When your buyers ask an AI assistant who to choose, I make sure your pages are used as the source and your business is named on the shortlist. Then I track it through to enquiries and revenue.
In short
AI citation is when an assistant uses your page as a source for its answer. AI recommendation is when it names your business as the answer to a buyer’s question. Generative engine optimization (GEO) earns both. Victor Olanrewaju is a GEO strategist in Kigali, Rwanda. His consultancy Vatam moved LAGE Lightings from seventh to first in ChatGPT in three months, and ChatGPT now lists Lens & Co by Tiara as its first pick for blue light and photochromic glasses in Nigeria.
Two different things happen inside an AI answer, and a business needs both. GEO works on each one.
Your page is used as a source behind the answer, usually with a link.
Your business is named in the answer, often in a short ranked list.
Buyers now ask an assistant before they open a search result, and the assistant hands them a short list. If you are not on it, you are not in the running. If you are first, you get the first call.
Pew Research Center analysed browsing data from 900 US adults in March 2025. Users who saw a Google AI summary clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits, against 15% for users who did not. When fewer people click through, being named inside the answer carries more of the value.
Alongside this, the store reports more website visits, more walk-in clients at its Lagos shop and a jump in revenue from organic search.
LAGE Lightings in ChatGPT for “luxury chandeliers in Lagos”
Position in the answer (1 is first)
Some visits that start in an assistant arrive with no referrer, so they look like direct traffic. That is why I combine analytics with the panel and with asking customers directly.
OpenAI documents separate crawlers for different jobs: OAI-SearchBot for search results, GPTBot for training and ChatGPT-User for actions taken by a user. A site that blocks the search crawler can drop out of ChatGPT’s search answers, so I check robots.txt as part of every baseline. The research behind the term GEO, a 2023 paper by Aggarwal and colleagues, reported that optimization methods can boost visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40% in its experiments, with results varying by domain.
Nobody controls what an assistant says. Answers change between runs, users and models, so I test repeatedly, record the date and treat each result as a snapshot. I do not guarantee a mention. I guarantee the baseline, the work and the reporting.
It pays most where one new customer is worth a lot: hotels and lodges, property, finance, premium retail and professional services. Buyers in those markets ask an assistant before they open a search result.
7 to 1
LAGE Lightings in ChatGPT between July and October 2026, with Gemini and Claude also naming it first
0 to #1
Lens & Co by Tiara in ChatGPT for blue light and photochromic glasses in Nigeria, with more website visits and walk-in clients
9 figures
in naira revenue for LAGE Lightings as a business, with sessions up 233% year on year
“I was surprised we could beat our competitors since we had tried for years to do it. Victor came in, and within weeks, we were getting inquiries from top architects, 4-star hotels real developers, eventually leading to some of the biggest deals we've ever closed.”
Questions
The things people ask before they hire a copywriter or an SEO.
I test and report on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, because buyers use all of them and each draws on different sources.
GEO is the practice of making a business easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity to find, trust and recommend. It covers your pages, your facts and the third-party sources the assistants cite.
No. Answers change between runs, users and models, and nobody outside the AI companies controls them. I guarantee a measured baseline, the work that moves the signals and monthly reporting. For one example, ChatGPT moved LAGE Lightings from seventh to first between July and October 2026.
I run a fixed panel of buyer questions across the main assistants every month, record who is named and which sources are cited, and compare against the baseline. Where your analytics allow, I also tie the changes to enquiries and sales.
AEO focuses on being the direct answer in search features such as snippets and AI Overviews. GEO focuses on being named and cited inside AI assistant answers. They share the same foundations, so I run them together.
A citation is when an AI assistant uses your page as a source for its answer, usually with a link. A recommendation is when it names your business as the answer to a buyer’s question, often in a short list. Citations build trust and referral visits. Recommendations win shortlist positions and enquiries. GEO works on both.
Buyers increasingly ask an assistant before they open a search result, and the assistant gives them a short list. Being on it puts you in the running, and being first earns the first enquiry. I track the effect through a monthly panel of buyer questions, AI referral traffic, branded searches, a “How did you hear about us?” question on your forms, and leads and revenue where your data allows. For example, LAGE Lightings is first in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude and has done nine figures in naira revenue as a business, and Lens & Co by Tiara reports more website visits, more walk-in clients and a jump in organic revenue. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
A content strategist decides what a business should publish, for which buyer question and in what order, so each page can earn a Google ranking or an AI citation and lead a reader towards a purchase. In practice that means mapping buyer questions, giving each one its own answer-first page, keeping facts consistent across the site and measuring rankings, citations and enquiries every month.
Start here
Tell me what a new customer is worth to you and the search you want to win. I read every message myself and reply within one working day. Want to see where you stand first? Ask for the free AI visibility audit.
What happens next
“Within weeks, we were getting inquiries from top architects, 4-star hotels real developers, eventually leading to some of the biggest deals we've ever closed.”