Hi {{first_name}},
Before we get into this week's topic, I want to step back for a moment.
We are ten issues into the first 25-issues of this newsletter. This first set of issues lays the foundation for everything we will cover on local visibility. Every issue builds on the last and every concept connects to the next.
If you have been here from the start, this is your progress check. If you joined us halfway through, this is your map.
Here is what we have covered so far.
Issues 2 through 6 were about Signal. The fastest wins in local visibility. Backlinks, what they are and why they matter. Your Google Business Profile, the most powerful free asset most local businesses ignore. The Chamber of Commerce hack, a $40 membership that buys you a backlink worth ten times that. The backlinks you have already earned but never collected. And where to find new backlink opportunities you have not tapped yet.
Issue 7 introduced April, a hair salon owner in Northampton. Twelve years in business. Doing everything right, but not growing consistently.
Her story is the thread that runs through everything from here.
Issue 8 introduced DEO. Discovery Engine Optimisation. The framework that sits above SEO and covers every platform your clients use to find you. Not just Google; YouTube, ChatGPT, Maps, Reddit, TikTok, local blogs, and physical events. Discovery has multiplied and the businesses that win are the ones showing up across all of it.
Issue 9 introduced AEO. Answer Engine Optimisation. The first piece of the DEO system. Your clients are typing questions into ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google every day. Questions you already know the answers to. AEO is the practice of building content around those questions so you become the source AI tools and search engines reference.
That's what we’ve covered so far.
Here is where we are going.
This week we look at GEO. Generative Engine Optimisation. If you’re skimming, pause here and actually read the next few lines.
AEO is about answering specific questions. GEO is about figuring out what the best answer actually is.
For some questions, generative AI doesn’t just retrieve answers. It reads everything it can find on a topic, draws conclusions, and assembles a response. It synthesises.
Which means the businesses that show up in those responses are not just the ones with good websites. They are the ones being talked about, cited, and referenced across multiple credible sources.
A quoted answer pulls a specific response from a specific source. Someone asks "is balayage high maintenance?" and an AI finds the clearest answer it can and quotes it. That is AEO.
A generated answer is different. Someone asks "who are the best hairdressers in Northampton for weddings?"
There are best-of lists out there, but they are curated opinions, not objective facts. No single source answers that question conclusively. So the AI reads everything it can find. Reviews. Articles. Mentions. Awards. Social posts. Directory listings. And it assembles a conclusion.
This is where being talked about matters as much as what you say yourself.
If April has an article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette about her thriving salon, her glowing client reviews, and the wedding hair award she just won, she is suddenly in the running for that generated answer. Not because she wrote a page called "best wedding hairdresser in Northampton." But because the wider conversation around her business tells that story.
That is GEO. And it is why the work you did in Issues 2 through 6 was a key foundation.
Being cited in authoritative sources across multiple platforms is not just good for SEO. It is how generative AI decides who belongs in the conversation.
And here is the part that will make those of you who have been here from Issue 2 smile.
The backlink work you did in Issues 2 through 6? The Chamber membership. The unlinked mentions you went back to collect. The directories you got listed in.
That was GEO foundation work. You just did not know it yet.
Next week we go deeper into what GEO looks like in practice and exactly what April can do to make sure her name shows up when someone asks an AI tool to recommend a hair salon in Northampton.
One Practical Move
Open ChatGPT or Perplexity. Type this exact prompt: "Who are the best [your service] in [your town]?" Read the response carefully. Who gets mentioned? Who does not? Then ask a follow up: "Where did you get that information from?" The sources it cites are the platforms and publications that built those businesses into the generated answer.
That gap between where you are and where those businesses are is your GEO opportunity.
Keep howling,
Fungai
Your Owwtreach Guy
Grow with Owwtreach
www.owwtreach.com