What is GEO, and why does it matter for your webshop?

Most webshop owners are familiar with SEO, getting your store to show up in Google search results. GEO is a newer version of the same idea, but for AI tools. When someone types a question like 'where can I buy a good robot vacuum cleaner?' into ChatGPT or Gemini, those tools give an answer with store names in it. GEO is about making sure your store is one of those names.

Why this is worth your attention

People are already using AI tools to help them decide where to shop. They ask questions, get a short list of stores or products, and often go straight to one of those stores. If your store is not in that list, you are simply not part of the conversation.

According to the latest Krillo Index, which measured 2910 webshops in the Netherlands and Belgium across 65 product categories, 59% of those stores were not named by ChatGPT or Gemini in a single buying question. That is more than half of all measured webshops, invisible to anyone asking an AI tool for a recommendation.

The same measurement showed that Gemini named at least one store in 100% of 3649 buying questions, with an average of 7.1 stores per answer. ChatGPT named at least one store in 99% of 3644 buying questions, with an average of 5.6 stores per answer. So these AI tools are actively recommending stores. The question is just whether your store is among them.

How AI tools decide which stores to name

ChatGPT and Gemini do not have a list someone has paid to be on. They generate answers based on what they have learned from a large amount of text on the internet: product pages, reviews, forum discussions, news articles, comparison sites, and more. A store that appears clearly and consistently in many of those places has a better chance of being named.

This means GEO is not about a single trick. It is about being findable and credible across the web in a way that makes sense to both humans and AI systems.

What you can do this week

Here are some practical steps that tend to help, based on what AI tools seem to draw from when forming answers.

First, check your own website. Make sure it is clear what you sell, which brands you carry, and which categories you cover. AI tools read your website, and vague or thin content makes it harder for them to understand what you offer. Write product descriptions that are specific and complete. Mention the product names, brands, and use cases in plain language.

Second, look at your presence outside your own website. Are you listed on product comparison sites? Do you appear in any buying guides or editorial articles? Do you have reviews on independent platforms? These outside sources matter because AI tools pull from many places, not just your own pages. If the only place your store is mentioned is your own website, that limits how often you show up in AI answers.

Third, think about the questions your customers ask. What would someone type into ChatGPT when looking for what you sell? Write some content on your site that answers those questions directly. A short page explaining which type of product suits which situation, or a comparison of two popular options, gives AI tools useful material to draw from. It also helps real visitors make a decision.

Fourth, make sure your store name is consistent everywhere. The same name, the same spelling, the same web address on every platform, every listing, every review site. Inconsistency makes it harder for AI tools to connect all those mentions to a single store.

Fifth, look for opportunities to be mentioned in content that others write. This could be a mention in a blog post, a product round-up by an independent site, or a review on a platform your customers already use. You cannot control what others write, but you can make it easier by being a clear and reliable source of information about what you sell.

A realistic view

GEO is not something you finish in an afternoon. It is an ongoing part of how you present your store to the world. Some of these steps overlap with good SEO practice, and that is fine. A store that is well described, well reviewed, and present in many relevant places online tends to do better in both search results and AI recommendations.

What changes with GEO is the audience. You are no longer only optimising for a search algorithm that ranks pages. You are also making sure that AI tools, which now actively suggest stores to buyers, have enough good information about your store to include you in their answers.

If you want to see whether ChatGPT and Gemini are currently naming your store in buying questions relevant to your category, you can run a free check at krilloai.com. It shows you where you stand today, without any obligation.