AI answer visibility audit
We ask the questions your customers use to find providers in Google Search with AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. You see who gets named, which sources are cited and how your brand is described.
Services · GEO agency
GEO agency: make your company visible in Google and in AI answers
A generative engine optimization agency makes sure AI search systems such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini know your company, describe it correctly and cite it as a source. Weidner & Friends combines search engine optimisation with Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): you are found where your customers now ask questions and compare providers, and every measure is checked against a measured baseline.
The basics
What does a generative engine optimization agency do?
Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is the work of getting generative AI to name your company in its answers and link to your pages as a source. The same discipline is also called GEO optimisation, AI SEO, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Large Language Model Optimization (LLMO) or Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO). The goal is always the same: when someone asks an AI which provider fits their project, your brand appears in the answer, with the right services, the right location and a link to you.
A GEO agency works in three places: on your website, so AI systems can fetch and understand it; on your content, so it answers questions in a way that can be cited; and on your sources beyond your own website, because AI models also rely on what others write about you. For B2B companies with services that need explaining, this is especially valuable: an AI answer condenses comparison and recommendation into a few sentences, and whoever is named there makes the shortlist early. How AI assistants pick their sources is explained in our guide Visible in ChatGPT and Co.: How AI Finds Your Brand. This page shows how we put it into practice for you as an agency.
Why AI visibility matters now
- ✓Half of all internet users in Germany at least sometimes chat with an AI instead of using classic web search, and two thirds of 16 to 29-year-olds do. That is the result of a Bitkom survey of 1,156 people in autumn 2025.
- ✓In the same survey, 24 percent said they often use the AI summary above Google and Bing results without looking at the search results below it.
- ✓According to Google in June 2026, AI Overviews in Google Search have more than 2.5 billion monthly users and AI Mode more than one billion.
Three types of AI search engines
- ·Training-based models answer from what they learned during training. What counts here is how often and how consistently your brand is described across the web.
- ·Search-based systems such as Google AI Overviews or Perplexity read current search results and summarise them. What counts here is whether your pages are found and contain a clear answer.
- ·Hybrid assistants such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini combine both. What counts here is training knowledge, web search and their crawlers’ access to your website.
The difference
SEO and GEO compared: what AI SEO does differently
GEO does not replace classic search engine optimisation, it builds on it. For the AI features in Google Search, Google says so explicitly: a page needs neither a special AI file nor its own markup, it has to be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet (Google Search Central: AI features and your website). What changes is the goal: instead of a position in a list of links, you want a place in the answer.
| Criterion | Classic SEO | GEO and AI SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | A strong position in the organic search results | Mentions and citations in AI answers, with your offer described correctly |
| What users see | A list of links they compare themselves | One summarised answer with a few sources and recommendations |
| What matters | Keywords, relevance, backlinks, technical health | Clear facts, unambiguous entities, sources, mentions in trade media and reviews |
| Content | Pages for individual keywords | Answers to whole questions, comparisons, own figures with sources |
| Technology | Indexing, page speed, internal linking | Plus access for AI services’ crawlers and structured data that matches the visible text |
| Measurement | Rankings, impressions, clicks | Mention rate, citations, how your brand is described, enquiries from AI sources |
That is why we work as a GEO agency and an AI SEO agency at the same time: the SEO foundation makes sure search-based AI systems find your pages, the GEO work makes sure they cite them.
Services
Our GEO agency services
Six building blocks for your visibility in Google and in AI search engines, combined to fit your starting point. Each one ends in a measurable change in your visibility.
Technical foundation and crawler access
Indexing, page speed, content without script hurdles and a robots.txt that lets the right crawlers in. At OpenAI, the crawler for ChatGPT search and the one for training are controlled separately (OpenAI documentation); at Google, the Google-Extended token governs use for Gemini and leaves inclusion in Google Search untouched (Google documentation).
Structured data and entities
Organisation, services, people and questions as JSON-LD following Schema.org, matching the visible text. Name, address, services and profiles are consistent everywhere, so AI models can attribute your brand without doubt.
Answer-ready content
Service pages, comparisons and guides that answer a question in the first paragraph and back it up with your own figures, sources and named authors, in line with E-E-A-T. For its AI search, Google recommends content that is original rather than the same as everywhere else.
Sources and mentions
AI systems rely on what independent sources say about you: trade media, associations, directories, reviews and guest articles. We find out which sources are cited in your industry and make sure you are present there.
Monitoring and reporting
Every month the same set of questions, the same metrics and a short report: what changed, why, and what comes next. The question set and the raw data belong to you.
As an AI marketing agency, we think of visibility beyond organic search: being named in AI answers also pays off in campaigns, and recurring measurements can be automated with AI agents. More in Performance Marketing with AI and AI automation for business, and all services under Services.
Measurement
What we measure: metrics for visibility in AI answers
AI answers vary from one request to the next and between AI platforms. That is why we never judge a single answer but ask a fixed set of questions at a steady rhythm. The result is a figure you can compare month by month.
| Metric | What it shows | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Mention rate | In how many answers to your question set your brand is named | Monthly queries in Google Search with AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini |
| Citations | How often, and with which pages, your website is linked as a source | The same queries, with the linked sources analysed |
| Accuracy | Whether services, location, audience and price range are described correctly | Every answer checked against your facts |
| Visibility in Google | Impressions and clicks, including from AI features in Search | Your website’s Search Console, since 2026 with dedicated data on which pages appear in AI answers (Google, 2026) |
| Crawler access | Whether the crawlers of Google and the AI services fetch your key pages | Your website’s server logs |
| Enquiries | How many enquiries and intro calls come from AI sources | Referrals in your web analytics and the question “How did you find us?” |
We agree the goals together after the baseline measurement, for example: all core services described correctly in AI answers, a mention rate above the baseline across the question set, every key page reachable for crawlers. We agree on goals we can measure, because how an AI answers is ultimately decided by its provider.
Process
Process: five steps to more visibility in AI answers
With the timings we plan with. After every step you know where you stand.
01
Baseline
Weeks 1–2: agree the question set with you, measure mentions, citations and competitors, run a technical review of the website. The result is a baseline and a GEO strategy with measures ranked by impact.
02
Foundation
Weeks 2–6: crawler access, indexing, structured data and consistent information about your brand. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT search picks up a changed robots.txt within about 24 hours.
03
Content
From week 4: service pages and answers to the questions in your set, starting with those closest to a buying decision.
04
Sources
From month 2: mentions in trade media, directories and review platforms, guest articles and profiles that AI systems use as sources.
05
Measure and adjust
Monthly: the same question set, the same metrics. For changes in AI answers we plan with three to six months.
Example · question set for a software provider
- Q1Which warehouse management software suits mid-sized retailers?
- Q2What does it cost to introduce warehouse management software?
- Q3Which warehouse management providers offer support in Germany?
- Q4Warehouse management in the cloud or on premises: which fits better?
- Q5Which provider connects warehouse management with the online shop?
What you contribute
- ✓the facts on services, audiences, service area and price range,
- ✓access to website, Search Console and web analytics,
- ✓one contact person who approves content on the subject matter,
- ✓pointers to trade media, associations and partners in your industry.
A question set holds several dozen such questions, split by service, audience and region.
Choosing
How to recognise a good GEO agency
GEO is a young field, and many offers sound alike. These six points help you compare, whoever you talk to.
Weidner & Friends is an agency in Berlin-Mitte, founded and led by Dennis Weidner, who has been building digital companies for more than 15 years, from performance marketing and media to AI agents. With us, visibility in Google and in AI answers comes from the same team as the automation behind it, with one fixed contact person. What to look for when choosing a partner for AI projects in general is covered in AI agency in Berlin: what to look for.
A good GEO agency
- ✓measures before the first measure and shares the question set and baseline,
- ✓combines GEO with solid SEO instead of playing one off against the other,
- ✓works from the platforms’ own documentation, such as Google’s guidance for site owners and the AI services’ crawler information,
- ✓agrees on measurable goals rather than fixed places in AI answers,
- ✓builds your sources with genuine mentions, without bought links and without hidden instructions to AI systems,
- ✓leaves content, data and access with you, also after the engagement ends.
FAQ
Questions about working with a GEO agency
What does a GEO agency do?
A GEO agency makes sure AI search systems such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini know a company, describe it correctly and cite it as a source. That covers a technically accessible website, structured data, citable content, mentions in independent sources and regular measurement of visibility in AI answers.
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO aims for a strong position in the organic search results. GEO aims to be named in an AI answer and linked as a source. GEO builds on SEO: search-based AI systems draw on indexed, accessible pages and prefer content that answers a question clearly and whose claims other sources confirm.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. According to Google’s own documentation, the AI features in Google Search rest on the same foundations as regular search: a page has to be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. GEO adds work on answers, entities and sources on top of SEO.
How do you measure visibility in AI answers?
With a fixed set of questions that we ask the main AI search systems every month. We count brand mentions, citations of your own pages and whether your company is described correctly. On top come Search Console data, server logs for crawler access and the enquiries that come from AI sources.
How long does GEO take to work?
Technical fixes take effect once the pages have been recrawled, often within a few weeks. For changes in AI answers we plan with three to six months, because new content and mentions need time before search systems and models pick them up.
Do we need an llms.txt file?
Not for the AI features in Google Search: Google does not require any special AI files. llms.txt is a 2024 proposal for a short, machine-readable overview of a website that helps AI systems read it. We add it as a quick extra; accessible pages with clear answers have the bigger effect.
How much does a GEO agency cost?
The effort depends on the state of your website, the number of services you offer and the competition in your market. After the baseline measurement you receive a proposal with a clear scope for the foundation and ongoing support. Whether GEO pays off for your company is something we clarify first in a 20-minute intro call.
How does AI talk about your company today?
Book a 20-minute intro call. We look together at how Google and AI assistants currently present your company, and afterwards you know where the biggest lever is.