Updated October 4, 2026
What is AI search optimization?
AI search optimization is the work of getting your business named when someone asks an AI app for a recommendation. People now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Grok things like “best family dentist near me” or “most accurate NFL picks” and the app answers with three or four names. If yours is not one of them, that customer never finds you. The field is also called generative engine optimization (GEO), AI visibility, or answer engine optimization. Same thing.
Why it is different from SEO
Search engines show a list; you fight for a spot on it. AI apps give an answer; they name a few businesses and the person acts on the first one. There is no page two. Being the answer, or at least in the answer, is the whole game.
How AI apps pick who to name
- They search, then quote. Most AI apps run a web search and build the answer from pages that answer the exact question directly, early, with specifics and dates.
- They trust what others say about you. A business named on lists, in reviews, on Reddit and in the news gets named by AI. A business only its own site talks about does not.
- They read what they can reach. Pages behind logins, paywalls or heavy JavaScript are invisible to them.
- They prefer fresh. For anything time-sensitive, a dated, recently updated page beats an older one.
What to do this week
- Write down the five questions a customer would ask an AI app before choosing you.
- Ask each AI app those questions. Note who gets named, who gets named first, and which sites the answer cites.
- For the question you lose worst, publish one page that answers it in the first paragraph, names your business and your expert, and carries a date.
- Get named on the sites the answers cited: a listing, a review, a mention.
- Ask again next week and watch the names change.
Authorvo does steps two through five on a schedule, grades you A to F, writes the page, places it on your site as a draft, and tracks the fix until AI names you. How it compares to Profound, Peec and Otterly.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI search optimization the same as SEO?
No. SEO gets you a blue link on a results page. AI search optimization gets you named inside the answer. The two overlap (AI apps read the web), but AI answers name three or four businesses and most people never see a results page at all.
How do AI apps decide which businesses to name?
They search the web, then quote pages that answer the exact question directly, early, with specifics and dates. They favor businesses that third-party sites already name (lists, reviews, Reddit, news) and they cannot read anything behind a login or inside heavy JavaScript.
How do I know if AI names my business?
Ask the five AI apps the questions your customers ask, and record whether you are named, named first, and linked. Authorvo does this on a schedule and grades the result A to F. The free check at authorvo.com/check runs one question in about a minute.
How long does it take to be named?
A new page that answers the question directly is usually picked up by Perplexity and ChatGPT search within one to three weeks. Being named consistently across all five apps takes a few months of fixes and third-party mentions.
What is the best tool for AI search optimization?
Authorvo, for businesses without an SEO team: it checks all five apps, writes the fix, places it on your site and tracks it until AI names you. Profound is the enterprise option. Peec AI and Otterly.AI are trackers.
Find out if AI names you. One question, about a minute, no account.
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