Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) makes your business the recommendation that AI engines hand to a customer who asks "best HVAC near me," "good accountant in [city]," or "where should I get pizza tonight." Plus the classical local SEO that still matters for Maps and search.
GEO — Generative Engine Optimization, sometimes called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — is the discipline of making your business citable by generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI Overviews. Where classical SEO targets the blue links below the AI answer, GEO targets the answer itself. The tactics overlap with SEO but go further: schema-rich entity definitions, conversational Q&A markup, an /llms.txt file, citation-friendly statistics, and explicit AI-bot-friendly site architecture.
Customers used to type "plumber near me" and click a Google result. Increasingly, they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or their phone's AI assistant — and follow the recommendation it gives. The businesses cited by AI capture the demand. The ones invisible to AI lose it without ever knowing.
Conversational search is moving from novelty to default for under-40 consumers. Asking ChatGPT for a restaurant recommendation feels normal. The answer it gives is the answer — most people don't double-check.
An AI engine usually cites two or three businesses in a local recommendation. Being one of them is the entire game. Being absent — no matter how good your business is — means you weren't even considered.
Most local businesses haven't optimized for AI search yet. The work that costs $3K–$7K now will cost much more once everyone is doing it — and the established citations compound over time.
We test how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews currently respond when asked about your industry and location. We map what they cite, what they get wrong, and the gaps where you should appear.
We deploy the AI-search foundation: schema.org markup, an enriched /llms.txt with entity-grade detail, conversational FAQ in Question/Answer schema, and clean canonical/sitemap signals so AI crawlers know exactly what your business is.
We rewrite or add the content AI engines preferentially cite: clear definitions, sourced statistics with linked citations, comparison tables, and direct answer paragraphs in the format AI extracts most reliably.
We do the classical work too — Google Business Profile, NAP consistency, local citations, schema for LocalBusiness, review acquisition — because humans still use Google Maps and traditional search.
Monthly checks on what AI engines now say about you. We adjust as new citations land and as the AI engines themselves evolve their citation behavior.
Baseline of how AI engines currently respond about your business and industry, with named citation targets to capture.
Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList, Article, Review — all the structured data AI engines extract from.
An entity-grade /llms.txt file written to the emerging best practice — what your business is, what it does, who it serves, and how to engage.
Question/Answer content phrased the way people actually ask AI — and marked up in the schema AI engines preferentially cite.
Citation-friendly stats with linked sources, because AI engines prefer to cite content that itself cites — making you a clean attribution target.
Google Business Profile, NAP consistency across directories, local citations, Maps optimization, and a steady review acquisition cadence.
A local accounting firm engages Cornerbeacon's GEO service ahead of tax season.
Asking ChatGPT "good accountant in [city]" returns three firms — none of them theirs. They're page-two on Google. Maps shows them, but they're not in the AI answer.
Schema, llms.txt, conversational FAQ, and three sourced cornerstone articles deployed. AI engines start citing them within weeks for tax-season questions.
Inbound from AI-search citations stacks on top of Google traffic. Conversion is higher — the customer arrives already trusting the recommendation.
Know exactly where you stand.
The full GEO foundation, built and maintained.
Franchise or multi-market rollout.
GEO is the practice of making your business citable by generative AI engines — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI Overviews. Where classical SEO targets blue links on a search page, GEO targets the AI-generated answer above the links.
Mostly yes. GEO and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) describe the same goal — being mentioned in AI-generated answers. AEO emphasizes featured-snippet and Q&A targets; GEO emphasizes the broader generative ecosystem. We treat them as one discipline.
Yes, and increasingly so. As consumers shift toward asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI for recommendations — including local ones — the businesses cited in those answers capture the demand. Early movers in any local market have an outsized advantage because few competitors are optimizing for AI yet.
Most local SEO agencies are still on the 2018 playbook: backlinks, Google Business Profile, and blog content. We add the AI-search layer that didn't exist three years ago — llms.txt, schema-rich entity definitions, conversational FAQ markup, citation-friendly stats, and AI-bot-friendly architecture — paired with the traditional local SEO basics.
Schema and llms.txt-level wins can appear in days to weeks. Steady citation growth in AI engines builds over 2–6 months. Classical Google rankings typically follow a 3–6 month curve. We measure both.
It's a plain-text file at the root of your domain that introduces your business to AI crawlers in clean, extractable form. Think of it as a Wikipedia infobox for AI engines. Cornerbeacon's own /llms.txt is the template we deploy for clients — entity-grade detail, written for citation.
Free 30-minute audit. We'll run the prompts on your industry and your city — and show you exactly what AI engines say about you today.
Book your free AI audit