How Do You Get AI Chatbots to Recommend Your Business?
26 October, 2026
As online search shifts from links to answers, Danny Shaked explains GEO, building online authority, and preparing websites for AI agents
For more than two decades, online marketing followed a familiar path: users typed a question into Google, received a list of links, and chose a website to visit. Businesses invested in search engine optimization to climb those rankings. Now, AI interfaces are changing how customers encounter businesses. Users ask for a recommendation, a comparison, or a solution, and the system consults sources on their behalf and puts together an answer. Businesses now need to find their way into that answer, too.
“A new marketing channel has opened up,” says Danny Shaked, an online marketing specialist and founder of SiteIT and Evil Twin. Working in the field since 2008, Shaked advises businesses in Israel and startups targeting international markets. “SEO, which many feared was about to die, has become the foundation of one of the most important areas in online marketing.” He expects the range of options presented to users to narrow over time: “My prediction is that in five years, you’ll ask the system to recommend a professional, and it will give you a single name.”
This emerging field is known as GEO, short for Generative Engine Optimization: adapting a business’s digital presence for engines that generate answers. While SEO focuses on improving visibility in search results, GEO aims to increase the likelihood that a system will use a business’s content, mention it, or recommend it. These are distinct goals: linking to an article does not necessarily mean recommending the company that published it.
The shift is already affecting clicks. In a study published in February 2026, based on 300,000 keywords, Ahrefs found that the presence of a Google AI Overview was associated with a 58% lower click-through rate for the top organic result than the rate projected using a comparison group. The finding applies to desktop searches and the first organic result, but it illustrates why a high ranking alone no longer guarantees traffic.
For Shaked, preparation starts with the basics: a properly functioning website, content that systems can crawl and understand, and clearly identifiable expertise. “SEO is the first step, the entry requirement. But beyond that, there is much more to learn and do,” he says. His recommendations include placing a clear answer near the top of the page, writing focused paragraphs, and making information easy for engines to extract.
Still, there is no established formula that guarantees a citation. Different engines select sources in different ways, and the systems continue to evolve. Success also requires new ways of measuring results. A Semrush analysis published in June, covering 3,981 domain appearances across four systems, found that approximately 62% consisted of a source link without the brand being mentioned in the answer itself. For a business seeking customers, having its content used is only part of the journey.
The challenge is particularly acute for startups. A new company must convince both the market and the systems delivering information to it that it is a credible source of expertise. “The challenge in marketing a startup is taking a company that, until recently, didn’t exist and establishing it as an expert in its field within a short period,” says Shaked.
To achieve that, he recommends building a body of knowledge: technical explanations, guides, practical insights, and content that reflects the expertise of the company’s people. This should be supported by a presence beyond the company website, including LinkedIn and video. “You need to think about how to become a source that search engines and language models will want to cite as an authority in your field.”
As content becomes cheaper to produce, however, Shaked cautions against flooding websites with automatically generated articles. “There’s nothing wrong with using AI to write content. But if anyone can produce exactly the same material, and it doesn’t reflect your experience and expertise, it’s poor content.” Even content written largely with AI can be good, he says, provided it offers originality and added value. As for automated optimization tools: “These tools can carry out the tasks, but they still lack the judgment needed to deliver good results over time.”
The next stage could take users even further away from websites. An AI agent could search for a supplier, compare offers, and eventually place an order. In that scenario, a website must enable the system both to understand what the business offers and to complete a transaction.
“Websites need to be built so that AI agents can use them technically. This is also closely connected to website accessibility,” says Shaked. He says support for AI agents is already becoming part of the requirements for websites he builds. Businesses therefore need to prepare for an additional audience: a system that reads on a customer’s behalf—and may soon make choices and take action for them, too.
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