How do I get visible in ChatGPT and AI engines?
Your future clients no longer search only on Google: they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews. Ranking is no longer enough — you need to be cited.
Three acronyms, one definition each. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) targets ranking in Google's results. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) targets being cited in answers generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews — AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is its near-synonym. Do you have to pick one? No: in 2026, AI engines still rely on well-indexed, fast, well-structured pages. SEO remains the foundation, GEO is the floor above — you work on them in that order.
The possible paths
Consolidate SEO first
Poorly indexed pages, fuzzy structure, thin content: as long as the foundation has holes, no AI optimization will compensate.
Add the GEO layer
The foundation holds but ChatGPT and Perplexity never cite you: direct answers, figures, extractable sections — make your pages citable.
Fix the technical base
A slow, poorly crawlable site, or one closed to AI crawlers: visibility is decided before the content. And if the question becomes a tech choice, that's a different decision.
What actually tips the decision
SEO vs GEO isn't a choice, it's an order
AI engines draw on the same indexes and signals as classic SEO. No foundation, no citation; with a clean foundation, GEO is a reasonable effort.
AI engines cite pages that take a stance
A direct answer under the title, explicit figures, verdicts by profile, self-contained sections: that's what ChatGPT and Perplexity pick up — not pages that circle the question.
Check that AI crawlers can get in
If your robots.txt blocks AI search crawlers (OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT Search, PerplexityBot…), you don't exist in their answers. GPTBot and ClaudeBot serve model training: a separate decision.
Measure before you optimize
Ask your business questions to ChatGPT and Perplexity: who gets cited today? That's your starting point, not an opinion.
The content is enough to understand. A call or audit applies it to your real case before you spend — the tools qualify, the advice decides.
Go deeper on this question
Test it yourself, free
Get a decision on your case
Web tech choice
A precise question — SEO, GEO, where to start? We settle it on a call, credited if you start a project.
AI project architecture advice
Visibility to rebuild? Architecture advice to frame content, structure, tech and GEO priorities.
Free audit
Not sure yet? I look at your site and tell you where you stand.