What is Generative Engine Optimisation?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)is the practice of optimising your business's digital presence so that AI-powered search engines — ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and others — recommend your business in their generated responses.
When someone asks ChatGPT “best restaurant in Marbella” or asks Gemini “where should I stay in Dubai?”, the AI generates a response that names specific businesses. GEO is how you make sure your business is one of those names.
The simple version: Traditional SEO gets you ranked in a list of links. GEO gets you recommended by name in an AI conversation. Both matter. They work differently.
How AI Search Actually Works
To understand GEO, you first need to understand how AI search engines work. They're fundamentally different from Google.
Traditional search engines like Google crawl the web, index pages, and rank them according to hundreds of signals (relevance, authority, technical quality, etc.). When you search, you get a ranked list of links.
AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity work differently. They use large language models (LLMs) — AI systems trained on enormous datasets of text — to understand questions and generate comprehensive answers. Instead of returning links, they generate a direct response.
These responses are built from two main sources:
- Training data: What the AI already knows from its training — websites, reviews, articles, structured data from across the web.
- Real-time retrieval: For current queries (especially in Perplexity and Gemini), the AI can search the web and synthesise information in real time.
The key insight: AI models form opinions about businesses based on what they've read. The more consistent, authoritative, and structured information that exists about your business across the web, the more confidently an AI will recommend you.
Why GEO Is Different from SEO
Traditional SEO optimises for ranking. GEO optimises for recommendation. Here's why they're not the same:
- SEO targets links; GEO targets citations. In Google search, you want position 1. In AI search, you want to be the named recommendation when someone asks a question about your category.
- SEO optimises for keywords; GEO optimises for entities. AI understands the semantic meaning of your business — what you are, what you offer, where you are, what makes you distinct. GEO helps AI form an accurate and positive entity-understanding of your business.
- SEO uses technical signals; GEO uses authority signals. PageRank, backlinks, and technical factors dominate traditional SEO. GEO relies more on consistent structured data, review authority, citation patterns, and content that AI models can confidently summarise.
- SEO shows you in a list; GEO makes you the answer.Being in position 5 on Google means some people will find you. Being named as the recommendation by ChatGPT means you're the answer to the question.
The AI Search Platforms That Matter
GEO isn't one thing — it's a strategy that spans multiple AI platforms, each with different characteristics:
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
With 200+ million users, ChatGPT is the most used AI assistant globally. It's used for everything from writing assistance to restaurant recommendations. Its recommendations are based primarily on its training data (updated periodically) and, in its browsing mode, real-time search.
Google Gemini & AI Overviews
Google's AI Overviews now appear for millions of queries daily, above the traditional search results. This is perhaps the most commercially important AI search surface for local businesses, as it sits directly within Google Search. Gemini has full access to Google's index, including Google Business Profile data, reviews, and structured data.
Perplexity
Perplexity is the fastest-growing AI search engine, loved by researchers, travellers, and tech-savvy consumers. It performs real-time searches and synthesises results with citations. High authority across review sites, news coverage, and professional content tends to perform well in Perplexity.
Apple Intelligence
Siri now uses AI to answer questions, including local business recommendations. With over 1 billion Apple devices, this is a significant and growing search surface for local hospitality and tourism businesses.
Microsoft Copilot
Integrated into Windows and Bing, Copilot represents another significant AI search surface, particularly for B2B searches and desktop users.
What GEO Actually Involves
GEO is a multi-faceted discipline. At SUBIDA, our GEO process covers these core areas:
1. Structured Data Implementation
Schema markup tells AI precisely what your business is. A restaurant with full Schema markup — including name, address, cuisine type, price range, opening hours, awards, and menu items — gives AI models structured facts they can confidently cite. Without structured data, AI has to infer this information, which leads to errors and lower confidence.
2. Entity Authority Building
An “entity” in AI terms is a distinct concept that the AI recognises and has information about. Your business needs to be a well-understood entity: consistently named across all platforms, with accurate information everywhere, and rich descriptive content that helps AI understand your precise category and positioning.
3. Citation and Review Strategy
AI models synthesise your reputation from hundreds of data points: Google reviews, TripAdvisor ratings, mentions in food guides, press coverage, social media. A comprehensive citation strategy ensures these all paint a consistent, positive, and specific picture of your business.
4. AI-Readable Content
Content that performs well in GEO is authoritative, specific, and well-structured. AI models are more likely to recommend a restaurant whose website clearly describes its unique dishes, its atmosphere, its awards, and its specific location than one that says “we serve delicious food in a great location.” Specificity is the key.
5. Platform-Specific Optimisation
Each AI platform has different strengths. Google AI Overviews heavily weight Google Business Profile data. Perplexity weighs review site authority and news coverage. ChatGPT relies on training data patterns. A comprehensive GEO strategy addresses each platform's signals.
6. Monitoring and Iteration
AI search visibility needs ongoing monitoring. We regularly probe AI platforms with your target queries to track mentions, sentiment, and competitor activity. When AI models update their knowledge bases, we ensure your information is current and accurate.
Why GEO Matters for Tourism and Hospitality
GEO matters for every business with a digital presence, but it's disproportionately important for tourism, hospitality, and F&B businesses for one simple reason: travellers are among the heaviest users of AI for discovery.
A tourist arriving in a new city for a week wants recommendations for everything: where to eat, where to stay, what to do, which bar to visit. They don't have time for hours of Google research. They ask an AI.
Our data shows that travellers planning trips in markets like Marbella, the South of France, and Dubai are now routinely using ChatGPT and Perplexity in the planning phase — weeks before they arrive. The businesses that win in AI search win the traveller's attention before they even board the plane.
How to Get Started with GEO
If you're new to GEO, here's where to start:
- Audit your current AI visibility. Search for your business on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google (with AI Overviews). What does each platform say? Are you being recommended? Is the information accurate?
- Fix your structured data. Implement or audit your Schema markup. Ensure your Google Business Profile is fully completed, accurate, and regularly updated.
- Build citations consistently. Ensure your business name, address, phone number, and website are identical across all platforms — Google, TripAdvisor, social media, directories.
- Create specific, authoritative content. Rewrite your website content to be specific, fact-rich, and clearly structured. AI prefers substance over style.
- Build review velocity. Actively solicit reviews on Google, TripAdvisor, and other relevant platforms. AI models weight recent review activity.
- Monitor and iterate.Track your AI visibility monthly and adjust your strategy based on what's working.
If this sounds complex — it is. GEO done properly requires significant expertise and ongoing effort. That's why businesses in competitive tourist markets are choosing to work with specialists like SUBIDA rather than trying to do it themselves.
The Future of GEO
AI search is not a trend. It's the next phase of how people find information and make decisions. The shift from ten blue links to AI-generated answers is already well underway — and it will only accelerate.
Businesses that invest in GEO now are building a compounding advantage. AI models will increasingly rely on the quality of the data they have about businesses to generate recommendations. The businesses with the strongest, most consistent, and most authoritative data will win the AI recommendation game — and they'll keep winning as AI adoption grows.
The businesses that ignore GEO are not just missing a trend — they're becoming invisible to a growing segment of their target customers. In tourist markets like Marbella, Dubai, and the South of France, where the cost of invisibility is measured in empty tables and unbooked rooms, this is not a risk you can afford.