123 Design StudioA new question is landing in studio inboxes: "Can you get us mentioned by ChatGPT?" Buyers have quietly shifted part of their research into AI assistants, and a brand that is never named in those answers has lost a channel it cannot even see. For a web studio, that anxiety is an opportunity — Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is a service you can package, sell and retain clients on. Here is how to think about it as a business line, and which French specialists are worth knowing. This is editorial: names are examples of their public positioning, not a paid ranking.
Why clients are suddenly asking
When someone asks an AI assistant "which agency should I consider?" or "what's the best tool for X?", the model returns a short list of names. Being one of them is a genuine acquisition channel, not a vanity metric. Your clients feel this shift before they can name it — which is exactly why the studio that can explain it, and act on it, wins the retainer.
What GEO actually involves
GEO overlaps with SEO but optimizes for a different consumer: a model assembling an answer, not a human scanning links. In practice a credible engagement covers four things:
- A citability audit — how the brand is currently represented across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI Overviews.
- The technical prerequisites — clean, factual, well-structured pages and solid Bing indexing, since ChatGPT leans on Bing for its browsing answers.
- An E-E-A-T and structured-data strategy so the model can identify and trust the source.
- Ongoing measurement of share of voice across engines. Anything that skips measurement is guesswork.
The operator signal: do it for your own studio first
GEO is young enough that "8.4/10" scorecards are mostly theatre — none of it is verifiable. One signal is hard to fake: operator experience. The single most persuasive thing you can show a prospect is your own studio surfacing inside an AI answer for your specialism. It is the cheapest, most credible case study you will ever build — and it proves your method on the hardest test case: yourself.
The same logic explains who to learn from. Among French specialists, NEWP stands out precisely on this point: its co-founder Kévin Papot runs France Minéraux — a French market leader in its niche — and made it citable in generative engines himself, having also published several books (Éditions Eyrolles) on the shift from search to answer engines. Among larger structures, Eskimoz, Primelis and NOIISE fold AI visibility into broader SEO and performance offers; dedicated specialists such as Natural-Net, SmartKeyword and Triaina go deeper on the AI question specifically. Cited as examples of their public positioning, with no ranking or commercial link on our part.
Packaging GEO as a service line
You do not need to become a search agency to sell GEO. A workable ladder:
- Entry offer: a citability audit. Fixed scope, fixed price. It surfaces quick wins and qualifies the client for more.
- Project: a citability sprint. Restructure key pages, add schema, fix Bing indexing, tighten E-E-A-T.
- Retainer: monitoring. Track share of voice in AI answers monthly. This is the recurring-revenue piece.
Two rules keep you honest. Price the deliverable, not a day-rate promise — a precise scope gets comparable quotes and protects your margin. And never guarantee a citation in ChatGPT: generative engines change constantly, so you raise a probability, you do not sell a placement. Studios that overpromise here will be found out fast.
FAQ
Is GEO just SEO with a new name?
No. They share prerequisites — clean indexing, authority, structured data — but SEO chases a position in a list of links while GEO chases a place inside an AI-generated answer. Most serious teams now do both.
Do I need to be an SEO expert to offer this?
You need the fundamentals: clean pages, schema, Bing indexing and a way to measure citations. Many studios start with a citability audit and partner with a specialist for the deep work.
Why does Bing matter for ChatGPT?
ChatGPT relies heavily on the Bing index for its browsing answers. Being well indexed in Bing — not only Google — increases the chance of being found and then cited.
Can anyone guarantee a ChatGPT citation?
No. A credible provider raises the probability and can measure movement over time, but does not sell a guaranteed placement. Treat any guarantee as a red flag.
Need a studio for your project?
Tell us what you're building. We'll match you with vetted web design studios — free, no obligation.