You will be pitched generative engine optimization. Here is what it buys you.

You will be pitched this. Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is usually SEO work sold under a new name. The free version costs you an afternoon. Before you pay anyone, get the monthly deliverables in writing and compare them to what you already have.

What does a GEO pitch actually sell?

Read the proposal and underline the verbs. Most of them land in the same few jobs.

• Fix your facts. Hours, service area and services, matched across your website and your Google profile.
• Improve a service page. Say plainly what you do, where, and what a visit involves.
• Report on AI mentions. Someone asks ChatGPT a few questions and tells you what came back.

All three are worth doing. None of them needs a new category of service. If your proposal lists "AI optimization" with no verbs under it, you can't tell what you're buying.

Does Google want something special?

No. Google's page on AI features says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no other special optimizations are necessary. Its guide calls optimizing for generative AI search still SEO, and says you don't need AI text files or special markup to appear in Google Search.

That is a useful sentence to have in your pocket. When a seller says Google's AI needs a special setup, ask them to show you where Google says so.

What about ChatGPT and the other assistants?

They are separate products. OpenAI runs a search bot called OAI-SearchBot. If your site blocks it, you won't show up in ChatGPT search answers, though a navigational link can still appear.

Checking that is free and takes about ten minutes. The llms.txt and AI crawlers guide shows how.

What no seller can do is control what an assistant says. Anyone who guarantees placement is guessing, and Google says even meeting every requirement doesn't guarantee a page is shown.

Which promises should make me walk away?

Any one of these on a proposal is enough to stop reading.

• Guaranteed inclusion or a number-one spot in an AI tool.
• A required number of reviews, mentions, pages or words to be recommended. Google publishes no such number.
• A proprietary score presented as the search engine's own metric.
• An AI text file or schema script sold in place of useful information on your pages.
• Fake reviews, staged forum praise or invented job photos.

A pitch with two of them has told you everything you need to know.

Could paying for GEO make things worse?

Yes, if the work is volume. Google says using generative AI to make many pages without adding value for users may violate its scaled content abuse policy. It also says AI-written content needs a human to fact-check it before publishing.

A page for every town and every prompt looks like effort. If the pages say the same thing with a different city name, they add nothing for a reader. Ten accurate pages beat a hundred thin ones.

What should I ask them to put in writing?

1. The deliverables each month, as edits you could point at.
2. The accounts they need, and who owns them if you stop paying.
3. The outcome they measure, such as calls, not mentions.
4. Who maintains the work after the first quarter.

If you already pay for SEO, add a fifth: which of this is already in my plan? The GEO vs SEO guide lays out where the overlap sits.

What is the free version?

Do this before you sign anything.

1. Read your main service page as a customer. Does it say what you do, where you work and how to reach you?
2. Check your Google Business Profile against your website. Hours, phone and services should match.
3. Open yourwebsite.com/robots.txt and look for lines that turn search bots away.
4. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the question a customer would ask. Write down what comes back.

That is an afternoon, and it covers most of what a pitch lists. The monthly habit is in how to track AI visibility. If you still want help after that, AI SEO for small service businesses covers what to buy and what to skip.

What do I do next?

Pick one item from the free list and do it today. Then hold the pitch up against the list and decide.

If your website is the weak spot, a ProveWorth website is one way to fix it. You can also get your free page, or see how it works.

Sources

• Google Search Central, optimizing for generative AI search
• Google Search Central, AI features and your website
• Google Search Central, using generative AI content
• OpenAI, overview of OpenAI crawlers