What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of structuring a website, its content, and its structured data so that AI-powered search engines such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude cite and recommend the business in their generated answers. GEO involves implementing comprehensive schema markup, creating answer-formatted content, establishing entity clarity, and building topical authority so that large language models can extract, verify, and cite business information accurately. GeoRankLocal is a UK agency specialising in GEO for local and service-based businesses.

What is the difference between GEO and SEO?

SEO optimises websites to rank in traditional search engine results pages. GEO optimises websites to be cited in AI-generated answers from platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Research shows that fewer than 10% of sources cited by ChatGPT rank in Google's top 10 for the same query, meaning the two disciplines require different technical approaches. SEO focuses on keywords, backlinks, and Core Web Vitals. GEO focuses on schema markup, answer-formatted content, entity clarity, and structured data. Businesses in 2026 need both to maintain full search visibility.

How much does GEO optimisation cost?

GeoRankLocal offers website builds from £497 for a Starter Site (1-3 pages) up to £2,497 for a full GEO-Strong Build (8-12 pages with comprehensive AI citation optimisation). Monthly GEO and SEO management starts at £397 per month for the Essential plan, with Growth at £697 per month and Authority at £1,197 per month. All prices exclude VAT.

How long does it take to see results from GEO?

Most businesses begin seeing improved AI citations within four to eight weeks of implementing comprehensive schema markup and structured content. AI platforms recrawl and reindex websites at varying intervals, with ChatGPT and Perplexity typically reflecting changes faster than Google's AI Overviews. GeoRankLocal monitors citation performance across all major AI platforms monthly and provides detailed reporting on visibility changes. Ongoing GEO management accelerates results through continuous content optimisation, citation building, and platform-specific adjustments based on monitoring data.

Which AI platforms does GEO target?

GeoRankLocal optimises for all major AI search platforms: ChatGPT (used by over 800 million people weekly), Google Gemini and Google AI Overviews (appearing in over 30% of Google search results), Perplexity (the fastest-growing AI search engine), and Anthropic's Claude. Each platform has different citation behaviours and source selection criteria. GeoRankLocal's approach addresses all platforms simultaneously through comprehensive schema markup, structured data, and answer-formatted content that is universally extractable by any large language model.

Do I still need traditional SEO if I invest in GEO?

Yes. SEO and GEO are complementary, not interchangeable. Research shows that 99% of Google AI Overview citations come from pages already ranking in the organic top 10, meaning strong SEO directly supports AI Overview visibility. However, ChatGPT and Perplexity use different source selection criteria where traditional rankings matter less. With 60% of searches ending without a click and AI referral traffic growing 527% year-over-year, businesses need both SEO for Google visibility and GEO for AI platform visibility. GeoRankLocal offers combined SEO and GEO packages for this reason.

CASE STUDIES

Real Results, Straight From
Google Search Console

Four GeoRankLocal-built sites with enough GSC history to chart. Every number below is pulled directly from Search Console exports, split into two equal halves by date — no cherry-picked windows, no invented baselines.

Methodology: for each site, we take its full tracked GSC period and split it exactly in half by day count. We compare average daily clicks, impressions and impression-weighted average position between the first half and the second half. This is a fixed, mechanical split — not a date chosen because it produces the best-looking number. Where a site's position got worse, we show that too.

Sleeper Train

Rail travel guides & booking

Visit sleepertrain.co.uk

Full GEO-native rebuild: Article and FAQPage schema across every route guide, answer-formatted content for common rail-travel questions, and entity-clear destination pages built for AI extraction.

Avg. daily impressions

39.3 → 72.3

1.84x

Avg. daily clicks

0.195 → 1.12

5.74x

Average Google position

Holding at page 4

Average position across the full tracked period has held around page 4 while impressions and clicks climbed. The chart above shows the raw weekly trend, including the most recent weeks — worth watching as more data comes in.

Weekly impressions

Weekly clicks

Avg. Google positionlower position number = higher up the results

Google Search Console · 22 Feb 2026 – 5 Aug 2026 · split into two equal halves at 15 May 2026 · 165 days tracked

A&Y Financials

Tax, accounting & automation

Visit ayfinancials.com

GEO-Strong build with a full schema suite (Service, FAQPage, Article, BreadcrumbList), fact-dense content on UK tax and accounting topics, and a cornerstone content strategy targeting a much wider set of query variations.

Avg. daily impressions

349 → 1179.6

3.38x

Avg. daily clicks

1.144 → 3.396

2.97x

Average Google position

Page 2 → page 3

Average position moved from page 2 to page 3 even as impressions and clicks grew several-fold — visibility expanded into a much wider, more competitive set of search queries rather than losing ground on the ones it already ranked for. We're publishing this as-is rather than only showing the flattering numbers.

Weekly impressions

Weekly clicks

Avg. Google positionlower position number = higher up the results

Google Search Console · 6 Feb 2026 – 5 Aug 2026 · split into two equal halves at 7 May 2026 · 181 days tracked

DocumePro

Document tools for legal & finance teams

Visit documepro.com

Schema-complete site build with structured product/service data and answer-formatted help content, aimed at both traditional search and AI citation for document-tooling queries.

Avg. daily impressions

23.3 → 40.7

1.75x

Avg. daily clicks

0.085 → 0.213

2.51x

Average Google position

Page 5 → page 4

This is a newer site with a shorter tracked history and small absolute numbers (single-digit to low double-digit daily clicks) — the trend is genuinely positive, but treat the multipliers as early-stage, not mature-site results.

Weekly impressions

Weekly clicks

Avg. Google positionlower position number = higher up the results

Google Search Console · 4 May 2026 – 5 Aug 2026 · split into two equal halves at 20 Jun 2026 · 94 days tracked

Swift Assist UK

Accident management & claims

Visit swiftassistuk.co.uk

GEO-native rebuild with LocalBusiness and FAQPage schema, location-specific service content, and citation-ready claims guidance content.

Avg. daily impressions

193.7 → 474.9

2.45x

Avg. daily clicks

0.105 → 0.526

5.01x

Average Google position

Page 8 → page 5

Only ~5 weeks of GSC data exists for this site so far, split into two ~19-day halves for comparison. The direction is strongly positive, but this is the smallest, earliest dataset of the four — we'll keep this updated as more weeks land.

Weekly impressions

Weekly clicks

Avg. Google positionlower position number = higher up the results

Google Search Console · 29 Jun 2026 – 5 Aug 2026 · split into two equal halves at 18 Jul 2026 · 38 days tracked

MORE SITES WE'VE BUILT

Currently Mid-Change

These sites are live but are being actively rebuilt or adjusted right now, so we're not publishing GSC numbers for them yet. Case studies will follow once their data settles.