GEO BASICS
How AI assistants decide which brands to recommend
By Rishabh Garg · [DATE] · 7 min read
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- AI assistants build answers from web searches, then pick a few sources to trust.
- Brands get named when their facts are consistent, clear and confirmed by others.
- You can measure this with Share of Answer, and improve it with the TUNE method.
AI starts with a search, not a memory
When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Google AI for a recommendation, the assistant usually runs one or more web searches in the background. It reads a handful of the pages it finds, then writes a single answer. If your pages never show up in those searches, the assistant has nothing to say about you.
It trusts what others say about you
Assistants lean heavily on third-party sources: review sites, community discussions, industry lists and news coverage. A brand mentioned consistently in those places looks safer to recommend than one that only describes itself on its own website.
“SEO gets you ranked. GEO gets you recommended.”
Four signals that get a brand named
- Trust: reviews and credentials that match across every profile.
- Understandability: pages that answer the question in the first lines.
- Network: mentions on the sites assistants cite most.
- Evidence: numbers, sources and original data worth quoting.
What does AI say about you today?
Free snapshot in two minutes.
What to do this month
- Ask four AI assistants the five questions your buyers ask most. Note who gets named.
- Write a 150-word fact sheet about your business and use it on every profile.
- Rewrite your top service page so the first two lines answer the main question.
- Ask your five happiest customers for a review on the platform your buyers use.
Sources: [List the studies or pages cited in this article, with links.]
Rishabh Garg
Founder of Adviol. Builds AI systems and helps brands get recommended by AI assistants.
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