You've probably heard of SEO. Search engine optimization — the practice of making your business show up higher on Google. Most business owners have at least a passing understanding of it.

GEO is newer and less familiar. Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of making your business show up when someone asks an AI — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok — for a recommendation.

The distinction matters because AI answers work differently than search results. There's no page two. There's no list of ten links to scroll through. The AI picks a few businesses to name, or sometimes just one, and presents them as the answer.

If you're not in that answer, you don't exist in that moment.

Why This Is Urgent Now

The adoption numbers are not projections anymore. More than 50% of consumers now use AI tools for local recommendations, according to data cited by Durable (the website builder that just released a GEO tracking tool called Discoverability). That figure has been rising steadily and is expected to continue.

This isn't a "prepare for the future" story. Your customers are doing this right now. The question is whether your business is showing up in what they're hearing back.

What AI Systems Actually Use to Build Their Answers

Understanding this is the key to acting on it.

AI language models don't search the web in real-time for every query (though some do use search tools for current information). More importantly, they're trained on, and pulled from, a broad ecosystem of data: business directories, review platforms, your website, news mentions, and trusted sources that aggregate business information.

The signals that matter for GEO are different from classic SEO signals. Links matter less. Structured, direct answers to real questions matter more.

Here's what affects whether you show up:

• Consistency of your NAP data (name, address, phone number) across every directory and platform where your business is listed
• Review volume and quality on Google, Yelp, and industry-specific platforms
• Direct answers to questions that people actually ask about businesses in your category
• Citations from credible sources — local news, industry publications, notable directories
• Structured data on your website — particularly FAQ and LocalBusiness schema markup

7 Things You Can Do This Week

1. Audit your NAP data everywhere. Your business name, address, and phone number should be identical on Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, Apple Maps, and every directory where you're listed. Even small inconsistencies — "St." vs. "Street," old phone numbers, slightly different business names — confuse the systems that aggregate this data and feed AI tools.

Use a free tool like Moz Local, BrightLocal, or Yext (some offer free audits) to find inconsistencies. Fix them.

2. Update your Google Business Profile completely. This remains one of the highest-leverage things any local business can do. Make sure your hours, categories, services, and description are accurate and current. Add photos. Answer questions that customers have posted.

Google's data feeds into most AI tools. Your GBP is your most important single source.

3. Write FAQ content that matches real questions. Think about the five to ten questions customers ask you most often. Write them out and answer them directly on your website — ideally in a dedicated FAQ page with clear question-and-answer formatting.

AI systems are very good at pulling direct answers to specific questions. "What are your hours on Sunday?" "Do you offer financing?" "How far do you travel for service?" Put the question in, put the answer under it. Use plain language.

4. Add schema markup to your website. This sounds technical but isn't hard. FAQ schema and LocalBusiness schema are structured data formats that tell AI systems (and search engines) exactly what kind of business you are and what information is true about you.

If your website is on WordPress, there are free plugins that add this without code. On Squarespace or other platforms, you may need a developer for an hour. On Wix, built-in options exist. Worth doing.

5. Get more reviews, specifically. Ask customers to leave reviews right after a positive interaction. Volume and recency both matter. Reviews also provide AI systems with signals about what your business is known for — so what people say in their reviews matters, not just how many there are.

A business with 200 reviews mentioning "fast turnaround" and "great prices" will surface differently than one with the same star rating and generic reviews.

6. Get mentioned in local sources. A mention in a local news article, a regional business journal, a neighborhood blog, or an industry directory is a signal. Reach out to local business associations. Offer to be a source for relevant stories. Look for directories specific to your industry or city that have editorial credibility.

7. Track how you appear in AI tools. Ask ChatGPT and Gemini questions your customers would ask and see if your business comes up. Note what is and isn't accurate. This manual check is imperfect but gives you a baseline.

Durable's Discoverability dashboard (free to start) is the first tool built specifically to track AI visibility systematically. It's worth running your business through it.

What You're Building

GEO isn't a separate strategy from basic good business presence. It's an extension of the same hygiene that makes any marketing work: accurate information, proof of real customer satisfaction, clear answers to real questions.

The businesses that show up in AI recommendations will be the ones that have made that infrastructure solid. The work is available to anyone. Most local competitors haven't started.