How LLMs Process Your Questions Before Retrieving Anything

There’s another layer here that’s worth understanding if you want your content to perform well in AI-generated answers.

When a user submits a prompt to an AI system, the model tokenizes the input. Tokenization is the process of breaking language into smaller units (words, subwords, characters) that the model can process mathematically. But beyond tokenization, modern LLMs also perform semantic compression: they strip the phrasing, filler words, and conversational noise from the query to identify the underlying informational intent.

If someone asks “hey so I’ve been wondering, what’s actually the best way to do SEO for a small business?”, the model isn’t searching for that exact string. It’s identifying the core intent: small business SEO strategy. It’s then generating related queries, what Google has long described as query expansion, and retrieving results that match the underlying need rather than the surface wording.

This is precisely why keyword stuffing has always been a dead-end strategy and is even more so now. AI systems are designed to understand what content is about, not just what words appear in it. Writing content that genuinely addresses a topic with depth and precision is what clears the threshold for both Google rankings and AI citation.

Why Most “AI SEO Optimization” Services Fall Short

The market has become flooded with overnight experts claiming to offer specialized AI optimization services. Many are simply repackaged basic SEO strategies with a trendy AI label.

These services typically focus only on on-page factors – tweaking headers, adjusting keyword density, or restructuring content. While these elements matter, they completely overlook the external validation components that truly influence the inclusion of AI overview.

The Path to AI Mentions and Citations Runs Through Google

We want to be direct about something that a lot of agencies marketing “AI optimization” services are quiet about.

To be cited by an LLM in a real-time answer, you need to be:

1. Indexed by Google (and ideally Bing)
2. Ranking with enough authority that retrieval systems consider your domain a credible source
3. Structured clearly enough that AI can extract a discrete, quotable answer from your content
4. Cited or referenced by other authoritative sources across the web

Steps one and two are traditional SEO. Step three is what good content strategy has always required. Step four is link building and digital PR.

There is no shortcut from “unranked website” to “AI-cited source.” The AI systems aren’t democratizing visibility in the way some vendors suggest. If anything, they’re concentrating it. When an AI Overviews panel appears at the top of Google’s results, it draws on a small set of highly trusted sources. The barrier to appearing in those sources is higher than the barrier to appearing on page one, not lower.

Brands that earn AI citations consistently share common characteristics: strong domain authority, a substantial backlink profile from relevant, reputable sites, clear topical expertise demonstrated across many pages of content, and structured data that helps search engines and AI systems understand their content at a categorical level.

The Hidden Power of Local Citations in AI Local SEO

When someone searches for “best plumber near me” or “coffee shop downtown,” AI doesn’t just provide links anymore; it delivers immediate answers through featured panels and overview sections. These AI-generated overviews draw on what search engines consider the most authoritative sources of local business data.

Your business isn’t just competing for a blue link anymore. It’s competing to be one of the few businesses AI deems worthy of featuring front and center in these special results sections.

The emotional impact of being excluded from these AI overviews can be devastating. Imagine watching competitors capture immediate attention while potential customers need to scroll past the AI overview, maps, and several ads before they even see your organic listing. By the time they reach your business, many have already made their decision.

Not all citations carry equal weight in AI’s evaluation systems. Research indicates that AI overviews prioritize information from:

1. Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)
2. Yelp
3. Facebook Business pages
4. Industry-specific directories (like OpenTable for restaurants)
5. Local chamber of commerce listings
6. Better Business Bureau profiles
7. Local news mentions and quality backlinks

What AI SEO, AEO and GEO We Actually Do at Marketing 1on1

We won’t tell you we’ve cracked some proprietary AI algorithm other agencies don’t know about. We’d rather earn your trust by being upfront.

We build the kind of digital presence that performs across every surface, whether that’s a traditional search result, a Google AI Overview, a Perplexity answer, or a ChatGPT response. That means:

• Technical SEO foundation: Your site needs to be indexable, fast, and structured correctly before anything else matters. Crawl errors, thin content, and poor internal linking architecture all prevent indexing, which is a prerequisite for everything downstream.
• Topical authority development: We build content strategies designed to establish genuine expertise in your subject area, not just to rank for isolated keywords. When AI systems evaluate whether your site is an authoritative source on a topic, breadth and depth of coverage matter. A site with fifteen deeply useful pages on one subject will outperform a site with a hundred shallow pages every time.
• Structured content design: AI systems prefer content that includes clear, extractable answers; such content should use proper heading structures, explicitly define any terms, include direct statements of fact, and avoid fluff that makes it difficult for a model to identify a claim that can be cited.
• Link acquisition and brand authority: We pursue backlinks and brand mentions through legitimate, sustainable methods: digital PR, expert contributions, content partnerships, and by building genuinely useful resources that other sites want to reference.

AI Visibility Analysis

Before trying to increase AI visibility, we need to understand your current position. We research the questions prospective customers are likely to ask about your industry, services, products and competitors. Then we evaluate how your company appears across relevant AI platforms.

We look for questions such as:

• Is your company already being mentioned?
• Which competitors appear more frequently?
• What topics trigger your brand?
• Which questions exclude your company completely?
• Which websites and sources are influencing the answers?
• Is AI accurately describing your business?
• Are competitors associated with topics your company should own?

This gives us a starting point.

Instead of saying, “We need more AI visibility,” we can identify exactly where the visibility gaps exist.

We Go Beyond Keywords With Fan-Out Query Research

Traditional SEO might target a keyword such as: “commercial roofing company”

But an AI conversation can quickly expand into dozens of related questions:

• “What are the best commercial roofing companies?”
• “Which companies work with large industrial buildings?”
• “How much does commercial roof replacement cost?”
• “What type of commercial roofing lasts the longest?”
• “Which roofing companies offer emergency repairs?”
• “What should I ask before hiring a commercial roofer?”

This expansion is sometimes described as query fan-out. Marketing 1on1 researches the broader network of questions surrounding your primary services instead of optimizing around isolated keywords. We identify informational, commercial, comparison, recommendation and decision-stage questions that could influence whether AI associates your company with the subject. The result is a much broader visibility strategy.

Build Content AI Can Actually Use

Publishing 100 generic AI-written articles isn’t a GEO strategy. The internet already has enough generic content. We focus on creating pages that provide useful information AI systems and actual customers can understand.

That can include:

• Clear answers to important questions
• Expert commentary
• Industry-specific explanations
• Original examples
• Comparisons
• Pros and cons
• Pricing information
• Statistics
• Research
• Case studies
• Service information
• Buyer guides
• Alternatives
• Product comparisons
• FAQs
• First-hand experience
• Unique company data

We also structure information so important facts don’t disappear inside 2,000 words of unnecessary filler. If an answer matters, make it easy to find.

Become an Entity, Not Just Another Website

One of the biggest differences between basic SEO and advanced GEO strategy is how we think about brands. We don’t want search engines and AI systems to simply discover pages from your website. We want them to understand the entity behind those pages. That means establishing clear relationships between:

Your company → your services → your people → your expertise → your locations → your industry → your reputation

Marketing 1on1 evaluates whether those relationships are clear and consistent throughout your online presence.

We may optimize or strengthen:

• Organization information
• About pages
• Author profiles
• Founder and executive information
• Service pages
• Location information
• Business profiles
• Structured data
• SameAs references
• External company profiles
• Industry associations
• Brand citations
• Third-party mentions

The objective is simple: Make it easier to understand exactly who your company is and what it deserves to be associated with.

Your Website Can’t Be the Only Source Saying You’re Great

This is where many GEO strategies fall short. You can publish:

“We are the best company in our industry.”

But it’s still your company saying it. Independent sources provide a different type of signal. If relevant websites, publications, directories, experts and industry resources repeatedly connect your brand with the same products, services and expertise, your digital footprint becomes considerably stronger. That’s why off-site GEO is a major component of Marketing 1on1’s strategy.

Digital PR, Brand Mentions & Third-Party Citations

Marketing 1on1 helps expand your brand beyond your own website. Depending on your campaign, our strategy can include:

• Digital PR
• Industry articles
• Expert contributions
• Interviews
• Brand mentions
• Relevant directory listings
• Business citations
• Guest articles
• Editorial content
• Recommendation articles
• Comparison content
• Authoritative backlinks
• Third-party company profiles

We aren’t simply trying to manufacture links. We want to create a broader trail of relevant information connecting your brand to the subjects for which you want to become known. Your website tells AI what you want to be known for. The rest of the internet helps demonstrate whether other sources agree. That distinction is becoming increasingly important.

Recommendation & Listicle Optimization

Recommendation searches are especially important in generative search.

Users frequently ask AI questions such as:

• “What are the best…”
• “Who are the top…”
• “What company do you recommend for…”
• “What are the alternatives to…”
• “Compare X vs. Y.”
• “Which provider should I choose?”

Marketing 1on1 identifies commercially valuable recommendation and comparison queries surrounding your business. We then evaluate what information currently influences those conversations. Where appropriate, we work to increase relevant third-party coverage of your company through legitimate editorial, PR, authority-building, and content strategies. This creates signals beyond your domain that support your brand’s relationship with commercially important topics.

Real Results in an Evolving Landscape

When businesses partner with Marketing 1on1, they experience tangible improvements in digital visibility that extend beyond traditional metrics:

• Increased appearance frequency within AI overviews for industry-relevant queries
• Enhanced brand authority as measured by independent trust metrics
• Improved conventional rankings that serve as the foundation for AI inclusion
• Greater referral traffic from high-authority sources

Making Informed Decisions in the AI Era

When agencies lead with “LLMO” or “GEO” as distinct service lines, they create the impression that traditional SEO is no longer relevant, or that a quick, specialized campaign can generate AI visibility without the underlying work. Some clients have spent money on “AI optimization” retainers that amounted to minor schema tweaks and additions to FAQ sections on otherwise thin, unranked websites. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t appear in AI Overviews.

The confusion is costly, not just financially. It leads businesses to skip the foundational work in favor of something that sounds more cutting-edge, and then conclude that “AI SEO doesn’t work” when they see no results. The strategy didn’t fail because AI citation is impossible. It failed because the prerequisites weren’t met.

We think the industry would serve clients better by being clearer: AI visibility is earned SEO visibility. The content, authority, and trust signals required to appear in AI-generated answers are the same signals that produce strong organic search rankings. The execution is holistic, not modular.

Marketing 1on1 stands apart from opportunistic service providers by demonstrating a clear understanding of the interconnection between traditional search signals and AI citation patterns. Our clients benefit from strategies built on principles rather than promises.

The Bottom Line

AI SEO, AEO, GEO, AIO, and LLMO are different names for an evolved version of the same discipline. The underlying mechanisms of AI retrieval run through Google and the major search indexes. LLMs strip queries down to their essential intent and retrieve from ranked, indexed, authoritative sources. Backlinks and brand mentions remain the foundational authority signals that determine whether any of this is even possible for a given domain.

If someone is selling you “LLMO” as something categorically separate from SEO, ask them to explain the retrieval mechanism. Ask them what happens to content that isn’t indexed. Ask them whether a site with no backlinks and no domain authority can appear in AI-generated answers.

The honest answer to that last question is almost never.

At Marketing 1on1, we build the kind of digital authority that earns visibility across every surface, because there’s only one kind of authority worth building: the real kind.

Search and AI are not two separate channels that require two separate strategies. They’re converging into a single ecosystem where authority, relevance, and trustworthiness determine who gets found, regardless of whether the user is reading a search results page or asking an AI assistant a question.

The businesses that will dominate AI-assisted discovery over the next few years are the ones building genuine topical authority now, earning real links from credible sources, producing content that answers real questions thoroughly, and giving search engines and AI systems every structural signal that helps them understand and trust the content.

We’ve been building exactly this kind of presence for our clients for years. The acronyms have changed. The work hasn’t.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my company mentioned by ChatGPT?

There isn’t one setting that makes ChatGPT mention a company. A strong strategy focuses on improving the information available about your brand across your website and relevant third-party sources. That can involve content, entities, backlinks, media mentions, authoritative citations, company profiles, original research, expert information, and other signals that establish what your company does and what subjects it’s associated with.

Can Marketing 1on1 guarantee ChatGPT recommendations?

No. AI-generated answers are dynamic, and no outside agency controls what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or another platform generates. What we can do is systematically improve your brand’s visibility, authority, topical associations and supporting information — and then measure whether your presence across relevant AI queries improves.

What’s the difference between GEO and traditional SEO?

SEO primarily focuses on improving visibility in search engine results. GEO expands optimization into AI-generated answers and conversations. There’s significant overlap. Strong technical SEO, authoritative content, backlinks, entities and third-party mentions can contribute to both traditional search visibility and broader AI discoverability.

Are backlinks important for GEO?

Backlinks can still be valuable, but we look beyond the link itself. A relevant third-party page can provide a backlink while also mentioning your brand, explaining what your company does and associating it with an important topic. That combination can make the placement considerably more useful than simply acquiring another link.

Are brand mentions without links valuable?

They can be. A relevant brand mention can add another external reference connecting a company with an industry, service, product, person or subject. We therefore evaluate both linked and unlinked mentions as part of the broader brand footprint.

Do we need to create separate content for GEO?

Sometimes. But creating new content isn’t always the first answer. Existing service pages, product pages, articles, FAQs, research and expert content may already contain valuable information that simply needs to be reorganized, expanded or better connected. We first identify the visibility gap and then determine whether improving an existing asset or creating something new makes more sense.

What are fan-out queries?

A fan-out query is one of the related searches or questions that can emerge from a broader user request. For example, someone researching “best CRM for a small business” may also need information about pricing, integrations, ease of use, alternatives, customer support and industry-specific features. Optimizing around the complete question network gives a brand more opportunities to become relevant during the research process.

How long does GEO take?

There isn’t a universal timeline. A company with an established brand, strong website and significant third-party authority starts from a very different position than a new business with little online presence. We establish your baseline, identify the biggest gaps and prioritize opportunities based on potential impact. GEO should be treated as an ongoing visibility strategy rather than a one-time optimization.