There’s a new wave of AI tools popping up that promise to make your brand more visible to systems like ChatGPT. The pitch usually goes something like this.
AI is recommending products now.
If it can’t see you, you don’t exist.
Your customers are asking ChatGPT what to buy and you’re invisible.
Buy this tool so you don’t vanish into the void.
Sounds dramatic, but let’s slow down and look at what’s actually going on.
The honest question: should you worry if ChatGPT doesn’t recommend your brand?
Short answer.
Not really. Not right now.
Most people are still discovering products the old fashioned way. Through social feeds, Google, marketplaces, influencers, real life conversations and the friend who swears their new candle improved their entire personality lol. (not looking at anyone in particular…..)
Asking AI what to buy is still a niche behaviour. Not nonexistent, but nowhere near the point where small businesses need to reorganise their marketing around it.
That said, there is something new happening in the AI world and you’ll hear more about it soon.We wrote a little about it last year here. However I’m getting more questions and seeing more noise about GEO in general, so let’s talk about it without the panic.
What is GEO and why is everyone suddenly talking about it?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation.
It’s basically SEO’s younger cousin who drinks kombucha and thinks it’s smarter than everyone else.
Here’s the simple version.
SEO is about helping Google and other search engines understand your website.
GEO is about helping AI tools understand your brand.
That’s it. Nothing mystical.
AI tools don’t crawl the internet live like Google. They work off:
- what they were trained on historically
- the information people feed them
- and whatever public content is clear, consistent and easy to summarise
GEO is the practice of making your brand easier for AI to talk about.
Things like:
- accurate online info
- content that explains who you are
- product descriptions that actually make sense
- reviews
- citations
- consistent brand messaging
Basically the same things you already need for a healthy online presence. GEO just rebrands it with a fresh acronym.
Do small businesses need to care about GEO right now?
It’s worth understanding.
It’s not worth losing sleep over.
If your customers aren’t using ChatGPT to choose candles, earrings or organic dog treats, you don’t need to prioritise GEO today.
This will matter more over the next few years, especially for bigger brands who want AI to describe them correctly. For most small businesses, it’s still in the “good to know” category, not the “drop everything and optimise your essence for the machines” category.
So what’s the deal with all these AI visibility tools?
Every time a new concept appears in tech, a flood of tools follow. It’s normal. Some are innovative. Some are harmless. Some are solutions waiting for a problem to exist.
These tools usually do a mix of things like:
- checking what AI says about your brand
- generating product guides or brand fact sheets
- creating schema markup
- building citations
- giving you a score or dashboard to track
Nothing wrong with any of that.
However here’s the low down.
These tools are not your lifeline.
They’re not the difference between failure and success.
They’re optional extras for businesses who are already handling the basics well.
If your website is outdated, your socials are inconsistent, your product descriptions are thin and you haven’t asked customers for a review since 2019, GEO tools won’t magically level you up.
Work on the foundations first.
What solo and small business owners should actually focus on right now
Until AI becomes the main shopping assistant for the average person, your priorities are much simpler.
Focus on:
- Clear brand messaging
- Useful, honest content
- Strong product descriptions
- Social proof
- Consistency across platforms
- Showing up where your customers already are
This is the stuff that builds visibility in every system, from social platforms to Google to AI. And none of it requires a dashboard that gives you a visibility score out of 100.
A grounded way to think about all this
Learning about GEO is smart.
Using AI tools inside your business is smart.
Keeping an eye on how discovery is shifting is smart.
Panicking about whether a robot recommends your tote bag right now is not smart.
If AI ever becomes the main way people choose socks, candles, skincare or jewellery, trust me, we’ll all know about it. You won’t need a visibility audit to break the news.
