What Is GEO and How It Works
GEO is about making sure your content actually shows up when AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, or Perplexity answer questions. Think of it this way: traditional SEO got you to rank on page one of Google. GEO gets you cited in the AI’s answer itself.
Here’s how it actually works. These AI engines don’t just magically know things – they’re pulling from sources across the web, evaluating credibility, and then synthesising answers. Your job is to structure your content so AI sees it as authoritative and relevant enough to reference. That means clear facts, proper sourcing, natural language that answers questions directly, and honestly? Writing like a human who knows their stuff, not like you’re trying to game an algorithm.
The mechanics are different from old-school SEO. Instead of optimising for keywords and backlinks alone, you’re optimising for how AI models interpret and value information. Schema markup matters more. E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) matters more. And being the clearest, most cited answer in your niche? That matters most.
Challenges for Traditional SEO in the AI Era
Traditional SEO was built around a world where most searches ended with a click on a web result. In the AI era, a growing share of queries now end with a single AI‑generated answer and no click at all. That shift creates several challenges for classic SEO campaigns.
First, the “zero‑click” problem: when AI summarises 10 good articles into one neat paragraph, the user gets value, but most websites get no direct visit. Second, ranking factors are evolving. Links, keywords and on‑page signals still matter, but AI systems also look at trust, consistency, factual accuracy and brand authority across the whole web, not just on one domain.
Some of the biggest pain points for traditional SEO teams include:
- Less predictable traffic from informational keywords, even when rankings look strong.
- Brand visibility is being “hidden” inside AI answers without attribution or with partial credit.
- Difficulty tracking performance, because you can’t see “position 1” for an AI paragraph the same way you can on a SERP.
- Content written for keyword density and long-form depth is not structured in a way that AI can easily reuse.
GEO responds to these challenges by treating AI engines as a new distribution surface rather than an enemy. Instead of fighting zero‑click results, GEO aims to become the cited source inside those results.
Top 5 Generative Engine Optimisation Agencies
Growth Hackers
Growth Hackers is a performance‑driven digital marketing agency that helps brands scale their online visibility and revenue through data‑led strategies. Headquartered in Bengaluru, they work with both ambitious startups and large enterprises across industries such as financial services, sports, retail, and technology.
Their services typically span GEO, SEO, performance marketing, content marketing, social media, web design, and marketing analytics, allowing clients to manage most of their growth efforts under one roof. Over the years, Growth Hackers has partnered with well‑known names like Decathlon, ICICI, Universal Robots, and The New Indian Express, using experimentation and optimisation to turn traffic into tangible business results.
Schbang
Schbang is a creative, media, and technology agency that focuses on building brands end‑to‑end in the digital age. With a strong presence in India and a portfolio that spans FMCG, consumer tech, finance, and entertainment, they position themselves as a partner that can handle everything from brand strategy to execution.
Beyond classic digital marketing, Schbang offers services such as SEO, content and social media marketing, performance media, design, video, and technology solutions. This integrated model makes them a solid choice for brands that want GEO and SEO aligned with creative campaigns, storytelling, and full‑funnel digital experiences.
SEO Discovery
SEO Discovery is a long‑standing Indian digital marketing agency that started with search optimisation and has expanded into a full suite of online growth services. They are known for working with both global and domestic brands across multiple verticals, including ecommerce, IT, professional services, and local businesses.
Their offerings typically include GEO support, SEO, PPC, content marketing, link building, and social media campaigns, making them a fit for businesses that want to modernise traditional SEO with AI‑ready content. As AI‑driven search grows, SEO Discovery has increasingly focused on structuring content and technical setups so brands can be discovered in both classic search and generative experiences.
EZ Ranking
Established in 2010, EZ Rankings is another leading GEO agency in India, Noida. Having expertise, the team is highly dedicated to help many businesses in maintaining their brand reputation management. Their agency is also highly committed to delivering measurable results and ROI for their clients.
They serve E-commerce, IT and Software, Healthcare, and many other industries with top clients such as Honeywell, Yatra, CoverFox, and more.
WebFX India
WebFX India brings the processes and technology stack of a global agency network into the Indian market, with a particular strength in data‑driven SEO and AI‑age visibility. They specialise in helping multi‑location and enterprise brands maintain a consistent presence across search, listings, and AI‑powered discovery channels.
Services typically include GEO, SEO, content marketing, local and franchise SEO, paid media, and analytics, all supported by proprietary reporting tools and dashboards. This makes WebFX India especially attractive to retail chains, hospitality groups, and large service networks that need scalable optimisation and unified performance tracking across many cities and touchpoints.
GEO Services to expect
AI-optimised content creation
A good GEO agency will reshape your content so AI assistants can easily quote and reuse it inside their answers. This usually means writing clear, self‑contained sections, using natural question–answer formats, tightening explanations, and supporting claims with credible references so models see your pages as safe, trustworthy sources. Expect them to optimise not just blog posts, but also landing pages, FAQs, product descriptions, and comparison guides for AI readability, context, and factual consistency.
Prompt-style keyword research
Instead of only targeting short keywords, GEO teams analyse full, conversational prompts that users actually type or speak into AI tools and search boxes. These can look like “Which is better for small businesses, X or Y?” or “step‑by‑step guide to…” rather than “best X software”. The agency will then design content around these natural questions and prompt patterns, increasing the chances that AI systems lift your answers directly when users ask something similar.
Schema and structured data enrichment
Structured data is crucial for helping both traditional search engines and generative systems understand who you are, what you offer, and how different pieces of information relate. A GEO provider will add or refine schema types such as Organisation, Product, FAQPage, HowTo, Article, and LocalBusiness so your content is machine‑readable and easy to slot into AI summaries. Done well, this enrichment clarifies entities (brands, people, places, offers) and reduces ambiguity, which is exactly what large language models need to generate accurate answers.
LLM Visibility Audit
GEO agencies increasingly run audits that look at how visible and well‑represented your brand is across major AI assistants and generative search experiences. This can include testing dozens of relevant prompts, capturing whether your brand is mentioned or cited, and comparing that presence to key competitors. The audit then translates into a roadmap: which topics need better coverage, which pages require restructuring, and where authority, reviews, or off‑site signals must be strengthened to improve your standing with large language models.
Local & global AI search optimisation
For businesses with specific locations or international audiences, GEO work must account for both local and global discovery. Locally, the focus is on accurate NAP (name, address, phone) data, reviews, maps listings, and region‑specific content so AI tools can confidently recommend your business for “near me” or city‑based queries. Globally, agencies align language, hreflang, and country‑specific content with a consistent brand entity graph, helping AI systems understand you as one unified organisation across markets and languages
How to Choose the Right GEO Agency
Choosing a GEO partner is less about who has the fanciest AI buzzwords and more about who understands your business model, audience and current search footprint. A good agency should be able to explain, in plain language, how generative search actually moves revenue for you.
Here are practical criteria to evaluate:
- • Clarity of the GEO approach
- • Can they explain how they structure content for AI answers, not just for keywords?
- • Do they have examples of content that now appears in AI snapshots, chat answers or overviews?
- • Measurement and reporting
- • How will they track brand mentions and citations across AI platforms?
- • Do they connect those insights back to leads, sign‑ups, demo requests or sales?
- • Technical and content balance
- • Can they handle schema, site structure and performance as well as copywriting and UX?
- • Do they understand your CMS, analytics stack and any existing SEO work?
- • Industry fit and use cases
- • Have they worked with similar business models (B2B SaaS, ecommerce, local services, marketplaces, etc.)?
- • Can they share anonymised case studies relevant to your sales cycle and deal size?
- • Collaboration style
- • Are they comfortable co‑creating content with your subject‑matter experts?
- • Do they provide frameworks, templates and training so your team can continue GEO work internally?
A simple test: ask each agency to walk through how they would rework one of your existing top‑performing articles for GEO. The quality of that answer often tells you more than any slide deck.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What’s the difference between GEO and SEO?
SEO focuses on ranking pages in traditional search results so people click through to your website. GEO focuses on getting your content cited inside AI‑generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity
- Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. GEO is extending SEO, not replacing it. You still need strong technical SEO and authority, while GEO adds a new layer that helps your brand “be the answer” inside AI search.
- How do I measure GEO agency success?
You measure GEO success by how often your content appears or is cited in AI‑generated answers for your target queries, and whether that visibility drives leads or revenue. Good agencies will track AI answer inclusion rate, brand mentions, and conversion lift from GEO‑optimised pages over time.
- Do all SEO agencies offer SEO?
No, many SEO agencies still focus mainly on classic rankings and have not formalised GEO services yet. Some quietly apply GEO principles to content, but only a subset actively markets dedicated GEO or AI‑search optimisation packages.
