Generative Engine Optimization for AI Search
We work so ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and the systems that follow them describe the business correctly. That means a clear name, the same facts everywhere, and pages a model is allowed to read.
What GEO is
A generative engine answers from a mix of training data, live retrieval, and whatever the product’s current policy allows. GEO is how you give that system a clean, current description of who you are: name, place, services, and proof, repeated without contradiction.
If the only description of the business lives in a PDF or a social bio, the model will guess. That's how wrong phone numbers spread. You still need a website.
llms.txt, entities, and the files models can fetch
llms.txt is a plain-text map of the site: what the organization is, and which URLs matter. llms-full.txt carries the longer version. The essay What is llms.txt explains the file. Nobody has confirmed it as a ranking factor.
A lot of live Dashworth projects already publish llms.txt, including CBVDA, JAX Epoxy Floors, and Collihort. Organization schema, a stable phone number, and a stable name give a model fewer ways to mix Dashworth up with someone else.
GEO sits on top of SEO
Models that browse still need a page they can fetch. Robots rules that block GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, or Google-Extended will opt the site out of some of those products. This site allows those crawlers, and robots.txt points at the sitemap.
GEO does not retire SEO. Google remains the place most local customers start. GEO is the additional discipline of being quotable once an answer engine is in the path.
How this applies, by the kind of site
SEO, answer engine optimization, and generative engine optimization are the same jobs at every size. SEO makes a real URL eligible to rank. AEO makes a passage something an answer engine can quote. GEO makes the business something ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity can describe. We don't guarantee a placement. The page count and what stays private change with the product. On all of them we start by talking to the people who share the process, then we decide what to simplify before we write a page.
01
Simple website
A local practice, a contractor, a club, or a short brochure that needs to be found and called.
A coatings site, a realtor introduction, a garden club domain.
- SEO
- A small set of real pages: the offer, the places you actually serve, and a way to call. Titles, canonicals, one sitemap, and schema that matches the visible page. Search Console when you're ready to measure. We stop adding city pages when the proof stops.
- AEO
- The first sentences answer the question a customer already asks. FAQs are those questions.
- GEO
- One business name, one phone, one place, repeated. An llms.txt file that lists the pages worth reading. If you have a Google Business Profile, it should say the same thing as the site.
02
Transaction site
A quote, a direct booking, a calculator, or a checkout path where the page has to do more than explain.
A rental that takes a waiver, an investment calculator, a quote request after the service is clear.
- SEO
- Every step a stranger should find is its own URL. The thank-you page, the account, and the half-finished form stay out of the index. Old paths redirect. The sitemap lists the public steps only.
- AEO
- Before the button, the page says what's included, how the request works, and the limits. A calculator isn't tax advice. A waiver on the site isn't a lawyer's opinion.
- GEO
- We write fees, rules, and availability so an answer engine doesn't invent them. llms.txt points at those pages. If the inquiry has to reach a person, the form lands in the CRM you already use.
03
SaaS product
Software with a public explanation and a private product. Often two hosts, not one.
Garden software on its own domain, a foundation site beside it, a marketing site plus an app login.
- SEO
- The marketing host is what gets indexed. Logins, workspaces, and customer records are noindex. Feature and use-case pages are documents, not screenshots inside the app. New work is built in Cursor on Next.js.
- AEO
- One page defines the product in a paragraph a buyer can repeat. Then the conditions: who it's for, what the separate logins are, and what you haven't claimed yet.
- GEO
- Keep the product name stable. llms.txt lives on the public site. The app host doesn't have to be the page an answer engine cites. Say what the product does, or the model will guess.
The files are the same on all three: a sitemap of public URLs only, robots.txt that matches what should be read, schema that repeats the visible page, and llms.txt. SEO, AEO, and GEO are one stack. We don't sell them as three unrelated retainers. New sites are Next.js projects we build in Cursor.
Proof in the portfolio
Questions
What is GEO?
Generative engine optimization is the practice of making your business easy for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and similar products to describe accurately. It relies on consistent facts, crawlable pages, and files such as llms.txt. It does not guarantee a recommendation.
What is llms.txt and do we need one?
llms.txt is a text file at the root of a site that tells language models what the site is and which links matter. You need one if you want a single maintained description instead of leaving the summary to chance. It does not, by itself, insert you into answers. Read the llms.txt essay.
How do we know if ChatGPT mentions our business?
Ask it, in more than one session, with the business name and with the question a customer would ask. Answers vary by product, account, and day. That check is a spot test, not a rank tracker. There is no public dashboard on this site that monitors mentions.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. SEO is how you earn visibility on search result pages. GEO is how answer engines learn who you are. A business that skips SEO and only chases model mentions is betting the whole storefront on a product it does not control.
The work stays with Dashworth.
Call or text 650-393-3378. We meet in Northeast Florida and San Mateo, and we take contract roles inside larger companies. No account managers, no handoffs.