Imagine someone is looking for a web agency in Belgium and types their question not into Google, but into ChatGPT. Or Perplexity. Or a smartphone assistant powered by Gemini. What answer do they get? And is your business in it?
That is the core of what many people now call GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. It is not a replacement for traditional SEO, but an extension of it. And for SMEs that want to stay visible online, it is becoming increasingly relevant.
Why people use AI tools to search
AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude give direct answers in plain language. Instead of scanning a list of links, you get a summary. For many queries, that is faster and more comfortable, especially for questions like: "Which company in Antwerp builds websites for small businesses?"
This shift in search behaviour is still smaller than Google, but it is growing quickly. For niche markets or local service providers, it can already play a role today in how potential customers find you, or do not.
How does an AI tool decide what to mention?
Language models like GPT-4 are trained on large amounts of text from the web. They have learned which sources are authoritative, which information appears consistently, and which answers make sense for a given question. What they mention is not random. It depends on a combination of factors:
- Clarity of your content: a website that explains in plain language what you do, for whom, and where, is easier to understand than one full of vague marketing language.
- Structured data: markup like FAQ schema, Service schema, and Organization schema helps both Google and AI tools understand exactly what your page describes.
- Mentions on external sources: when other trusted websites refer to your business, it increases the chance that a language model associates your name with your service or region.
- Direct answers to common questions: AI tools readily pull information from content that asks a question and answers it clearly, such as FAQ sections and blog articles.
- Consistent information: your name, address, services, and contact details should match across your website, directories, and any platforms where you appear.
How is this different from traditional SEO?
With traditional SEO, you work to rank in Google search results. With AI SEO, you work to be cited by a language model. That sounds subtle, but it has concrete implications for how you write content.
In traditional SEO, you can optimise a page for a specific keyword and target position one. A language model does not work with positions. It combines multiple sources and paraphrases. What counts is whether your content is clear enough to be represented accurately and whether your business is credible enough to be mentioned.
The two approaches are complementary. Many of the underlying principles overlap: a fast, well-structured website with relevant and honest content helps you in both Google and in AI-generated answers.
What can you do practically?
No major technical overhaul is needed. But a few targeted choices make a real difference:
- Write content that answers questions: blog articles, FAQ sections, and service pages that address the questions your customers actually ask work well for both Google and AI.
- Use structured data: add FAQ schema, Service schema, and Organization schema to your pages. This gives AI tools a structured summary of your content.
- Be specific about who you are and what you do: "web agency for SMEs in Antwerp" is actionable information for a language model. "We bring your brand to life" is less so.
- Build external mentions: listings in local directories, partner sites, or industry platforms reinforce your credibility as a source.
- Keep your information current: outdated or contradictory information makes a language model less likely to mention you, or worse, to state something incorrect about your business.
Why this already matters for Belgian SMEs
Most of your competitors are not thinking about this yet. That is an opportunity. Starting now with clearer content, better structure, and targeted FAQ sections builds a foundation that benefits both traditional SEO and AI search visibility at the same time.
For SMEs with limited time and budget, the good news is that the recommended approach largely overlaps: clear content, a technically solid website, and structured data help you on multiple fronts simultaneously.
At Sidetracked, this is part of what we mean by SEO support. Not only technical baseline optimisations for Google, but also the structure and content that make your website understandable to the new generation of search tools.
