Your customers are stopping asking Google and starting asking AI. They type a question into ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, get one answer, and act on it. If your business is not in that answer, you were never in the running.
MicroElites does generative engine optimization: the work that gets your business named, cited and recommended inside AI generated answers. It is the next layer of search visibility, and most of your competitors have not started on it yet.
What Generative Engine Optimization Actually Is
GEO is the practice of structuring your content and online presence so AI answer engines retrieve, cite and recommend your business when someone asks a relevant question.
The distinction from traditional SEO is simple. SEO competes for one of ten links on a results page and earns a click. GEO competes to be one of the few sources an AI model actually names when it writes an answer, and earns a citation. When an AI recommends your business by name, that carries a weight no blue link ever did.
You may also see this called answer engine optimization, AEO, or AI search optimization. In practice they describe the same goal: being the source the AI trusts.
| Traditional SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | Rank in a list of links | Be cited inside the AI answer |
| What you win | A click to your site | A named recommendation from the AI |
| The competition | Ten links on page one | A handful of sources the model quotes |
| Where it shows | Google search results | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| The signal | Keywords and backlinks | Authority, structure and third party trust |
Why This Matters Now
Search is splitting in two. One half still runs through Google links. The other half runs through AI assistants that answer the question directly and cite a few sources. Businesses optimising only for the first half are becoming invisible in the second.
- Buyers research with AI first. A growing share of people ask an assistant before they ever open a search results page, particularly for considered purchases and B2B research.
- AI answers name few sources. A results page lists ten links. An AI answer usually cites a handful. The shortlist is far shorter and harder to make.
- Being absent is invisible, not low. In SEO you can rank tenth. In an AI answer you are either cited or you do not exist, with nothing in between.
- Your competitors have not moved yet. GEO is new enough that early, credible presence is still cheap to build. That window closes as the field matures.
The result of ignoring it: a steadily rising share of buyer research happening in a channel your business does not appear in.
How We Do GEO
GEO sits on top of a healthy SEO foundation. AI models mostly draw from the same open web they always have, so a fast, well structured, trustworthy site is the starting point. From there we add the work that specifically earns citations.
1. AI Visibility Audit
First we find out where you stand. We run the questions your buyers actually ask across the major AI platforms and record who gets cited, how often, and what the model says about you when it does.
- Citation tracking across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews
- Competitor citation analysis, so you can see who the AI recommends instead of you
- A record of what AI currently says about your business, accurate or not
- The gap between the questions that matter and the ones you appear in
2. Technical and Structural Foundation
AI models pull short, self contained sections from a page. Content has to be structured so a model can lift a clean, correct answer out of it.
- Fast load times, clean URLs and organised heading structure
- Concise answer blocks near the top of a page, written to be quoted directly
- FAQ and Article schema so machines can read the page reliably
- Clear, crawlable content, since AI still depends on the open web it can reach
3. Entity Authority
AI models reason about entities, your business as a known thing, not just about keywords. The more consistently and credibly your business is described across the web, the more confidently a model will name it.
- Consistent business naming and description across your site and every profile
- Presence on the third party sources AI models trust and quote
- Structured, factual information about who you are, what you do and who you serve
- Reviews and mentions that reinforce your credibility as a source
4. Content Built to Be Cited
The content most likely to be quoted is clear, specific and genuinely useful. Vague marketing copy does not get cited. A direct, well supported answer does.
- Question led pages that answer real buyer questions completely
- Specific, factual, up to date content rather than generic claims
- Statistics, examples and clear explanations that give a model something to quote
- Regular freshness reviews, since AI favours current information
5. Measurement
GEO is measurable, and we treat it that way. We track how often you are cited, on which questions, and how that changes over time.
- Citation frequency across platforms, tracked over time
- Share of relevant questions where your business appears
- Accuracy of what AI says about you, and correction of what it gets wrong
- Referral traffic and enquiries arriving from AI platforms
What We Will Not Promise
GEO is a young field and it attracts a lot of noise. Some of the popular tactics do not do what people claim. We will tell you plainly what works and what does not.
For example, Google has stated in its own guidance on generative AI features that special files and markup added purely to influence AI, such as an llms.txt file, are not used by Google Search. Optimising for AI search is still, in large part, optimising for search. We build on documented reality, not on hacks that stop working the moment a platform updates.
- No guaranteed citations. Nobody controls what a model outputs. We build the conditions that earn citations and track the results honestly.
- No gaming tricks. Tactics designed to manipulate rather than genuinely inform tend to backfire as platforms improve.
- No GEO without SEO. If the site foundation is weak, GEO on top of it will not hold. We fix the base first.
GEO for Your Industry
Being the cited source matters most where buyers research carefully before they act. That describes almost every sector we work in.
| Industry | Why AI Citations Matter |
|---|---|
| Law Firms | People ask AI about their legal situation before contacting anyone. Being the cited firm shapes the shortlist before a call is ever made |
| Healthcare | Patients research conditions and treatments through AI. Accurate, cited practice information influences where they book |
| Finance and Insurance | High consideration decisions researched heavily through AI assistants before any enquiry |
| Real Estate | Buyers ask AI about areas, prices and process. Cited local expertise builds trust early |
| Professional Services | B2B buyers use AI for vendor research. Being named in the answer is an implicit endorsement |
| Education | Students and parents ask AI to compare programmes and institutions before applying |
GEO works best beside its neighbours. It builds AI visibility, SEO builds the organic foundation both depend on, and paid ads cover demand you need to capture today. We run them as one programme.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GEO just SEO with a new name?
They overlap but they are not the same. SEO earns a ranked link and a click. GEO earns a citation inside an AI answer. GEO needs a healthy SEO foundation to work, which is why we treat them as connected rather than separate.
Which AI platforms do you optimise for?
The ones your buyers actually use: ChatGPT, Google Gemini and AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Copilot. The audit shows which ones matter most for your specific market.
Can you guarantee my business gets cited?
No, and be cautious of anyone who does. Nobody controls model output. What we can do is build the authority, structure and presence that make citation far more likely, then measure it honestly.
How long does GEO take?
Structural and technical improvements can affect citations within weeks. Building entity authority and consistent presence takes longer, similar to SEO. It is an ongoing discipline, not a one off task.
Do I still need SEO if I do GEO?
Yes. AI models draw heavily from the open web, so strong SEO feeds GEO directly. Dropping SEO to chase GEO would weaken both.
How do you prove it is working?
Citation tracking across platforms, share of relevant questions where you appear, and referral traffic from AI sources. We baseline before we start so the change is provable.
Is it too early to invest in GEO?
It is early, which is the advantage. Buyer behaviour has already shifted and most competitors have not responded. Building credible presence now is cheaper than trying to catch up once the field is crowded.
Find Out What AI Says About Your Business
Get a free AI visibility check. We will run the questions your buyers ask across the major AI platforms and show you who gets cited, whether you appear at all, and what it would take to become the recommended answer.