SEO and GEO: A Dual Strategy for Google and AI Search Engines

Last updated: August 2026

More and more Google searches end without a click because the answer is shown right in the search results. At the same time, use of AI search engines such as ChatGPT Search, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews is growing markedly. For SMEs, this means SEO alone is no longer enough. You need a dual strategy.

What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

GEO means optimising web content so that AI search engines use it as a source. When a user asks ChatGPT "Which tax adviser in Graz is good?", you want your name to appear in the answer. SEO & Generative Engine Optimisation combines both approaches.

The difference from SEO: with Google, you optimise for an algorithm that evaluates links, keywords and technical signals. With AI search engines, you optimise for a language model that understands the meaning of content, assesses sources and summarises answers.

Why SMEs need to take GEO seriously

• AI search engines are used more and more — for research and purchasing decisions; this is no longer a fringe phenomenon
• Visitors from AI answers are often more ready to buy — they arrive with a specific question and are already far along in their decision process
• If you don't optimise now, you will be overtaken by competitors who do — AI search engines favour sources with a clear structure and expertise

The 5 pillars of a GEO strategy

1. Structured data (Schema.org)

AI models prefer machine-readable data. Schema.org markup such as FAQPage, HowTo, LocalBusiness and Product schema gives the model structured facts instead of unstructured body text it has to interpret.

2. E-E-A-T on steroids

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness: in AI search, this counts even more than on Google. Articles attributed to named authors, real case studies, transparent company information and verifiable facts are the signals AI models classify as "trustworthy".

3. Quick-answer optimisation

Every important page needs a concise, factual summary (150–300 characters); this is the text AI search engines quote as a snippet. We call it "quickAnswer" and implement it on every service page.

4. Technical SEO as the foundation

Fast loading times (measured by Google as Core Web Vitals), a clean URL structure, correct language references (hreflang) and an overview of the site for search engines (XML sitemap) remain the basis. Without a technically clean website, neither Google nor AI bots can crawl your content efficiently. Custom web development with Next.js delivers top scores here.

5. Allow AI crawlers

Many websites block AI crawlers in their robots.txt, often without realising it. For GEO, the crawlers of AI services such as OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic) and PerplexityBot must not be blocked in robots.txt. Google-Extended, by contrast, only concerns the use of your content for training Gemini, not its display in Google AI Overviews. We configure this so that your content is indexed by AI search engines.

Practical example: EA Digital Solutions

Our own website is a living GEO test case. After the optimisation, our website appeared as a source in our own tests with ChatGPT and Perplexity for questions on our core topics, such as AI consulting in Graz and system integration in Austria.

What we did: Schema.org on every page, quickAnswer fields for all service pages, AI crawlers allowed in robots.txt, E-E-A-T content with clear information on author, location and services, and a cluster-pillar structure that builds topical authority.

SEO vs. GEO: which comes first?

The good news: most GEO measures also help classic SEO. Structured data, fast loading times, high-quality content and technical cleanliness are signals for both channels.

Our recommendation: build SEO first (the foundation), then add GEO-specific optimisations (Schema.org, quickAnswers, AI crawler configuration). It is not either-or, but both.

GEO checklist: how to check your own website

With these questions, you can see in a few minutes where your website stands:

• Are AI crawlers allowed? Open your robots.txt and check whether GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot are blocked.
• Is there structured data? Google's Rich Results Test shows whether your organisation, services and FAQ are recognised as Schema.org markup.
• Does every important page answer a question directly? The key message belongs in the first two sentences, not in the third paragraph.
• Is it clear who is writing? Author name, qualifications and company details strengthen the trust of readers and AI systems.
• Is the content up to date? Outdated years and prices are a strong signal against your page.

Our free GEO Checker gives you an automatic quick check. Our article on Schema.org for Google Jobs shows what structured data looks like in practice.