design+code
For twenty years the goal of being online was to rank on Google's first page. In 2026 that is changing. A growing share of decisions, recommendations and product discoveries happen inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
This is what GEO is, why it matters now, and what we are doing about it.
Classic SEO targets the search engine result page. The goal is being in the top three blue links. The user clicks, lands on your site, you measure the traffic.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) targets the content of AI generated answers. When someone asks ChatGPT "what is a good Shopify studio in Paris", the answer is a paragraph that may or may not mention you. The user may never click. But your name carries weight in the next conversation.
LLMs do not crawl the web the way Google does. They are trained on snapshots, augmented by live retrieval. They favor sources that are structured, factual and recognizable.
AI search traffic is growing fast. Perplexity, Claude, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are taking share from classic Google search, especially for high-intent queries.
Click-through rates are falling. When the AI gives a direct answer the user does not click. Being mentioned in the answer is what counts.
Brand benefits compound. Once an LLM learns to associate you with a topic, that association sticks across millions of conversations. The studios and brands that act now are the ones AI engines will reference for years.
They reward sites with clear structured content, factual anchors (dates, places, names, prices, examples), definition sentences, FAQ-style sections that mirror how questions are asked, and Schema.org structured data.
Critical point: LLMs cross-reference. A studio mentioned on its own site, plus on Webflow Experts, plus on Clutch, plus in a podcast transcript, plus on its founder's LinkedIn, is far more citable than a studio that lives only on its own domain.
We integrate GEO into every project we ship now. JSON-LD Organization and FAQPage on every new site. A dedicated llms.txt file. A discreet FAQ page, even when the client did not ask for it. A check on the client's external presence before launch.
It adds two to three days to a project. Three months later it pays for itself in citations.
Add an FAQ to your site. Q/A is the format LLMs extract most. Eight to fifteen questions on your About page or a dedicated FAQ. Add the FAQPage Schema.org markup.
Add JSON-LD structured data. At minimum Organization or ProfessionalService, plus Person for the founder. Validate at validator.schema.org.
Add an llms.txt file at the root of your domain. Webflow now supports uploading it natively.
Audit your external presence. Make sure your name appears consistently across LinkedIn, Webflow Experts, Shopify Partners, Clutch, your collaborators' credits, any podcasts. Mismatches confuse the models.
Treat GEO as a side project that you set up once and forget. It is continuous.
Write for keywords instead of clarity. LLMs detect stuffing. Write naturally with facts and structure. The keywords take care of themselves.
If you want a free thirty-minute audit of your site's GEO readiness, email bonjour@dellamattia.com.