Getting named by AI assistants.
How ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Google's AI features decide which firms to name, and what to change so yours is one of them.
Somewhere this week, a buyer asked ChatGPT a question your firm should have been the answer to, such as "which accountants specialise in owner-managed manufacturing businesses". The assistant gave three or four names. If yours was not one of them, that buyer has probably booked a call with someone else, and nobody in your business will know the enquiry existed.
Buyers now ask ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude who to hire, and the answers are given with or without you. These guides show how the assistants choose and what to change so your firm is one of the names.
Some agencies now call this work GEO (generative engine optimisation) or AEO (answer engine optimisation). Google's own guide, Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search, published in May 2026 and updated in July, names both terms and says optimising for them is still SEO. Most UK searchers simply call it AI SEO: over the 12 months to 24 September 2026, "AI SEO" drew about nine times the UK interest of "generative engine optimization" on Google Trends. Our guide to GEO explains the labels and what really changes when the goal is being named rather than ranked.
Most assistants start from a search index: Google's for AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini, Bing's for Copilot, and ChatGPT search has drawn on Bing. So ranking helps, but it does not guarantee a mention. Ahrefs found that only 38% of AI Overview citations came from pages in the top ten in March 2026, down from 76% in July 2025, because Google now runs several related searches for one question (Ahrefs, March 2026). The assistant then names the firms whose pages answer the question plainly and whose claims other trusted sites confirm.
Timing differs too. Assistants that search the web live can reflect a new page within weeks, while answers from a model's memory change only when it is retrained. Our ID-Pal case study shows the pattern: "UK buyer questions where AI names ID-Pal: none in May, two in August, four in September 2026."
Start with how to get ChatGPT to recommend your firm, which sets out the three things assistants need from you. If you suspect assistants cannot read your site at all, how AI crawlers read your website shows how to check. If an assistant describes you wrongly, why ChatGPT describes your firm wrongly shows how to correct the facts at source.
The other guides in this topic help with narrower decisions: whether you still need SEO, whether schema markup is worth adding, how to organise content so assistants read it as expertise, how often to publish, whether domain authority scores mean anything, which sources assistants cite for B2B questions, what E-E-A-T means in practice, what Google's AI Overviews do to your clicks, and why a site with hundreds of pages can still be ignored. Guides on Bing, Microsoft Copilot, llms.txt and crawler settings are being added over the coming weeks.
If you want to know where you stand first, book a free Growth Review: before the 30-minute call we check your site, two competitors and what Google and ChatGPT say about all three, and afterwards you get three fixes in writing.
Last reviewed 24 September 2026. Rewritten for 2026: explained GEO and AEO with Google's view, added the ranking, timing and which-assistants answers, and removed the guide count and a merged guide.
Does ChatGPT use Google or Bing, and does Bing matter for a B2B firm?
OpenAI does not name one search engine, but the evidence points to Bing, and Copilot runs on it. What is confirmed, what is not, and the Bing setup to do this month.
Read the guideAll 14 guides in this topic
What is GEO, and is it just SEO?
GEO is the new label for getting named in AI answers, and Google says it is still SEO. Where the term came from, what changes and how to judge an agency that sells it.
Do we need schema markup for AI assistants to understand our site?
Your developer quotes for "schema" and your agency says the site needs "structured data for AI". What it is, what Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have said, and which types a B2B firm needs.
Do we still need SEO now that buyers ask ChatGPT instead of Google?
You paid for rankings and got them. Now buyers ask ChatGPT and the answer is a competitor. What carries over from SEO, what to stop paying for, and what to add, including Bing.
How do we get ChatGPT to recommend our firm when buyers ask?
A prospect asked ChatGPT for a shortlist before they rang anyone, and your firm was not on it. How assistants choose which firms to name, and what a B2B firm can change.
How often do we need to publish for AI assistants to notice us?
Your competitor seems to post every day and you worry you are falling behind. AI assistants are not counting posts; they judge whether your body of work is substantive, growing and current.
What is domain authority, and do AI assistants actually use it?
Your agency quotes a domain authority score. Your buyers ask ChatGPT who to hire. What the number measures, why the tools disagree, and what actually gets a firm named.
How do AI crawlers read my website, and are we letting them in?
Googlebot and the crawlers behind ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity read your site differently, and many firms shut out the ones that decide who gets recommended without knowing it.
How do I organise our content so AI assistants see us as the expert?
You have written more about your specialism than the competitor ChatGPT keeps naming. The difference is usually how the articles are organised, not how many there are.
What are Google AI Overviews and what do they mean for my firm?
Your rankings report says page one. Your traffic report says fewer visitors. Both are true, because Google now writes the answer itself and credits a handful of sources.
What is E-E-A-T and why do AI assistants care about it so much?
E-E-A-T is Google's word for experience, expertise, authority and trust. AI assistants reward the same qualities, and the raw material is your firm's real experience.
Which sources does ChatGPT cite when a B2B buyer asks who to hire?
When a buyer asks ChatGPT who to hire, the answer rests on sources you do not own: reference sites, review platforms, trade press and LinkedIn. Here is which ones count and how to appear in them.
Why does ChatGPT describe my firm wrongly, and how do I fix it?
Your website says one thing, LinkedIn another and an old directory a third. AI assistants repeat the wrong version. How to find the conflicts, fix every source and report what is left.
Why does ChatGPT ignore our website when we have hundreds of pages?
Three hundred pages, a blog fed for years, and ChatGPT still names two competitors. Rule out the technical causes, then find the thin and duplicate pages and merge, deepen or delete them.
Common questions.
Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitors and not us?
Usually because it can find clearer, more consistent evidence about them. Their website says plainly what they do and for whom, other trusted sites say the same, and their pages answer the questions buyers actually ask. Size matters less than most founders expect. A small firm with specific pages and a handful of good independent mentions can be named ahead of a much larger rival with a vague website.
What are GEO and AEO, and is this just SEO?
GEO (generative engine optimisation) and AEO (answer engine optimisation) are labels some agencies now use for work aimed at getting a firm named in AI answers. Google's own guide to its generative AI features, updated in July 2026, names both and says optimising for them is still SEO. Most UK searchers call it AI SEO: Google Trends shows "AI SEO" drew about nine times the UK interest of "generative engine optimization" in the year to September 2026. What changes is the goal, which is being named in an answer rather than ranked on a list, and the extra weight of press coverage, reviews and answers to the follow-up questions.
Which AI assistants matter most for a B2B firm?
ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode first, then Microsoft Copilot and Gemini, then Perplexity and Claude. OpenAI said in August 2026 that ChatGPT has more than a billion weekly users. Copilot matters more than its public web traffic suggests, because many buyers have it at work: Microsoft says Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats in July 2026, and Forrester found business buyers four times as likely as consumers to use Copilot. Check them all with the same list of buyer questions.
How long does it take to get named?
Assistants that search the web live, such as ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Copilot and Google's AI features, can reflect a new page or a new article within weeks. Answers drawn from a model's own memory change only when the model is retrained, which takes months. Our ID-Pal case study is a dated example: "UK buyer questions where AI names ID-Pal: none in May, two in August, four in September 2026." Plan for steady work over a year and measure it every month.
Can we pay to appear in ChatGPT's answers, or buy a guaranteed place?
Not in the answer itself. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT has shown labelled ads to UK users on its Free and Go plans since 11 August 2026, and the ads do not change the answer, so being named in the answer is still earned. Nobody can guarantee what an AI assistant will say. A provider can guarantee its effort, its reporting and outcomes it controls, so be wary of anyone promising you a place in ChatGPT's answers.
Where do we start?
Find out where you stand. Write down 20 to 50 questions your buyers really ask, put each to ChatGPT, Google, Copilot and Gemini several times a month in a clean session, record who is named, and count a win only when it repeats. Then read your homepage and main service pages as a stranger would and check they say plainly what you do, for whom and where. Fix those pages first, because everything else builds on them.