Your Customers Now Ask ChatGPT, Not Google — Is Your Business Visible in AI Search?
20 August 2026 · 7 min read · by Pooja Soft Solutions
Quick answer: AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) make your business appear in AI-generated answers on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. The essentials: structured data (schema), direct answer-style content, an llms.txt file, allowing AI crawlers in robots.txt, and consistent business information across the web.
The shift nobody can ignore
When someone asks ChatGPT "best interior designer in Vijayawada" or "which billing software should a small shop buy", there is no page two. The AI either recommends you — or it recommends your competitor. Most business owners have never even checked what AI says about them.
AEO vs GEO — what's the difference?
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) targets answer boxes and voice assistants: structure your content so a machine can lift a direct answer from it. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) targets generative AI: make your business legible and credible to LLMs so they mention and cite you in generated answers. In practice, the work overlaps heavily.
The practical checklist
- Schema markup — Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage in JSON-LD on every relevant page.
- Answer-first content — open each page with a 40–60 word direct answer to the main question that page targets.
- FAQ sections — real questions customers ask, answered concisely, marked up with FAQPage schema.
- llms.txt — a plain-text summary of your business at yourdomain.com/llms.txt that AI crawlers read.
- robots.txt — explicitly allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and other AI crawlers.
- Consistent NAP — identical name, address and phone across your site, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Real reviews — AI engines weigh reputation signals; genuine Google reviews matter more than ever.
How to check where you stand
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the exact questions your customers would ask, and note whether you are mentioned, at what position, and whether your website is cited. Our desktop tool GrowKitt automates exactly this — it scans all major AI engines, scores your visibility 0–100 and produces a fix-it list. Every website we build at Pooja Soft Solutions ships with this checklist already implemented.