AEO and GEO in two sentences
Answer engine optimisation (AEO) means shaping your pages so that an assistant can lift a clear, correct answer from them. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the wider job of making your business visible and accurately described in AI-generated answers, which also depends on what other sites say about you.
In practice they overlap almost entirely with good technical SEO. The difference is a few extra checks: Bing, the AI crawlers, and what the assistants actually say about you.
How AI assistants choose their sources
Each assistant works a little differently, and none of them publishes a full recipe:
- ChatGPT search uses OpenAI’s own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, alongside third-party search providers. OpenAI’s crawler documentation says sites that block OAI-SearchBot won’t be shown in ChatGPT search answers, apart from navigational links.
- Microsoft Copilot runs on Bing’s index. A site that isn’t in Bing is at a disadvantage from the start.
- Google AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on Google’s index. Google states that a page only needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet: there are no extra technical requirements.
- All of them cross-check facts and lean on what others say: reviews, directories, trade bodies and local press.
So the work splits into two parts: making your own site easy to read and trust, and making the facts about your business consistent everywhere else.
What we do
Let the right crawlers in
We check your robots.txt and your firewall or CDN settings, so search crawlers and AI search crawlers can read the site. Training crawlers, such as GPTBot, are a separate choice: you can block training and still allow search. We set it the way you decide, not by accident.
Bing as well as Google
We set up Bing Webmaster Tools next to Google Search Console and submit your sitemap to both. On b63.eu we also ping IndexNow on every deploy, which tells Bing about a changed page straight away.
Structured data
We describe your business, services and pages in schema.org markup: name, address, opening hours, services, and links to your official profiles elsewhere. It has to match what’s visible on the page, so we keep the two in step whenever the content changes.
Consistent facts
We compare the facts on your site with your Google Business Profile: name, address, phone, hours, services. Where a directory or old listing disagrees, we tell you which one and what to change.
Pages that answer first
Each important page opens with two or three sentences that say what you do, where, for whom and what it costs or what the price depends on. One page per main service, with headings that match how people ask. This is the passage an assistant is most likely to quote.
Content in the HTML
Every page on a B63 custom-built site is delivered as finished HTML, so crawlers that don’t run JavaScript still see your services, prices and contact details. On WordPress sites we check the same thing.
llms.txt, as an optional extra
llms.txt is a proposed standard for summarising a site for AI tools. Google says you don’t need it for its AI features, and the big assistants don’t document relying on it. b63.eu publishes one because it costs almost nothing; we add one for you on the same terms, not as a selling point.
What we won’t promise
We won’t promise that ChatGPT, Copilot or Google will name you. Nobody controls that, and anyone selling “guaranteed AI rankings” is selling something they can’t deliver. What we can do is make sure nothing on your site stands in the way, and show you what’s happening.
How we check it
- A fixed set of questions your customers would ask, put to ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity and Google at intervals, noting whether you’re mentioned, whether the facts are right and which sources are cited. Our guide on getting recommended by ChatGPT explains the same test so you can run it yourself.
- Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools impressions and indexing.
- Visits from AI assistants in your analytics, which show up as referrals from sites such as chatgpt.com.
What it costs
- Monthly plan: included. €0 upfront, then €150 per month excl. VAT for 24 months, together with hosting, maintenance, changes, technical SEO and search engine setup.
- One-time builds and existing sites: priced on request, depending on the site and what it needs.
There is no separate AI search fee on the plan. See the pricing page for the full comparison.
Where to start
- Not sure whether search engines can read your site at all? Run the free website check.
- If the site doesn’t show up on Google either, fix that first: why a website doesn’t show up on Google.
- The technical groundwork behind all of this is on our SEO and page speed page.
FAQ
Is AI search optimisation different from SEO?
Mostly not. Being indexed, consistent, trusted and clear is good SEO too. The additions are Bing, the AI crawlers and checking what the assistants say about you.
Can I pay to appear in ChatGPT’s answers?
No. There’s no paid placement in ChatGPT’s organic answers.
How long does it take?
Getting indexed in Bing can take days to weeks. Reviews and mentions on other sites build over months. That’s why we check at intervals rather than once.
Want to know where you stand? Get in touch and tell us which questions your customers ask.