Your clients are starting to ask the question. Maybe they've seen it on Twitter. Maybe a competitor brought it up. Maybe they just noticed their traffic patterns changing.
"Are we showing up in ChatGPT?"
You've been doing SEO for years. You know Google inside out. Rankings, technical audits, content strategy, link building. You're good at it. But this question is different, and if you're being honest, you're not sure you have a great answer yet.
That uncertainty is actually an opportunity. The SEO professionals who figure out AI visibility first won't just keep their clients happy. They'll build an entirely new service line while the rest of the industry is still debating whether this matters.
The shift is real, and you already see it
You don't need anyone to tell you that search is changing. You see it in the data.
Featured snippets pulling clicks away from organic results. AI Overviews pushing traditional results further down. Users getting answers directly from AI without ever clicking through. Traffic patterns that don't follow the old rules.
The SEO industry has been adapting to Google's changes for two decades. This shift is bigger. It's not just Google changing its SERP layout. It's users changing where they search entirely.
When someone asks Perplexity "best CRM for small teams" instead of Googling it, your client's #1 ranking for that keyword means nothing. The traffic goes wherever Perplexity recommends.
This isn't replacing SEO. But it's adding a channel that your clients can't afford to ignore. And they're going to look to you, their SEO professional, to help them navigate it.
GEO is the natural extension of SEO
Generative Engine Optimization isn't a separate discipline. It's the next layer on top of what you already do.
Think about it. The fundamentals overlap heavily. Content quality matters. Authority signals matter. Topical relevance matters. Structured data helps. E-E-A-T principles apply.
What's different is the output. Instead of ranking on a results page, the goal is being mentioned in a generated response. Instead of tracking positions 1 through 10, you're tracking whether AI names your client at all.
The skills transfer is significant. Your experience with content strategy, authority building, and technical optimization all apply to GEO. You're not starting from zero. You're adding a new dimension to work you already know how to do.
What your clients need (and will pay for)
AI visibility audits. Where does the client currently show up in AI responses? For which prompts? Which LLMs mention them? Which mention competitors? This is the baseline audit, and most businesses have zero visibility into it.
Prompt tracking and monitoring. Ongoing monitoring of how AI responds to the prompts that matter for the client's business. Which ones mention them. How that changes over time. When competitors gain or lose visibility.
GEO strategy and optimization. Based on the audit and tracking data, recommendations for improving AI visibility. Content changes. Structural improvements. Authority-building tactics. The strategy work that turns data into results.
Competitive AI intelligence. Who's getting recommended instead of your client? What are they doing differently? Where are the gaps your client can fill? This competitive layer is where clients see immediate strategic value.
Reporting. Monthly or quarterly reports showing AI visibility trends alongside traditional SEO metrics. This positions you as the person who understands the full picture of online visibility, not just Google rankings.
Each of these is a service you can offer today. The demand is there. The tools exist. The clients are already asking.
The overlap between SEO and GEO (and where they diverge)
Where they're the same:
Content quality is non-negotiable in both. Thin, keyword-stuffed content doesn't work for Google anymore, and it definitely doesn't work for AI. Comprehensive, authoritative content wins in both channels.
E-E-A-T matters for both. Google uses it for rankings. AI uses the same signals to decide who's credible enough to recommend.
Technical foundations matter. If AI can't crawl and understand your client's site structure, it can't recommend them. Clean architecture, clear navigation, proper schema markup... the same things that help Google help AI.
Where they diverge:
Keyword targeting vs. conversational matching. SEO targets keyword phrases. GEO targets the intent behind conversational queries. "Best CRM for small teams" is both a keyword and a prompt, but the optimization approach differs.
Rankings vs. mentions. SEO success is position-based. GEO success is binary, then qualitative. Are you mentioned? How prominently? In what context? With what sentiment?
Single engine vs. multi-platform. SEO is primarily Google. GEO spans ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and whatever comes next. Each AI has different training data and recommendation patterns.
Link building vs. citation building. SEO values backlinks. GEO values being referenced as an authority across diverse, high-quality sources. There's overlap, but the tactics aren't identical.
How to add AI visibility to your practice
Start with your own visibility. Before offering this as a service, understand your own AI presence. Sign up for Mentionable. Track your own website and your own consulting practice across the relevant prompts. Get hands-on experience with the data.
Audit your existing clients. Run AI visibility checks for your current client roster. Some of them are probably getting mentioned for prompts they don't know about. Others have gaps they haven't noticed. Presenting these findings is the natural start of the conversation.
Package it alongside existing services. Don't position GEO as a replacement for SEO. Position it as the next evolution. "We've been optimizing your Google visibility. Here's how to extend that to AI visibility." Clients get it when you frame it as an expansion of what's already working.
Use Mentionable for client tracking. Monitor each client's AI visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Grok. Track the prompts that matter for their business. Report on changes. The Pro plan handles three client projects with 50 prompts each. The Agency plan scales to unlimited projects.
Build your GEO expertise publicly. Write about AI visibility. Share insights on how SEO and GEO intersect. Position yourself as the SEO professional who understands where the industry is headed. This builds your own authority and attracts clients specifically looking for GEO expertise.
The professionals who move first win twice
First, they keep their existing clients by answering the "are we in ChatGPT?" question with data and strategy instead of a shrug.
Second, they attract new clients who specifically want AI visibility expertise. That's a growing market, and the number of SEO professionals who can credibly claim GEO expertise is still small.
The SEO industry will get here eventually. Everyone will offer AI visibility as part of their services. But right now, the professionals who can demonstrate this capability have a real competitive advantage.
You've built your career on understanding how visibility works online. AI visibility is the next chapter. The question isn't whether to add it to your practice. It's whether to lead or follow.
Start with Mentionable. Get the data. Build the expertise. And be the one your clients turn to when they need to understand where they stand with AI.