Every founder we talk to asks a version of the same question: “Should we still invest in SEO, or is it all about GEO now?” It’s a fair question. Buyers now get answers from Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity, often without clicking a single result. If you’re a startup with a small team and a limited budget, you can’t afford to bet on the wrong channel.
The short answer: you need both, but not in equal measure, and not in the way most agencies sell it. SEO is the foundation that makes your pages findable and trustworthy. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the layer that decides whether AI assistants actually name you when buyers ask for recommendations. This guide explains the difference, what has changed in 2025 and 2026, and a practical plan a startup can run without hiring a big agency.
What is SEO, and what is GEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the work of helping search engines crawl, understand and rank your pages, so people searching for something relevant click through to your site. Success is measured in rankings, impressions, clicks and conversions.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the work of making sure AI systems that generate answers, like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, understand your brand, trust it and mention or cite it. The term was formalised in a 2023 research paper from Princeton and IIT Delhi, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, later published at KDD 2024. Success is measured in mentions, citations, how accurately you’re described and how often you appear on AI shortlists.
The key difference is the unit of competition. In SEO you compete for a position on a page. In GEO you compete for a sentence inside an answer, and that answer is built from many sources, not just your website.
Why this matters for startups right now
Two things changed the game.
First, AI answers now sit on top of classic results. In a 2025 study, Ahrefs analysed 300,000 keywords and found that the presence of an AI Overview correlated with a 34.5% lower average click-through rate for the top-ranking page. Ranking first still matters, but it no longer guarantees the click.
Second, Google itself describes how its AI features work differently. According to Google Search Central’s guide to AI features, AI Overviews and AI Mode may use a “query fan-out” technique, issuing multiple related searches across subtopics to build one response. In practice, that means you can be cited for a sub-question even if you don’t rank for the main keyword. That’s a real opening for smaller brands.
The same idea shows up in the GEO paper: in its experiments, the visibility gains from GEO methods were largest for sources that ranked lower in classic search. For a startup without years of backlinks, that’s encouraging.
GEO vs SEO: the side-by-side comparison
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank pages and earn clicks | Get mentioned, cited and described accurately in AI answers |
| Where it plays | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Copilot |
| Unit of competition | A position in a list of links | A mention or citation inside a generated answer |
| Main inputs | Technical health, content relevance, links, page experience | Clear entity and positioning, citable facts, third-party mentions, community discussion |
| Off-site focus | Backlinks | Brand mentions in reviews, roundups, Reddit, forums and media |
| Content style | Keyword-targeted pages that satisfy intent | Answer-first, specific, self-contained passages that are easy to quote |
| Measurement | Rankings, impressions, clicks (Search Console) | Share of AI mentions, citation sources, answer accuracy across a prompt set |
| Maturity | Well documented, stable tooling | Young, fast-changing, partly black-box |
Notice how much overlaps. Google says it plainly: there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and the fundamentals of SEO still apply. GEO doesn’t replace SEO. It widens the definition of “being visible”.
The SEO basics that still matter (more than ever)
If AI systems can’t crawl and understand your site, nothing else works. These are the non-negotiables we check first with every startup:
- Crawlability and indexing. To appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. Check your robots.txt rules and make sure your CDN or firewall isn’t silently blocking crawlers. For ChatGPT search, OpenAI documents a separate crawler, OAI-SearchBot; if you block it, you limit how your pages appear in ChatGPT’s search answers.
- Important content in plain text. Pricing, features and use cases hidden inside images, tabs that never render, or heavy client-side JavaScript are harder for every system to read.
- Internal linking. Help both crawlers and models understand which pages matter and how they relate. A clear structure (homepage, then services or product, then supporting articles) is still one of the cheapest wins.
- Page experience. Fast, stable, mobile-friendly pages. Google’s Core Web Vitals documentation is the reference.
- Structured data that matches the page. Organization, Product or SoftwareApplication, Article and Breadcrumb markup help machines connect the dots. Google’s introduction to structured data covers the basics. Be realistic, though: Google states there’s no special schema required for AI features. Schema helps understanding; it isn’t a magic switch.
Not sure where your site stands? A competitor SEO analysis is a good way to see the gap before you spend a dollar.
The GEO layer: what actually moves AI visibility
1. Be a clear entity, not a vague brand
AI systems recommend things they can describe confidently. If your homepage says “the all-in-one platform for modern teams”, a model has nothing specific to repeat. If it says “onboarding software for B2B SaaS teams under 50 people, with HubSpot and Segment integrations”, it does. Consistent naming, category, audience and differentiators across your site, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, G2 and directories make you a recognisable entity. This is why we often start GEO work with product positioning: if humans can’t summarise you in one sentence, neither can a model.
2. Write answer-first, citable content
Put the direct answer in the first one or two sentences under each heading, then add depth. Use question-style H2s and H3s, short definitions, comparison tables and concrete examples. The GEO paper found that adding citations, quotations from credible sources and statistics improved visibility in generative answers, while classic keyword stuffing offered little to no improvement. In other words: specific, sourced and readable beats keyword-dense.
3. Show real experience (E-E-A-T)
Google’s guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content centres on experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust. For startups that means named authors with real bios, original screenshots and data, honest “who this is not for” sections and clear company information. Thin AI-generated pages written for rankings are exactly what both search engines and AI assistants are learning to skip.
4. Earn mentions where AI looks: reviews, roundups and Reddit
Assistants build answers from the wider web, not just your site. Comparison articles, review platforms, documentation and community threads all feed what gets said about you. Reddit deserves special attention: discussions there are frequently surfaced in both Google results and AI answers, and buyers trust them because they’re written by peers. The catch is that Reddit punishes promotion. Helpful, transparent participation from founders and team members works; fake accounts and astroturfing get you banned and damage the brand. We cover the right way to do it in our Reddit marketing consulting.
5. Treat llms.txt as optional, not a strategy
llms.txt is a proposed standard: a Markdown file at your site root that points language models to your most useful content. It’s cheap to add and harmless. But be honest about what it does today. There’s no public evidence that major AI search products rely on it for ranking or citations, and Google says you don’t need to create new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features. If an agency sells you llms.txt as a GEO strategy, ask for proof.
6. Keep facts fresh and consistent
Outdated pricing on a directory, an old tagline on LinkedIn, or a stale comparison page can all become the “truth” an assistant repeats. Audit your public footprint a few times a year and fix contradictions at the source.
How to measure AI visibility
This is where most startups get stuck, because there’s no Search Console equivalent for ChatGPT. Google reports AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic inside the regular “Web” performance data in Search Console, so you can’t separate it cleanly. Here’s the lightweight approach we recommend:
- Build a prompt set. Write 20 to 30 buyer questions without your brand name: category, use-case, comparison and constraint prompts.
- Run them monthly in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google (noting whether an AI Overview appears). Use fresh sessions.
- Log four things: were you mentioned, in what position, how accurately you were described, and which sources were cited.
- Track share of voice against your three to five main competitors over time, not single answers. AI outputs vary from run to run.
- Connect it to revenue. Add “How did you hear about us?” with an AI assistant option to signup and demo forms, and watch referral traffic from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai in your analytics.
Paid tools that automate prompt tracking are appearing quickly. They’re useful at scale, but a spreadsheet is enough to start. Our article on how to get your SaaS recommended by ChatGPT walks through this audit step by step.
So what does a startup actually need? A practical 90-day plan
Our honest view: for most early-stage startups, SEO fundamentals first, GEO immediately after, and community presence running in parallel. Here’s how we’d sequence it.
Days 1–30: Fix the foundation
- Check indexing, robots.txt, CDN bot rules and Core Web Vitals.
- Rewrite your homepage and key product pages so a stranger can say what you do, for whom and why you’re different in one sentence.
- Add Organization and Product/SoftwareApplication schema that matches visible content.
- Run your first AI visibility baseline across 20 to 30 prompts.
Days 31–60: Build citable content
- Publish three to five answer-first pages for your highest-intent questions: comparisons, “best X for Y”, alternatives and how-to guides.
- Add original data, screenshots and named expert authors.
- Link these pages tightly to your product and service pages.
Days 61–90: Earn third-party signals
- Fix and complete your profiles on review sites and directories your category uses.
- Pitch inclusion in the roundups and comparison articles that AI assistants already cite for your prompts.
- Start genuine participation in two or three relevant subreddits or communities.
- Re-run your prompt set and compare against the baseline.
If you’re pre-product-market fit, keep the scope small. Visibility can’t fix unclear positioning or a weak offer, which is why this work usually sits inside a broader startup growth strategy.
Common mistakes we see
- Abandoning SEO for “GEO hacks”. AI features in Google are built on the same index. Weak SEO usually means weak GEO.
- Measuring with one prompt. AI answers vary. Use a prompt set and trends.
- Publishing mass AI content. It rarely gets cited and can drag down how your whole site is perceived.
- Spamming Reddit. It’s the fastest way to turn a high-trust channel against you.
- Ignoring what others say about you. Your website is only one of many sources an assistant reads.
Frequently asked questions
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. GEO builds on SEO. Google states that the same SEO best practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, and many AI assistants retrieve live web results before answering. GEO adds off-site reputation, entity clarity and citable content on top.
Is GEO the same as AEO or LLMO?
Mostly, yes. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), LLM Optimization (LLMO) and AI SEO describe overlapping practices. GEO is the term used in the original academic research and is becoming the most common label.
Do I need special schema or an llms.txt file to appear in AI answers?
No. Google says no special structured data or AI text files are needed for its AI features. Schema still helps machines understand your pages, and llms.txt is a harmless optional extra, but neither is a proven ranking or citation lever.
How long does GEO take to show results?
It depends on your category and starting point. Assistants that search the live web can reflect fixes within weeks, while model knowledge and community reputation build over months. Track monthly and judge trends over a quarter.
Can a small startup compete with big brands in AI answers?
Often, yes. Assistants try to match specific questions, so a clearly positioned startup can be named for a niche use case where a generalist brand is a weaker fit. Research on GEO also found the biggest gains for lower-ranked sources.
Should a startup do GEO in-house or hire help?
You can start in-house with the plan above. Outside help is most useful for the baseline audit, prioritising fixes and avoiding costly mistakes, especially on Reddit and in positioning.
Want to know where you stand in AI answers?
At Overhorizon Media we help startups get found in both Google and AI assistants. We audit your AI visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google, show you which sources shape what AI says about you, and give your team a prioritised plan. We focus on guidance, consultation and ongoing monitoring; if you want hands-on execution, we arrange it on request through our partner agencies. If you also need classic search work, see our SEO consultancy.
Consulting starts from $249/hour. Explore our AI visibility consulting or book a session to get your baseline.