What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and why it matters for businesses in Romania
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), meaning optimization for AI assistants, is the work of making your business easy to find, understand and cite for assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google’s AI-generated summaries (AI Overviews). It matters for businesses in Romania because more and more customers put their question straight to an assistant and get a recommendation written in a few sentences, backed by a handful of sources. If you are not one of them, the customer does not even consider you.
Where the term comes from
The phrase “Generative Engine Optimization” was popularized by a research paper published on arXiv in November 2023. The authors studied how a website’s visibility can be increased in the answers of generative engines, meaning systems that write an answer instead of showing a list of links.
Since then, the term has become part of everyday marketing vocabulary. You will also come across AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), “AI SEO” or “LLM optimization”. With small differences in emphasis, they all describe the same idea: becoming the source an AI assistant uses when it answers.
What has changed in the way people search
Until recently, a search looked like this: you typed a few words into Google, got ten links, opened three or four websites and compared them. Today, more and more often, it looks different:
- you ask ChatGPT or Gemini “which clinic in Iași does implants with a quick appointment?”;
- you read the summary Google generates above the results;
- you ask Perplexity to compare two types of equipment.
In each case you get a sentence or a few paragraphs, with a small number of cited sources. Many of these searches end without a single click: the customer decides based on the answer and calls the business it mentions directly.
For a business, this means the first contact with a new customer may be a sentence written by an AI model. GEO is the work of making sure that sentence exists and that it is accurate.
How GEO differs from SEO
SEO helps you move up the list of results. GEO helps you get mentioned or cited in the generated answer. The two are not mutually exclusive.
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Position in the results | Being mentioned or cited in the answer |
| Unit of work | The keyword | The full question and the business’s identity |
| What you measure | Rankings, clicks | AI presence rate, citation rate |
The foundation is the same: a fast website that crawlers can access, with useful content. Much of the GEO work, such as structured data or a separate page for each service, also helps in classic Google search. The difference lies in the priorities and in how results are measured. We go into the comparison in more detail in the GEO guide for Romania.
How AI assistants choose which businesses to recommend
No one on the outside knows exactly how each answer is built. From the official documentation and the way these systems work, however, three mechanisms stand out.
They search the web in real time
For local or current questions, the assistant searches the web and reads a few pages before answering. Google states that AI Overviews and AI Mode can break a question into several searches on subtopics. If your website cannot be accessed, or does not clearly answer one of those subtopics, it will not be chosen.
They try to understand who you are
These systems link information to an entity: your business, with its name, address, services and official profiles. If those details differ from one website to another, the link is weak. If they are identical everywhere and declared through structured data, the system has less to guess.
They look for confirmation from several sources
An assistant that recommends a business also relies on sources other than its website: reviews, directories, local press, forums. When several sources say the same thing, the information is easier to use.
Why it matters now for businesses in Romania
AI assistants already answer in Romanian, including questions about local services. At the same time, in many industries in Romania, few businesses are working deliberately to appear in these answers. That creates an opportunity.
A few situations where GEO makes a difference:
- Medical and dental clinics. Patients ask which clinic performs a particular procedure, how much it costs and how long it takes. A clear page for each procedure, with structured data, has a better chance of being cited. See also how we work with clinics.
- Equipment and B2B. A restaurant owner is comparing two types of ovens. The company that explains the differences in concrete terms, with specifications and indicative prices, becomes the go-to source.
- Local services. Someone searches for “the nearest repair shop” or “a physiotherapist near the city center”. What counts here is your Google Business Profile, your reviews and consistent contact details.
What GEO looks like in practice
A GEO project rests on three pillars.
- Entity and structured data. State clearly who you are using schema.org in JSON-LD format, link your website to your official profiles and keep the same details everywhere.
- Content that is easy to cite. Every important page answers directly in its first few lines, includes specific information (prices, timeframes, conditions) and real frequently asked questions.
- Measurement. Every month, test a fixed set of questions in AI models and track how many answers you appear in and how often you are cited. Our method is public, on the methodology page.
A few steps you can take this week:
- complete your Google Business Profile: categories, services, opening hours, photos;
- check that your name, address and phone number are identical on your website and in every profile;
- for your most important service, write an opening paragraph that answers the customer’s question directly;
- make sure your robots.txt file does not block the search crawlers used by AI assistants;
- ask ChatGPT and Gemini five to ten real questions yourself and note whether you appear in the answers.
For that last step we have a separate guide: how to check whether ChatGPT recommends your business.
What GEO is not
- It is not a trick. There is no file or tag that automatically gets you into answers. Google states explicitly that no special files are needed for its AI features.
- It is not guaranteed. Answers are generated by third parties and they vary. Anyone promising guaranteed citations is overselling.
- It does not replace SEO. Without an accessible, useful website, GEO has nothing to build on.
How to find out where you stand today
The simplest starting point is a measurement. Pick 10 questions your customers ask, test them in a few AI assistants and note the results. Or request a Free GEO audit: based on 10 real questions from your industry, we show you whether you are cited, who appears instead of you and what you should do first.