Ask ChatGPT for a good Squarespace designer in your city, or ask Google a question and read the AI Overview at the top, and you will notice something: you rarely get a list of ten blue links any more. You get an answer. Platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Claude summarise the web for their users and name only a handful of businesses and sources along the way.
For small and medium-sized businesses this raises a simple but pressing question: when an AI answers a question about your industry, your products or your town, is your website part of that answer? Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the discipline that tries to make sure it is. In this article we explain what GEO is, how it differs from classic SEO, and which concrete steps you can take today to make your Squarespace website relevant for AI.
What Is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of optimising your content and brand presence so that AI-powered search platforms and large language models (LLMs) find it, understand it and cite it in their answers. Where SEO asks "How do I rank on page one?", GEO asks "How do I become part of the answer?"
The term is not a marketing buzzword. It was coined in the research paper GEO: Generative Engine Optimization by researchers from Princeton University, IIT Delhi, Georgia Tech and the Allen Institute for AI, first published in November 2023 and presented at the KDD 2024 conference. The researchers tested different ways of rewriting web content and measured how often AI engines used it. Their result: well-chosen changes boosted a source's visibility in AI answers by up to 40%.
The most effective changes were surprisingly editorial. Adding statistics, citing credible sources and including quotations from experts made content noticeably more likely to be picked up. Classic keyword stuffing, on the other hand, did little to nothing. In short, AI engines reward content that is specific, verifiable and easy to quote.
GEO vs. SEO: What Changes and What Stays the Same
GEO does not replace SEO; it builds on it. Most AI assistants still search the web in the background before they answer, so a website that Google and Bing cannot crawl or understand is unlikely to be cited by an AI either. What changes is the goal: instead of earning a click from a list of links, you want your content to be quoted, summarised or recommended inside the answer itself.
| Classic SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank high in search results | Be mentioned and cited in AI answers |
| Success metric | Rankings, clicks, click-through rate | Mentions, citations, share of voice, sentiment |
| Unit that competes | The whole page | Individual passages and facts |
| What helps most | Keywords, backlinks, page speed | Clear answers, statistics, sources, consistent brand information |
| Where it happens | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Copilot, Claude |
There is one more important difference. SEO is largely about whether you appear; GEO is also about how you appear. An AI may mention your business, but describe it inaccurately or recommend a competitor first. That is why GEO combines technical groundwork with clear, factual content about who you are and what you do.
How AI Tools Decide Which Websites to Cite
AI assistants draw on two sources of knowledge. The first is their training data: everything the model learned from the web before a cut-off date. The second, and for businesses the more important one today, is live retrieval. When a user asks a current or specific question, tools like ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews search the web in real time, read a handful of pages and build their answer from them.
To be picked in that moment, your website has to clear three hurdles:
- It must be reachable. The AI's crawler needs access to your pages. OpenAI, for example, states that sites which block its OAI-SearchBot crawler will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- It must be understandable. The answer to the user's question needs to be on the page in plain, well-structured text, not hidden in images, PDFs or vague marketing copy.
- It must be trustworthy. AI tools prefer sources that are specific, up to date and consistent with what other sites say about you, such as Google Business Profile, directories, reviews and press mentions.
The good news for Squarespace users: the platform already handles a lot of the technical basics. The rest comes down to a few settings and, above all, your content.
How to Make Your Squarespace Website Relevant for AI
You do not need a new website to get started with GEO. Below are the steps we recommend for a typical Squarespace 7.1 website, in order of impact.
1. Let AI crawlers in
Under Settings > Crawlers, Squarespace offers a checkbox called "Block known artificial intelligence crawlers". It was introduced in 2023 so that creators could keep their content out of AI training. The catch: the list of blocked bots also includes crawlers that AI search tools use to fetch pages live, such as ChatGPT-User and PerplexityBot. If AI visibility is your goal, leave this box unchecked. While you are there, make sure "Block search engine crawlers" is also unchecked and that important pages are not password-protected or hidden from search.
2. Get the SEO basics right
GEO starts where SEO ends, so the classic Squarespace SEO settings still matter. Give every page and blog post a clear SEO title and meta description, use one H1 per page followed by logical H2 and H3 headings, keep URL slugs short and descriptive, and add alt text to images. Connect your site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools; Bing's index also powers Microsoft Copilot.
3. Write content that answers questions
This is the most important step. Think about the questions your customers would type into ChatGPT, then answer them directly on your site. Put the answer in the first one or two sentences under each heading, then add detail. Use concrete facts: prices or price ranges, service areas, turnaround times, numbers and results. Where it fits, cite sources or quote experts, as the GEO research suggests. A FAQ section built with Squarespace's Accordion block is an easy way to cover many questions on one page. And keep important information in real text, not only in images, sliders or PDFs.
4. Complete your business information and structured data
Squarespace automatically adds structured data markup to your content, product listings, blog posts and events, which helps machines understand what a page is about. Make sure your business name, address, phone number and opening hours are filled in and identical everywhere on the site. If you want to go further, for example with FAQ or detailed organisation markup, you can add custom JSON-LD schema via Code Injection on plans that include it.
5. Be consistent across the web
AI tools cross-check what you say about yourself with what others say about you. Keep your Google Business Profile, LinkedIn page, industry directories and review platforms up to date and consistent with your website. Mentions in local press, partner websites or relevant blogs are the GEO equivalent of backlinks: they make you a credible source.
6. Keep content fresh
AI search tools favour current information. Show publication and update dates on blog posts, revisit your key service pages at least once a year, and remove or update outdated offers, prices and team details.
7. Treat llms.txt as optional
Since summer 2026, Squarespace 7.1 sites can publish an llms.txt file natively under SEO/AI Visibility > SEO Settings. The file gives AI tools a short Markdown overview of your site. It is quick to set up, but there is currently little evidence that major AI platforms use it, and Google explicitly says it is not needed. Add one if you like, but do not let it distract from steps 1 to 6.
8. Measure your AI visibility
Squarespace now includes an AI Visibility tool in the dashboard. It generates realistic prompts for your business, runs them through ChatGPT and Gemini, and shows whether your site is mentioned and which competitors appear instead. It uses AI credits included in your plan and is currently available in English-language markets. For broader tracking across more AI platforms, see our overview of GEO tools for Squarespace websites.
Conclusion
Generative Engine Optimisation is not a passing trend but the next chapter of being found online. As more people ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Mode instead of scrolling through search results, the businesses that appear in those answers will win the enquiries. The good news is that GEO rewards the same things good websites have always needed: technical accessibility, clear structure and genuinely useful, specific content.
Squarespace gives you a solid foundation, with automatic sitemaps, structured data, crawler settings, native llms.txt support and a built-in AI Visibility tool. What makes the difference is how you use them, and above all the quality of your content. Start with the crawler settings and your most important service pages, then measure, refine and repeat. If you would like help making your Squarespace website relevant for AI, our team is happy to review your site.
Q&A
What does GEO stand for?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. It describes the practice of optimising websites and content so that AI-powered search tools and large language models, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, mention and cite them in their answers. The term was introduced in a 2023 research paper by Princeton University and partner institutions.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. GEO builds on SEO rather than replacing it. Most AI search tools rely on web search indexes to find sources, so a website that is well optimised for Google and Bing has a head start in AI answers. GEO adds a stronger focus on clear answers, verifiable facts and a consistent brand presence across the web.
Should I block AI crawlers on my Squarespace website?
It depends on your goals. Blocking AI crawlers can keep your content out of AI training data, which some photographers, artists and writers prefer. However, Squarespace's setting also blocks some crawlers that AI search tools use to fetch pages live, which can reduce your chances of being cited. For most businesses that want to be found, we recommend leaving AI crawlers allowed.
Do I need an llms.txt file for my Squarespace website?
Not necessarily. Squarespace 7.1 now lets you publish an llms.txt file without any workarounds, and it only takes a few minutes. But there is currently little evidence that major AI platforms rely on it, and Google states that it is not required for its AI features. Treat it as an optional extra, not a priority.
How long does it take to see results from GEO?
AI search tools that retrieve pages live can pick up changes within days or weeks once your pages are crawled. Changes in how AI models describe your brand from their training data take much longer, as models are only retrained periodically. We recommend tracking a fixed set of prompts monthly, for example with Squarespace's AI Visibility tool, to see progress over time.