Your customers are starting to ask AI assistants for recommendations. “Who is the best physiotherapist near me?” “Recommend a reliable builder in Manchester.” “Which local accountant is good with small businesses?” ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer these questions every day, and they name specific businesses. The question for you is simple: will they name yours?
Getting recommended by AI assistants has a name: generative engine optimisation, or GEO. It is the natural next step after SEO, and it is quickly becoming one of the most valuable places a local business can show up. Here is how I think about GEO for local businesses, and what I do to earn those recommendations.
What Is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of making your business more likely to be mentioned, cited or recommended by generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity. Where SEO aims to rank a page in a list of links, GEO aims to make your business part of the answer the AI actually gives.
These tools do not rank websites in the traditional sense. They read an enormous amount of information about businesses, then generate a recommendation based on what they understand and trust. GEO is about shaping that understanding in your favour.
GEO, SEO and AEO: How They Fit Together
It is easy to get lost in the acronyms, so here is the plain version:
- SEO gets you ranked in Google’s blue links.
- AEO gets you featured in Google’s AI Overview answers.
- GEO gets you recommended inside AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini.
The reassuring part is that they share the same foundations. Do the groundwork well and you improve on all three fronts at once. You are not choosing between them, you are building one strong presence that shows up everywhere your customers look.
How AI Assistants Decide Who to Recommend
From everything I have tested, AI recommendations come down to three things: consistency, evidence and relevance.
Consistency means your business details are the same everywhere online. Evidence means other trusted sources, such as reviews, directories and local publications, back up what you say about yourself. Relevance means it is genuinely clear what you do, who you serve and where. When those three line up, an AI can recommend you with confidence.
How to Optimise Your Local Business for GEO
1. Make your business details identical everywhere
Your name, address, phone number and services should match exactly across your website, your Google Business Profile, and every directory you appear in. Mismatches confuse AI tools and make them less likely to put you forward.
2. Get mentioned on sources AI actually reads
AI models learn from the wider web: directories, local news, industry bodies, review sites and reputable blogs. Being listed and mentioned on those trusted sources is one of the strongest GEO signals there is. A feature in a local paper or a listing on a respected industry directory can do a lot of work for you.
3. Earn genuine, specific reviews
Reviews are gold for GEO because they are independent evidence written in natural language. Reviews that mention what you did, where you did it and who you did it for give AI tools exactly the detail they need to recommend you for the right searches.
4. Publish content that answers real questions
Helpful, clearly written content about your services and your area gives AI tools something concrete to draw from. Answer the questions your customers ask, name the places you serve, and be specific about what makes you different from the business down the road.
5. Add structured data
Schema markup helps machines understand your business, services and reviews without guessing. It is a quiet but powerful way to feed accurate information into the systems that generate recommendations.
A GEO Starter Checklist
- Audit your name, address and phone number across every listing and fix any mismatches.
- Claim and complete your profiles on the main directories in your industry.
- Build a steady flow of detailed reviews that mention services and locations.
- Publish a few clear, genuinely useful pages or posts about what you do and where.
- Add LocalBusiness, Service and Review schema to your website.
- Search your own category in ChatGPT and Gemini to see who is being recommended today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT or Gemini recommendations?
Not directly, in the way you buy Google Ads. GEO is earned through trust, consistency and evidence, which is good news for local businesses that do great work but cannot outspend larger rivals.
Is GEO worth it while AI search is still new?
Yes. Adoption is growing fast, and the businesses building their presence now will be the established recommendations by the time it becomes mainstream. Early, steady effort compounds.
Do I need to be technical to do this?
Not really. Most of GEO is good business hygiene: accurate details, real reviews and helpful content. The technical parts, like schema, can usually be handled once and then largely left alone.
Why GEO Rewards Focused Local Businesses
There is a common worry that AI will simply hand every recommendation to the biggest brands. In local search, the opposite is often true. AI assistants are trying to be useful, and the most useful answer to “a good electrician near me” is a trusted local electrician who clearly serves that area, not a national call centre.
This is where a focused local business has the edge. You have real reviews from real neighbours, you can speak specifically about the streets and towns you cover, and your details are easy to verify. Those are exactly the signals AI leans on. In my experience, businesses that commit to getting the basics consistent and genuinely helpful start appearing in AI recommendations well before their larger, slower competitors even realise the game has changed.
The Bottom Line
AI assistants are becoming a genuine front door to local businesses, and being recommended by them is earned, not bought. That gives focused local businesses a real chance to stand out. Get your details consistent, earn honest reviews, publish helpful content and make sure trusted sources vouch for you, and you give the AI every reason to put your name forward.
If you want help getting recommended in AI search, that is exactly what I do. Explore my SEO services or get in touch for a free audit and I will show you where you stand.
