Services · SEO & GEO
When customers ask an AI, be the answer.
Search is moving into conversation. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews answer the question themselves, name a few sources and leave the rest invisible. GEO (generative engine optimization) makes you one of the names.
Why it matters now
Gartner's 2024 prediction for how far traditional search engine volume falls by 2026 as people turn to AI chatbots.
Gartner, 2024 ↗How much more strongly branded web mentions correlated with appearing in Google's AI Overviews than backlinks did (0.664 vs 0.218).
Ahrefs, 75,000 brands ↗Semrush's estimate of what the average visitor from AI search is worth, compared with an average organic search visitor.
Semrush, 2025 ↗Industry numbers from the sources named, not a Pilgud promise. What we can promise is the process and the measurement.
What is GEO?
GEO (generative engine optimization) is the work of making your business easy for AI assistants to find, understand, trust and quote. It's close to what some call AEO (answer engine optimization); in practice it's the same job.
Classic SEO competes for where your link sits on a results page. GEO competes for whether the AI lifts your sentence into its answer. SEO stays the foundation: AI assistants read the same public web, and most of them search it before they answer – but GEO adds a layer: a machine-readable structure, stand-alone sentences worth quoting, and an identity the web agrees on.
What tends to decide who gets cited: whether clear claims can be lifted out of your pages, whether headings split the content logically, whether there's structured data, whether the rest of the web talks about you, how fresh the content is, and whether experience and expertise are visible. We wrote the long version in GEO, explained.
How we do it
01 GEO audit
We review your site across six factors: citability, brand authority, content E-E-A-T, technical access for AI crawlers, structured data and presence on the platforms AI assistants draw from. You get a score and a prioritised plan: what to fix now, what this month. For a first picture right away, run the free GEO readiness checker.
02 A machine-readable site
We let the right crawlers in, add structured data (Organization, Service, Article, FAQPage, LocalBusiness), make headings real headings, create an llms.txt, and make sure the content is in the server-rendered HTML, not hidden behind JavaScript that a crawler never runs.
03 Citable content
We write plain two-to-three-sentence answers on your key pages that an AI can quote directly, build FAQ pages from real customer questions, and publish definitions and cases with a date and an author. Metaphors are lovely; an AI needs facts.
04 Entity authority
We make your name, address and contacts identical everywhere, link your site to your real profiles with sameAs, and help you earn the first independent mentions: directories, reviews, press. It's the same work that turns your business from "a domain" into an entity an AI recognises.
pilgud.com is where we test the method first: this site has structured data on every page, an llms.txt, authored and dated guides, and an English and Estonian version of everything. We do what we recommend.
The real result
Ask ChatGPT who the best window cleaners in Tallinn are, and the first answer is Aknaässad, our own window-cleaning business, where we test the method we describe here first (the full case). It recommends them with their rating, review count and starting price, straight in the conversation. That isn't classic SEO; it's an AI recommending the business by name.
Where Pilgud fits
Classic Google rankings are covered by our separate SEO service; GEO builds on top of it.
GEO usually starts as a project with a clear start and end (the audit and the first implementation) and continues as ongoing work on content and mentions. Which one suits you, we agree after the audit. It sits naturally next to our other services, and it's included in how we build every landing page.
FAQ
What is GEO and how is it different from SEO?
GEO (generative engine optimization) makes AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews) find, understand and quote your content. SEO competes for the position of your link on a results page; GEO competes for your sentence inside the answer. SEO is the foundation, GEO adds a layer.
Does GEO replace SEO and Google?
No. Classic search isn't disappearing and SEO stays the foundation, because AI assistants read the same web. In practice you do both at once, and the same work serves both.
How long does GEO take to show results?
The technical part (crawler access, structured data, headings, llms.txt) can take effect within days to weeks. Citability and entity authority grow over months, as crawlers revisit and the web starts mentioning you.
How do you measure GEO?
By asking the assistants your customers' real questions every month and logging who gets named and cited, by watching referral traffic from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and similar sources in your analytics, and by checking crawler access and structured data on your pages.
Can a small business really show up in AI answers?
Yes, often more easily than on Google's first page for a competitive term. AI assistants reward clear structure, quotable facts and consistent entity signals, not just domain age. In a small market like Estonia, moving early counts for a lot.
What is llms.txt?
A plain text file at your site's root that gives AI systems a map of your most important content, like a sitemap but written for language models. It's a proposal, not a standard: no major AI company has confirmed using it, so we treat it as a cheap extra, not the core of the work.
Another set of eyes
Want this done for you?
Pilgud Agent reads your business and turns what it finds into campaigns you approve. Or talk to our team – a strategist replies within one working day.
