SEO and GEO: what really changes with artificial intelligence

Every week someone announces that SEO is dead and it’s all about GEO now. And there’s usually a new offer somewhere behind that message.

The reality is a lot calmer. Artificial intelligence has changed how people search, that’s true, and a few things need adjusting. But the basis of your strategy still holds.

What GEO is, without the hype

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It’s about preparing your website so that AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google’s AI answers) understand it, use it and, with a bit of luck, cite it when someone asks about what you do.

The difference from classic search is that you no longer get ten links, but a written answer, sometimes with the sources it came from.

What doesn’t change

AI tools that search the web draw on pages that already exist, are indexed and look trustworthy. If Google doesn’t understand your website, an AI usually won’t understand it either.

That’s why the basics still matter most: a fast, well-organised website, a clear title on every page, content that genuinely answers what people ask, other websites talking about you and an up-to-date Google Business Profile.

Get that right and you’ve covered most of the ground. Without it, GEO has very little to work with.

The adjustments that are worth it

Answer first, explain later. If someone asks how long a website takes, the first sentence of your text should say so. The context can follow.

Say the same thing about yourself everywhere: who you are, what you do, for whom and where, the same on your website, on Google, on LinkedIn and in directories. The more consistent you are, the easier it is for an AI to describe you correctly.

Share what an AI can’t invent. Real projects, how you work, guide prices.

Get others talking about you. Reviews, mentions in local media, client websites or directories all count, because AI tools trust what several sources confirm more than what you say about yourself.

Check the technical side, especially your FAQs, your structured data and whether your website blocks AI crawlers, if you want to appear in their answers.

We see this with our clients. For some, adding FAQs to their website was enough to start getting visits from ChatGPT and other AI tools. For others, what made the difference was creating or improving their blog. It depends a lot on the type of business and what it offers, which is why there’s no recipe that works for everyone.

What nobody can promise you

Nobody can guarantee you’ll show up in ChatGPT. Answers change from one day to the next and depend on how the question is asked and who asks it. If someone sells you “position one in ChatGPT”, be wary.

Measuring it is still imprecise. What you can do is check in Google Analytics how many visits come from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai and, every now and then, ask about your service and your area yourself to see what comes back.

So, what do you do now?

Nothing drastic. Go through your most important pages with one question in mind: if someone asks me exactly this, is the answer clear in the first few lines?

Then carry on as before: useful content, a well-kept website and people talking about you. That’s why our SEO pages put it like this, SEO · GEO · SEM · AI, because for us it’s one and the same job with a couple of adjustments.

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