GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the work of making your business the answer that AI tools give. When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI Overviews "which agency in Dubai should I hire?" or "best nursery near JVC", the AI names a handful of businesses. GEO is how you become one of them.
This matters now because the way people search has changed. OpenAI reported 1.2 billion weekly ChatGPT users in September 2026 (Superlines, citing OpenAI). On Google itself, a 2026 field study found AI Overviews cut organic clicks to websites by 38% on the searches where they appear (Search Engine Journal). If your customers get their answer without clicking, being named inside that answer is what counts.
How is GEO different from SEO?
SEO gets your pages ranked in Google’s list of links. GEO gets your business named, quoted or recommended inside an AI-generated answer. The two overlap more than most agencies admit: AI tools lean heavily on pages that already rank and are easy to read.
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank your page in search results | Be named in the AI’s answer |
| Where it shows | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews |
| What the engine needs | Relevant pages, links, technical health | Clear facts, consistent business details, trusted mentions across the web |
| How you measure it | Rankings, clicks, enquiries | How often AI tools mention and recommend you |
The short version: SEO is still the foundation. GEO is what you build on top of it so AI tools can understand, trust and quote you.
What do AI tools look at before recommending a business?
AI tools do not pick businesses at random. They piece together what the web says about you. In our audits of UAE websites, the same five things decide whether a business gets mentioned:
- Clear answers on your own website. Pages that state plainly what you do, where, for whom and at what level, in short sentences an AI can lift.
- Structured data. Schema markup that labels your business name, address, services, reviews and FAQs, so machines do not have to guess.
- Consistent business details everywhere. The same name, address, phone number and website on Google Business Profile, Apple, Bing, directories and social media. Conflicting details make AI tools less confident.
- Reviews and mentions on other sites. Google reviews, directory listings, press coverage and articles that name you. AI tools trust what others say about you more than what you say about yourself.
- Access for AI crawlers. Many websites block AI crawlers without knowing it, through their robots.txt file or hosting settings. If ChatGPT cannot read your site, it cannot recommend you.
What does GEO look like in practice?
One Dubai real estate client came to us scoring 24/100 on our SEO and GEO audit. Their website was hard for both Google and AI tools to read, with missing page titles, no structured data and business details that did not match across platforms. After the fixes were implemented, the same audit scored 95/100.
None of that work was a trick. It was making the business easy to understand, consistent and verifiable, which is exactly what both search engines and AI tools reward.
Where should a UAE business start?
Start by finding out where you stand today. Ask ChatGPT and Gemini the questions your customers would ask, such as "best [your service] in Dubai", and note whether you appear, who appears instead, and what the AI says about you.
Then fix the foundations in this order:
- Make sure AI crawlers can access your website.
- Clean up your Google Business Profile and make your business details identical everywhere.
- Rewrite your key pages so each one answers one clear question.
- Add structured data for your business, services and FAQs.
- Build mentions on trusted sites: directories, reviews and articles in UAE media.
If you would rather not guess, our SEO & GEO service covers the audit and the fixes in one plan.