Your next customer asked an AI first.
The shortlist now forms inside an answer, before anyone visits your site. Most brands haven't looked at what that answer says.
Ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to recommend a supplier in your category. Then read the answer as your buyer would. That paragraph is now the first page of your sales process.
For 20 years, search meant ranking. You earned a position on a page of links, and the buyer did the comparing. AI answers do the comparing for them. They name 3 or 4 options, give a reason for each, and move on.
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making sure those answers describe you accurately, and include you when they should. It overlaps with search engine optimisation (SEO), but the signals are different.
If you haven’t read what the answer says about you, your buyers have.
Here’s what I think is actually happening. Most leadership teams are still measuring traffic, while the decision moves somewhere they can’t see. The gap isn’t effort. It’s visibility.
In part 2, I’ll look at what AI answer engines actually read, and why your own website is only part of it.