AI SEO · GEO · Agentic SEO
AI SEO: get your business recommended by ChatGPT
More and more buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity which business to choose, and get two or three names back instead of ten links. AI SEO, also called generative engine optimization (GEO), is the work of becoming one of those names.
Free · About 60 seconds · We ask ChatGPT a real buyer question about your business, live
AI SEO vs classic SEO
Classic SEO
Ranks a page in a list of links. Success is a position and a click.
AI SEO (GEO)
Gets your business named inside the answer. Success is being recommended, or cited as a source, when someone asks for what you sell.
They overlap: a site AI can read and trust helps both. But a business can rank well on Google and still be missing from AI answers, and the reverse.
What AI assistants rely on when they recommend a business
A site they can read
AI crawlers must be allowed in, and your pages must carry real text, not content that only appears after JavaScript runs.
Clear facts about you
What you sell, for whom, where, and at what price, stated plainly in your titles, descriptions and structured data.
Other sites that mention you
Directories, comparison articles, review sites and city or category lists. Assistants lean on these more than on your own site.
Answers to buyer questions
Pages that answer the exact questions people ask (pricing, how to choose, alternatives) give assistants something to quote.
What about "AI SEO agents" and agentic SEO?
An AI SEO agent is software that does SEO tasks for you, such as writing content or editing pages. That can save time, but it doesn't tell you whether AI assistants actually recommend you, which is the result that matters. Operato starts there: it measures what ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity answer to your buyers' questions every week, shows who they name instead of you and which sources they rely on, then gives you a ranked list of fixes, including ready-to-use structured data and an llms.txt file.
Five steps to start with AI SEO
- Let AI crawlers in: check that GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot are allowed in your robots.txt.
- State what you do and where: one clear sentence in your homepage title and description, plus Organization and FAQ structured data.
- Get onto the lists AI reads: the directories, comparison articles and city pages that come up when you ask an assistant about your category.
- Answer buyer questions on your own site: pricing, how to choose, alternatives, each on a page an assistant can quote.
- Measure every week: ask the questions your customers ask, on every assistant, and track who gets named. Answers change from one week, and one run, to the next.
A real example: the city in the question changes everything
One small studio we track was named third out of six when ChatGPT was asked for a recommendation in its city. On the same questions without the city, it was not named once across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. Same business, same week. For a local business, AI SEO means tracking the questions with your area in them.
Track your AI visibility every week
Start with the free AI Readiness Score and a live ChatGPT check. Then a 14-day free trial, no credit card, and plans from $99 a month covering all four assistants.
Free · About 60 seconds · We ask ChatGPT a real buyer question about your business, live
Questions about AI SEO
What is AI SEO?
AI SEO is the practice of making a business visible in the answers of AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, so that it gets recommended or cited when buyers ask about its category.
Is GEO the same as AI SEO?
Mostly, yes. Generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) are other names for the same goal: being part of the answer an AI assistant gives, not only a link in a results page.
What is agentic SEO?
Agentic SEO usually means using AI agents to carry out SEO tasks automatically. It is a way of doing the work. AI SEO is the outcome you measure: whether assistants name you.
How long does AI SEO take?
Technical fixes such as crawler access and structured data can be done in a day. Being named more often depends on other sites mentioning you, which usually takes weeks to months, so it is worth measuring weekly.
Can I check my AI visibility for free?
Yes. The free AI Readiness Score checks whether AI assistants can read your site and asks ChatGPT a real buyer question about your business, live, in about 60 seconds.