Digital Marketing · AI & SEO
From SEO to GEO: Winning Your Share of the Model
Ranking on Google used to mean one algorithm to satisfy. Now ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity each decide who gets mentioned in their own way — and they rarely agree with each other.
“Share of voice” used to be a fairly simple idea — how visible is your business compared to competitors, mostly on Google. That idea is fragmenting. Increasingly, the question isn’t just “do I rank on Google” but “does ChatGPT recommend me, does Gemini cite me, does Perplexity know I exist” — three separate systems, three separate answers, and very little overlap between them.
This matters for a Surrey small business for a very practical reason: the old approach of just optimising your own website isn’t enough anymore, because most AI engines barely look at your own website at all.
Why “share of model” is the more useful idea now
Recent platform research comparing how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity choose what to cite found something worth paying attention to: each one pulls from almost entirely different sources, and optimising for one does very little for the others. A business optimised purely for Google can be completely invisible on ChatGPT, and vice versa.
How each platform actually decides who to mention
| Platform | What it favours |
|---|---|
| Gemini | Leans heavily on your own website — structured content, schema markup, and consistent details directly from your domain. |
| ChatGPT | Leans on third-party sources — directories, review sites and broad consensus across the web, rather than your own site alone. |
| Perplexity | Favours fresh, well-sourced content and genuine expert or customer commentary over polished brand copy. |
Gemini trusts what your business says about itself. ChatGPT trusts what the rest of the internet says about you. Perplexity trusts whoever sounds like a real expert or a real customer.
What this looks like for a small business in practice
- For Gemini: add clear schema markup to your website, keep your service pages structured and specific, and make sure your business details are consistent site-wide
- For ChatGPT: prioritise your presence on directories and review platforms — Google Business Profile, Yelp-style directories, industry-specific listings — since this is where it draws most of its confidence from
- For Perplexity: keep content genuinely current, and don’t underestimate real customer reviews and commentary — this is closer to what it treats as trustworthy than brand-written copy
The mistake most businesses are making right now
What doesn’t work
- Assuming that ranking well on Google automatically means visibility on ChatGPT or Perplexity too — the citation sources barely overlap
- Investing only in your own website’s content while ignoring directory listings and reviews, which matter more to some platforms than your site does
- Never actually checking what ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity currently say about your business — most businesses have no idea where they stand until they ask
The bigger picture
This isn’t a reason to try to be everywhere at once with unlimited effort — it’s a reason to be deliberate about where your effort actually goes. A well-structured website, a complete set of directory listings, and a steady flow of genuine reviews together cover most of what each platform is actually looking for. The businesses getting ahead here aren’t doing anything exotic — they’re just not leaving two out of three platforms completely unaddressed.
Not sure where your business stands across AI search?
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