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How to get found in ChatGPT: the complete GEO guide (2026)

How to get found in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews: how AI assistants choose businesses, our 7-step plan and our own Dutch research.

Geschreven door Annefleur van Osta, online marketing strateeg bij Game-changers

Written by Annefleur van Osta, online marketing strategist at Game-changers

November 9, 2026

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How to get found in ChatGPT: the complete GEO guide for 2026. Annefleur van Osta, Online marketing strategist at Game-changers

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Summary: how to get found in ChatGPT

You get found in ChatGPT when AI assistants can read your business, understand it and see it confirmed elsewhere. That is GEO: generative engine optimization. In practice it comes down to four things: allow AI crawlers on your website, keep your Google Business Profile complete with reviews, answer customer questions with concrete numbers and make sure other sites write about you. When we asked ChatGPT which agency it recommends in the Netherlands, every business it named came from Google Maps. At Game-changers, an SEO and GEO engagement starts from €500 a month excl. VAT, with no set-up fee.

What GEO is: Setting up your website and online mentions so that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention you and link to you.
Where ChatGPT gets its answer: In our test, all 38 agencies it named came from Google Maps, with their rating and number of reviews.
What works best: A complete business profile, reviews, pages that answer questions directly and mentions on other sites.
What it delivered for our client: Rug expertise centrum: 3.8 times more citations in AI answers and 40% more organic traffic.

What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?

GEO means making sure AI assistants mention your business when someone asks them a question. Think of “Which SEO agency in North Brabant do you recommend?” or “What does a new bathroom cost?”. The term comes from research by Princeton and others presented at the KDD conference in 2024. The researchers showed that changes to your text can make you up to 40% more visible in AI answers. Among other things, they tested citing sources, adding quotations and adding statistics.

You will also hear other names: AEO (answer engine optimization), AI SEO or LLM optimization. The goal is the same. The difference with SEO is mainly the outcome: with SEO you want a click from Google, with GEO you want to be named in the answer itself. Google says in its guidance on AI features that no special optimization is required for AI Overviews. Your page does need to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet in Google. So good SEO is the foundation of GEO. Read the difference between the two in SEO vs GEO: what is the difference.

You can see the shift in the numbers. According to DataForSEO, “wat kost seo” (what does SEO cost) is asked about 482 times a month in AI assistants in the Netherlands, against 40 times a month in Google. In Google itself, “geo optimalisatie” is already searched about 1,200 times a month according to Ahrefs, and “generative engine optimization” 1,400 times.

How does ChatGPT choose which businesses to mention?

In November 2026 we asked ChatGPT (with web search) and Perplexity six questions in Dutch, such as “Which SEO agency in the Netherlands do you recommend?” and “Which online marketing agency in Tilburg do you recommend?”. What we saw:

ChatGPT takes businesses from Google Maps: ChatGPT named 38 agencies in five answers. Every agency was linked to its Google Maps listing, with its rating and number of reviews.
Perplexity cites list articles and comparison sites: Perplexity based its answer on “best agencies” lists, review sites and comparison platforms. If you are not on them, you are not mentioned.
Google AI Overviews uses indexed pages: Only pages that are in Google and can show a snippet are eligible as a source.

The lesson: an AI assistant doesn’t invent recommendations, it summarises what it finds online. Your Google Business Profile carries a lot of weight. Google itself names relevance, distance and prominence as the three factors for local results, and says more reviews and positive ratings improve your position.

Diagram: where AI assistants get their answers. ChatGPT uses Google Maps listings with rating and reviews, Perplexity cites list articles, review sites and comparison sites, Google AI Overviews uses indexed pages with a snippet (own test by Game-changers, November 2026; Google Search Central).

Our 7-step plan to get found in ChatGPT

This is the order we follow with clients. You can often sort out the first three steps in an afternoon. The last four take structural work.

1. Allow AI crawlers

Check your robots.txt and your firewall (for example Cloudflare). OpenAI itself writes that sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.

2. Complete your Google Business Profile

Fill in your address, categories, services, opening hours and photos, and use the same phone number everywhere. Ask customers for a review as a routine.

3. Say who you are, what you do, where and at what price in your first sentence

AI assistants often take over the first sentences of a page. A vague slogan gives them nothing to quote.

4. Answer real customer questions with numbers

For each service, write out the questions customers ask, with a direct answer, a price indication and a source. Add an FAQ.

5. Add structured data

With schema markup such as LocalBusiness, Organization and FAQPage, you tell machines exactly who you are and what you offer.

6. Get others to write about you

Mentions on review sites, comparison platforms, industry sites and local news are the proof AI assistants need that you exist and are good.

7. Measure the same questions every month

Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google 20 to 30 questions your customers ask, and note whether you are named, which source is used and whether there is a link.

Want to know how this connects to regular search engine optimization? Read what our SEO and AEO involves and what SEO costs in 2026.

Our research: what the Dutch top 10 for “geo optimalisatie” tells you

On 9 November 2026 we reviewed the first ten Dutch Google results for “geo optimalisatie” (GEO optimization). For each page we checked whether it covered eight topics you need as a business owner to get GEO right.

What the page covers	Number of pages
Allowing AI crawlers	10 of 10
Mentions on other sites	10 of 10
Structured data	9 of 10
Reviews	7 of 10
How to measure whether you are named	6 of 10
The Google Business Profile	4 of 10
A client result with a number	4 of 10
A price	3 of 10

Only 4 of the 10 mention the Google Business Profile: Yet in our test ChatGPT took every business from exactly there. For local businesses, this is often the quickest win.
Only 6 of the 10 explain how to measure: Without a fixed question list you don’t know whether your work pays off. That is why measuring is step 7 in our plan.
Only 4 of the 10 show a result with a number: Ask every agency for a case with figures on AI visibility, not just Google rankings.

“An AI assistant doesn’t mention you because you say so yourself, but because others talk about you. Make sure your business profile is right, that customers leave reviews and that your website answers questions with real numbers. Then ChatGPT has something to point to.”

Annefleur van Osta

Online marketing strategist at Game-changers

How to measure whether you appear in AI answers

You can’t measure GEO properly with Google Analytics alone, because many people don’t click through from an AI answer. This is how we do it:

Make a fixed question list: Write down 20 to 30 questions your customers really ask, such as “What does an SEO agency cost?” or “Which physiotherapist in Tilburg do you recommend?”.
Ask them every month in four assistants: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google (AI Overviews and AI Mode). Always use the same wording.
Note three things: Are you named, which source does the assistant use, and is there a link to your site?
Look at your traffic too: In Google Analytics you can see visitors arriving from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai. Also record which leads say they found you through AI.

Good measurement is half the work outside GEO as well. Read how we set it up under Data & Tracking.

What GEO delivered for our clients

Two clients where we worked on SEO and AI visibility together, with the figures as they appear on our service page.

Rug expertise centrum: 3.8 times more citations in AI answers and 40% more organic traffic. We built an AI-assisted content engine in which experts review every article, so medically accurate articles for the whole franchise went online faster.
Healthcenter Vennewater: From one keyword in the top 20 to more than 20 keywords in the top 5, and the number 1 position in Google Maps in its own area. We renewed the content, the technical SEO and the local relevance.

Results of two Game-changers clients: Rug expertise centrum 3.8 times more citations in AI answers and 40% more organic traffic; Healthcenter Vennewater from 1 top-20 keyword to more than 20 top-5 positions and number 1 in local Google Maps (source: Game-changers, SEO and AEO page, November 2026).

What does a GEO engagement cost at Game-changers?

At Game-changers, an SEO and GEO engagement starts from €500 a month excl. VAT. For comparison: Dutch agencies charge €500 to €3,000 a month for SEO on average, according to Trustoo (November 2026). You hear the exact price after a free call and a free analysis, because it depends on how many pages, locations and questions there are. See what other providers charge in our price research: what does GEO cost.

Free 30-minute call: We discuss your business, your customers and the questions they ask AI assistants.
Free 8-hour analysis: We test your visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google, check your business profile and your technical set-up, and you get a report with an action plan. Even if you then do it yourself.
Free start period: You see how we work before you pay.
No set-up fee: We don’t charge separately for the technical basics, such as crawlers, structured data and measurement.

Request a free analysis

Engagement from €500 a month excl. VAT: Your contact is always a senior partner or the founder. Your website, your profiles and your data stay yours.
When GEO is not your first step: If your website isn’t properly in Google yet, or you have no Google Business Profile, start there. Without that foundation, an AI assistant has nothing to point to.

Book a free call, see what we do for local businesses or read how to choose the best marketing agency.

Frequently asked questions about getting found in ChatGPT

How do I get found in ChatGPT?

Allow AI crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot, complete your Google Business Profile with reviews, answer customer questions on your website with concrete numbers and get mentioned on other sites. In our test, ChatGPT took every recommended business from Google Maps.

What is GEO?

GEO stands for generative engine optimization: setting up your website and online mentions so that AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention you and link to you.

Is GEO the same as SEO?

No, but they are closely linked. With SEO you want a click from Google; with GEO you want to be named in the answer itself. Google says no special optimization is required for AI Overviews, but your page does need to rank properly in Google.

How long before ChatGPT mentions me?

It varies. Technical fixes and a complete business profile take a few days. Reviews and mentions on other sites build up over months. That is why you should measure the same questions every month.

What does GEO cost?

Dutch agencies charge €500 to €3,000 a month for SEO on average (Trustoo, 2026), and GEO is often part of that. At Game-changers, an engagement starts from €500 a month excl. VAT, with no set-up fee and a free analysis up front.

Can I see whether ChatGPT visits my website?

Yes. Your server log files show visits from OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and ChatGPT-User. In Google Analytics you can see visitors arriving from chatgpt.com.