SEO vs GEO: how to get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google

Short answer. SEO aims to rank your pages in a list of links. GEO (generative engine optimization) aims to get your brand cited in the answer written by ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google. Both rest on the same foundation: useful content, a fast site and credibility. GEO adds three requirements: clear answers, content readable without JavaScript and mentions of your brand elsewhere on the web.

When someone asks an AI assistant "what's the best Shopify agency in Quebec?" or "where can I buy a refurbished iPhone in Canada?", they don't get ten blue links. They get an answer, sometimes with two or three sources. Being in that answer has become a second playing field alongside traditional SEO. Here's what changes, what doesn't, and what you can do this week on a Shopify store.

SEO and GEO: the difference in one table

	SEO	GEO
Goal	Rank a page in the results	Be cited or recommended in the answer
What the person sees	A list of links	A written answer, with a few sources
Type of question	Short ("shopify agency quebec")	Long and conversational
Result	A ranking, relatively stable	A mention that varies from one time to the next
How it's measured	Position, clicks, traffic	Mention frequency across a set of questions
The common foundation	Useful content, technical quality, speed, authority (experience, expertise, trustworthiness)

According to LLMrefs, which publishes a GEO tracking tool, questions asked to AI engines average 23 words, compared with 4 on Google. These engines often break the question into several sub-questions before looking for passages from web pages that answer them. Hence the value of content organized by questions and answers.

What AI bots can read (and what they don't)

AI engine bots mainly read the HTML your server sends. Content that only appears after JavaScript runs risks being missed. For a Shopify store, that's good news: the theme generates product pages and other pages as HTML on the server side. The risk comes rather from what you add on top:

• apps that display reviews, FAQs or descriptions through JavaScript;
• text embedded in images (warranty, shipping, size charts);
• rules that block bots by mistake, in the robots.txt file or in a protection service like Cloudflare, which now blocks some AI bots by default according to LLMrefs.

A simple test: view the source of a product page (right-click, "View page source") and search for an important sentence, such as your return policy. If it isn't there, a bot probably doesn't see it either.

Seven concrete steps for a Shopify store

1. Answer first. Start every page and every section with the direct answer in one or two sentences, then elaborate. Short paragraphs (two to three sentences) are easier to cite.
2. Title with real questions. A heading like "How long does a refurbished iPhone battery last?" beats "Battery life".
3. Complete your product pages. Material, dimensions, compatibility, warranty, returns and shipping, written as text. Check that your theme's Product structured data shows the right price, availability and reviews.
4. Make help pages visible. A FAQ, a warranty page and a returns page in clear HTML answer exactly the questions people ask assistants.
5. Show who is speaking. An identified author or team, figures accompanied by their source, concrete examples and case studies: these are the expertise signals AI engines seem to favor.
6. Exist beyond your site. Customer reviews, mentions in the media or by partners, videos, forum discussions: brand mentions count, even without a link. Keep the same name, description and contact details everywhere.
7. Update regularly. LLMrefs observes that citations drop noticeably after more than three months without an update. Review your key pages every quarter and show the update date.

Keep in mind: most of the figures published about GEO come from tracking-tool vendors, not independent studies. Treat them as orders of magnitude, not guarantees.

How to measure your presence: the 15-question method

There is no reliable equivalent of Google Search Console for AI assistants yet, and a large share of these searches generate no click. The simplest method is manual:

1. Write 10 to 20 questions your customers would actually ask ("best Shopify agency in Quebec", "where to buy a refurbished phone in Canada").
2. Ask them to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google (AI overviews).
3. Note whether your brand is cited, which sources appear and whether the description is accurate.
4. Repeat every month, with the same questions, in the same table.

Question	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Google	Sources cited
Best Shopify agency in Quebec?	Yes / no	Yes / no	Yes / no	…
Where to buy a refurbished phone in Canada?	Yes / no	Yes / no	Yes / no	…

The answers change from one time to the next: look at the trend over several months, not a single result.

What we apply at Delpacto

These steps are part of our SEO and GEO work. We apply them on our own stores, Phonio and Celltro, the two projects where we've worked on search visibility. You can read how we built trust on one of them in our Phonio case study.

Frequently asked questions

Does GEO replace SEO?

No. The two share the same foundation, and traditional ranking signals also feed Google's AI overviews. Good SEO remains the best base for GEO.

Can you pay to be cited by ChatGPT?

There is no button to buy a citation. You earn it with clear content, verifiable proof and mentions of your brand on other sites.

How soon will we see results?

No timeline is guaranteed, because answers vary from one time to the next. Measure every month with the same questions and compare over time.

Can these bots read my Shopify store?

Generally yes, because the content is rendered as HTML. Mainly check apps that inject content through JavaScript, text inside images and your bot-blocking rules.

Where do I start if I'm short on time?

Two quick actions: add a direct answer at the top of your most important pages, then create an HTML FAQ on your main product or service pages.

What now?

Want to know whether your store is visible in AI assistants' answers? Write to us: we'll run the question test with you and tell you what to fix first.

Updated in October 2026. Source for the figures cited: LLMrefs (publisher of a GEO tracking tool).