Practice 02 · Branding & communicationsGEO: be cited when your customers ask an AI

A growing share of searches no longer goes through a list of links. Your customers put their question to ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini, or read the generated answer at the top of Google’s results. Those answers cite a few sources and ignore many others. GEO, short for generative engine optimisation and sometimes called GSO (generative search optimisation), means making your business understandable, verifiable and quotable for these systems.

Check whether AI assistants cite my company

A test on your key questions, written feedback, free

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At a glanceVisibility in AI search (GEO): the essentials

Who it is for: Companies whose customers now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google’s AI answers, and that want to be cited there.
What you get: A measurement of your presence on a fixed set of questions, content rewritten to be picked up, structured data and work on your external presence.
When it takes effect: The first changes in citations are usually measurable within 2 to 4 months, depending on how often the assistants update.
Typical budget: €1,500 to €4,000 excl. VAT for an audit, €500 to €2,000 excl. VAT per month for monitoring.

Get an estimate See indicative prices

Who it is for, and whenWhen should you work on your visibility in AI assistants?

The subject becomes concrete as soon as your customers use these tools to compare or choose.

You ask an AI assistant about your trade and your region, and it is always your competitors who get cited.
Your traffic is falling while your Google rankings hold steady, because the generated answer is enough for the user.
The assistants describe your offer, prices or service area inaccurately, from outdated information.
You sell expertise that buyers research at length before contacting anyone.

Inside a generated answerWhat makes a page worth citing as a source

An assistant does not necessarily cite the highest-ranking page: it picks the one it can extract a reliable answer from, tied to a business it can identify and confirmed by other sources. The five signals below guarantee no citation; they remove the reasons to leave you out.

Clear entitiesWho you are, what you do and where: named without ambiguity, the same way everywhere.
Structured dataMarkup confirms what the page states: organisation, offer, questions, author.
Direct answersA sentence that answers at the top of each section, clear enough to be quoted as is.

AI assistant

How do I choose scheduling software for a construction company?

First, check that the software brings crews, equipment and sites together in a single view. 1 Tools built for construction take site contingencies and the weather into account. 2 Then compare mobile use for field crews, the link with payroll and the cost per user. 13 A trial on a real site remains the best test.

Sources

1your-site.com your pageConstruction scheduling software: how to choose
2a-trade-magazine.comPlanning your sites around the unexpected
3a-comparison-site.comScheduling software compared

Third-party mentionsAssistants cross-check: directories, media and partners must say the same thing.
FreshnessOffer, prices and dates kept up to date; outdated information gets someone else cited.

Schematic interface and fictitious answer, not modelled on any existing assistant. Citations vary with the wording, the moment and the model.

The scopeWhat Kopus puts in place for GEO

The work starts with measurement: a set of questions representative of your customers’ questions is put regularly to the main assistants, and we record who is cited, with what information and from which sources. That is the baseline, and the point of comparison for everything that follows.

Next comes content. Assistants pick up passages that answer a question directly, with precise facts, definitions and clear comparisons. We restructure your pages accordingly: explicit answers at the top of each section, frequently asked questions written to be quoted as they stand, sourced figures and honest comparison pages.

Finally, the consistency of your identity online: name, activity, area, offer and proof must be described the same way on your website, in your structured data, your business profiles, directories and the media that cover you. Assistants cross-check their sources; contradictory or missing information leads them to cite someone else. If you wish, we also open your site to AI crawlers through your robots.txt file and an llms.txt file.

A review of your presence in AI answers.
Content written to be quoted as it stands.
A consistent identity on your site and elsewhere.

How we measureHow we measure your presence in AI answers

Assistants’ answers vary from one wording and one day to the next. A measurement is only worth something if the protocol is stable: same questions, same assistants, same rhythm.

The questions
We set with you 20 to 50 questions your customers actually ask: comparisons, prices, recommendations, local questions.
The assistants
Each question is put to the main assistants, under the same conditions, at regular intervals.
The records
For each answer: are you cited, in what position, alongside whom, with which source, and is the information accurate?
The analysis
The sources the AI assistants pick up show where to act: your pages, third-party sites, directories, comparison pages.

Assistants tracked

ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini
Google AI answers
Copilot

Dashboard indicators

Citation rate per question
Brand mentions
Sources cited
Competitors cited
Errors found and corrected
Month-on-month trend

The methodHow a GEO engagement unfolds

Baseline measurement
Reference questions, assistants queried, sources cited, position of your business and your competitors.
Audit of your content and presence
Pages, structured data, AI crawler access, consistency of information on third-party sites.
Rewriting and enrichment
Direct answers, FAQs, definition and comparison pages, proof and verifiable data.
External presence
Profiles, specialist directories, press relations and content published with recognised partners.
Periodic tracking
A new round of questions, change in citations, adjusted priorities.

SEO and GEOWhere do AI assistants get their answers?

Each assistant relies on different sources, which explains why a company is cited by one and not another. SEO remains the common foundation.

	Where it looks	What helps you get cited
Google AI answers	Google’s index and its business data.	Well-ranked pages, explicit answers, structured data and an up-to-date business profile.
ChatGPT	Its own knowledge and, for recent questions, a web search.	Clear, quotable pages and a consistent presence on recognised third-party sites.
Perplexity	A web search for every question, always citing sources.	Recent, factual content with figures and direct answers.
Gemini	The Google ecosystem and the web.	The same foundations as for Google, and consistent information everywhere.
Copilot	Bing’s index.	A website well indexed by Bing, as well as Google.

How assistants work changes often; these trends are checked in every audit.

Indicative pricesHow much does GEO cost?

At Kopus, a GEO audit usually costs €1,500 to €4,000 excl. VAT depending on the number of questions tracked and assistants tested. Content optimisation sits between €2,000 and €10,000 excl. VAT depending on the number of pages, and monthly monitoring between €500 and €2,000 excl. VAT per month. GEO builds on sound SEO: where the basics are missing, we start there.

GEO audit

€1,500–€4,000 excl. VAT

Knowing whether, how and alongside whom AI assistants talk about you.

20 to 50 questions tested
Several assistants compared
Cited sources and errors recorded

Typical timing: 2 to 3 weeks

Request a quote

Content optimisation

€2,000–€10,000 excl. VAT

Making your pages easy to understand, verify and cite.

Direct answers and verifiable facts
Structured data and entities
Consistent public information

Typical timing: 3 to 8 weeks

Request a quote

Monthly monitoring

€500–€2,000 excl. VAT / month

Measuring citations on a stable protocol and adjusting.

Monthly citation measurement
Presence on third-party sites
Recommendations and adjustments

Typical timing: recommended commitment: 6 months

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What makes the price vary

The number of questions tracked and assistants tested.
The number of pages to rewrite or create.
The markets and languages targeted.
The starting state of your SEO.
External presence work: directories, media, listings and reviews.

Recurring costs

Monthly citation monitoring: €500 to €2,000 excl. VAT per month
Report and monthly review: included in monitoring
Additional content: fixed price, quoted

Indicative ranges, excluding VAT. Nobody can guarantee a citation: we measure your presence on a fixed protocol and track how it changes over time.

Your project deserves a precise quote

Describe it in a few lines, even without a specification: we will come back to you with a reasoned estimate and the possible options.

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Our positionOur conviction: you do not manipulate an AI, you make its job easier

Techniques that promise to force an AI assistant’s hand last as long as the model version they exploit. What works over time is being the clearest and most reliable source on your subject: sharp answers, verifiable facts and a consistent identity everywhere. That is also why GEO does not replace SEO: it builds on it, and extends the same effort towards clarity to a new kind of reader. Citations vary from one question and one day to the next, so we measure trends, not guaranteed positions.

Your questionsFrequently asked questions about this service

What is GEO?

Generative engine optimisation covers the work that increases the likelihood of a business being cited or recommended in the answers of AI assistants and answer-generating search engines. The term GSO, generative search optimisation, describes the same approach.

What is the difference between GEO and SEO?

SEO aims for a position in a list of results; GEO aims for a mention in a written answer. Both rely on useful content and an accessible website, but GEO puts more emphasis on direct answers, verifiable data and the consistency of your presence on third-party sites.

Can you guarantee being cited by ChatGPT or Perplexity?

No. Answers vary with the wording, the moment and the model. We measure how often you are cited across a fixed set of questions and track how that changes over time.

Do we need an llms.txt file?

It is still an experimental initiative: no proven ranking benefit and no guarantee of being cited. We can set it up, since it costs almost nothing, but what matters is clear pages, structured data and a robots.txt that allows the crawlers you choose.

Is GEO relevant for small businesses too?

Yes, particularly for local or highly specialised questions, where assistants have few reliable sources. A business that is well described and consistent then has a good chance of being picked up.

How do you appear in ChatGPT?

By being easy to find, understand and verify: pages that answer your customers’ questions directly, consistent information on your website and on third-party sites, structured data, and a website open to the assistants’ crawlers. No action guarantees a citation, but these foundations clearly increase the likelihood.

Does GEO replace SEO?

No, it extends it. Assistants rely largely on the pages search engines consider reliable: without solid SEO, GEO has little to work with. GEO adds work on the shape of answers and on your presence beyond your own website.

How much does GEO cost?

At Kopus, allow €1,500 to €4,000 excl. VAT for a GEO audit, €2,000 to €10,000 excl. VAT to optimise content and €500 to €2,000 excl. VAT per month for citation monitoring.