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How to do generative engine optimization in 6 steps

4 min read

Written with AI from 2 facts on reachkit.app, checked against 22 rules before publishing. Sources are listed below.

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The short answer

Generative engine optimization means making your content easy for AI systems to find, understand, trust and cite, as Pumpmedya's GEO guide defines it. In practice you check where AI and Google send buyers now, track how models like ChatGPT and Gemini describe your business, then publish pages that answer the exact questions those buyers ask.

Key takeaways

  • GEO is the practice of making content easy for AI systems to find, understand, trust and cite, as Pumpmedya's guide states it.
  • Google now reports AI feature visibility inside Search Console, so that is a free place to start checking.
  • Tools like Peec AI and Otterly track how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and other engines describe a brand, each at a different price and country coverage.
  • A free scan can list technical issues across up to 100 pages and show which competitors appear instead of you.
  • Writing pages that answer buyer questions, on a schedule, is the step most owners skip because it takes hours a week by hand.

What do you need before you start?

You need a live website with at least a handful of pages Google has indexed, since AI engines mostly draw on what is already crawled and ranked on the web. You also need access to Google Search Console for your domain, because Google started reporting visibility in AI features inside Search Console, which gives you a first read without buying anything. Beyond that, set aside time each week. Writing pages that answer buyer questions by hand takes hours, and generative engine optimization is a weekly habit of checking what changed and publishing again, not a one-off task.

What are the steps to do generative engine optimization?

Work through these in order. Each step draws on what the source itself states, and only one step below is ReachKit's own.

  1. Check your current AI visibility in Search Console, because Google reports this inside the tool you likely already have, at no extra cost.
  2. Measure how AI models describe your brand today. Peec AI's brand perception product states that brand perception is how models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews describe your brand in their answers, and its page says it measures this across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Claude.
  3. Decide how many engines and countries you need tracked. Otterly's features page states its platform covers 65 or more countries and languages, which matters if your buyers search outside one market.
  4. Pick a tracking plan sized to your volume of checks. Otterly's pricing page lists a Lite plan with tracking of 4 AI search engines, ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and MS Copilot, and 1,000 GEO audits a month, while its Standard plan runs $189 a month and Premium runs $489 a month.
  5. Scan your own site for the technical gaps that stop AI and Google from citing you. ReachKit's free scan lists technical issues across up to 100 pages and adds the searches buyers in your market make and who shows up instead of you, which is this page's one step from ReachKit.
  6. Write and publish pages that answer the questions you found. Tracking alone changes nothing until new pages go live answering what buyers ask.

How do you check it worked?

Check Search Console again after your pages have had time to be crawled, since Google reports AI feature visibility there and a rise in that report is the first signal. Run your brand through the engines you are tracking and read the answers directly. Peec AI's product page frames this as reading how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews describe your brand, so look for your name appearing where a competitor's used to sit. If you are on a paid tracking plan, compare counts week to week rather than a single snapshot, since one audit run tells you little on its own.

What mistakes should you avoid?

Do not treat GEO as a one-time audit. Pumpmedya's guide was first published in July 2026 and continues to be updated, which reflects how the engines themselves keep changing what they cite. Do not pick a tracking tool sized for a market you are not in either, since Otterly's pricing page lists an Enterprise tier starting from 1,000 search prompts, built for teams running far more checks than a single small business needs. And do not stop at measurement. A brand perception score or an audit count tells you where you stand, but it does not put a single new page live.

What do you do next?

Start by seeing which technical issues and competitor gaps sit on your own site, since that scan is free and lists up to 100 pages worth of problems alongside the searches your buyers already make, at reachkit.app. From there, read how it works to see what a €49 a month plan covers: up to 7 pages a week, new or updated, written from facts on your own site with checks before anything goes live, plus a Monday email on what changed. Tim, ReachKit's founder, built it so a founder with no SEO background spends about 10 minutes setting it up once, and the weekly writing happens without you.

See what a free scan finds on your own site before you pick a tracking tool at reachkit.app.

Questions buyers ask

Is generative engine optimization the same as SEO?

They overlap but are not identical. SEO targets ranking in Google's search results, while GEO, as Pumpmedya's guide defines it, is about making content easy for AI systems to find, understand, trust and cite in generated answers rather than a ranked list.

Which AI engines should I track first?

Start with the ones your buyers use before paying for broad coverage. Peec AI measures brand perception across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and Claude, while Otterly's Lite plan covers four engines, ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and MS Copilot, for a narrower starting point.

Do I need a paid tool to start generative engine optimization?

No. Google already reports AI feature visibility inside Search Console at no cost, and a free scan can list technical issues and competitor gaps before you spend anything on tracking software.

How much do GEO tracking tools cost?

Otterly's pricing starts at $29 a month on its lowest tier, with Standard at $189 a month and Premium at $489 a month, according to its own pricing and features pages.

Will generative engine optimization work for a small local business?

The checking and writing work the same way regardless of size, since it starts with what buyers search and ask AI about your category. The difference is usually time and budget, which is why a weekly scan and page-writing plan priced for a single site matters more to a small business than a tool built for a marketing team running thousands of prompts.

Sources

Source: reachkit.app/teardowns/bearable · retrieved 2 Nov 2026.

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