Services · SEO & GEO

At the top of Google.
Recommended by AI.

Customers no longer search only on Google, but also on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. EQwise ensures that you appear in both places, using a single approach—but only if your system can handle it; otherwise, we’ll let you know first.

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Illustrative example

GOOGLE RESULT

Used Hyundai Tucson in Amsterdam | Voorbeeldgarage

voorbeeldgarage.nl

Over forty inspected used Hyundai vehicles in stock, with a warranty and a test drive available within a day…

Position 2

RESPONSE FROM AN AI ASSISTANT

“Voorbeeldgarage is often recommended for used Hyundais in Amsterdam because of their competitive prices and the warranty that comes with every used car.”

Source: summarised from 5 pages on voorbeeldgarage.nl

The Difference

SEO and GEO are not two separate processes

They share the same foundation: a website that is clearly structured, factually accurate, and easy to read—whether for a machine or a human.

SEO

Ensures that Google understands, trusts, and ranks your pages highly for the search queries your customers enter. Technology, structure, and content that align with search intent.

GEO

Generative engine optimisation: Ensures that AI assistants recognise your business as a reliable source and mention it by name in their responses. Fact-based, well-structured content that is easy to summarise.

Two disciplines

SEO and GEO Side by Side

SEO GEO Example

Generative Engine Optimisation

To be mentioned when someone asks ChatGPT or Claude about it. Different rules than Google, but the same discipline.

Find out what questions your customer actually asks an AI—and what words they use
Writing texts that an AI can take over: a clear definition, a brief overview, a quotable summary
Post the same information on multiple authoritative sites, written in an up-to-date and neutral manner
Check every month to see if you’re mentioned, for each AI system, because each system focuses on something different

Specifications

Mentions in AI responses

mentions per AI system, measured monthly

Rhythm

Monthly Visibility Check

Who it is for

Anyone already invisible in AI

This is how we view GEO

Comparison

Two locations, two sets of rules

What works on Google doesn’t necessarily work in an AI response. That’s why we measure them separately.

Google

AI Assistants

How People Search

Google

Individual keywords; the user picks from a list of results.

AI Assistants

A complete question receives one answer.

What You’ll Win

Google

A ranking in the search results and the corresponding click.

AI Assistants

Be mentioned in the answer, with a citation.

How to Measure It

Google

Your position in the list, how often you appear, and how often you’re clicked on.

AI Assistants

How often you are mentioned in the answer—checked manually.

What We’re Improving

Google

Speed, the right keywords, and links between your pages.

AI Assistants

Text that an AI can lift and reuse, and clear sources.

How fast it moves

Google

Positions shift starting in the third month.

AI Assistants

Mentions may shift with each model update.

Approach

Four Steps to Visibility

Almost every project goes through these four phases, so you never have to guess what we’re working on this month. If the audit shows that your system won’t meet the requirements, we’ll stop there and first discuss a new foundation.

Four camps on the way to the summit: audit, structure, content, and measurement.

Audit

Where do you stand right now on Google and with AI assistants? An overview of technology, content, and competition.

Structure

The information architecture and technical foundation are in place, ensuring that every page can be found and understood.

Content

Pages and articles that address search intent and are factually sound enough to be cited.

Measurement

Monthly Report: Rankings, AI Mentions, and Traffic—Explained in Plain Language.

Result

This way, you can see month after month whether it’s working

Every month, we compare the same three metrics side by side. These are your rankings for the keywords that generate revenue. We also check whether AI assistants mention you by name in their responses, and how that translates into visitor traffic. We use the same metrics every time, so you can track your progress rather than just guessing.

Every month, the same three rows appear side by side; the highlighted column is the month of the report.

Google

rankings for your core keywords

mentions in assistants’ responses

Traffic

organic traffic and enquiries

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO and GEO

How do you measure AI traffic to your website?

Short answer: partially, via referrers in Google Analytics, supplemented by asking AI assistants yourself. Full measurement is not yet possible (as of October 2026).

Some visits from AI assistants are visible as referrers. Some come in without a referrer and are counted as direct traffic. What you can do:

Referral traffic: look in Google Analytics for visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude, and create a separate segment for them.
The form: ask “How did you find us?” during an inquiry. Answers like “ChatGPT” show what the referrer is missing.
Being mentioned: ask the assistants the same list of questions every month and note whether you are mentioned, and with which source. That measures visibility, not visits.
Landing pages: see which pages AI visitors open. Those are the pages being cited.

At EQwise, we measure visibility in AI answers based on a fixed set of questions and compare them over time.

Want to have that done for you? SEO & GEO starts with a three-month trial period for €495 (excluding VAT), for sites up to 50 pages.

How do you measure if GEO is working when an AI doesn’t provide the same answer every time?

Short answer: we repeatedly ask the assistants the same type of question and count how often your name appears in the response. Not just once, but month after month.

An AI response isn’t fixed like a Google ranking. Asking the same question twice can yield a different result. That is why we don’t measure at a single point in time, but repeatedly. We track who is being mentioned.

This doesn’t result in a standalone figure like “position 3,” but rather a trend: are you being mentioned more often than last month, or less? We place that trend alongside your Google rankings, providing a single report instead of two separate realities.

How fast should a website load?

Short answer: the largest element on the page must be visible within 2.5 seconds. In the Core Web Vitals, Google considers the loading speed to be good at that point. This applies to 75% of actual visits, measured separately for mobile and desktop.

In technical terms, that largest element is called the Largest Contentful Paint. You measure it on the pages where visitors enter, not just on the homepage.

That is why we also measure on a phone with a 4G connection, not just on Wi-Fi.

What you do with it:

Measure on an actual device or with real visitors, not just in a simulator on Wi-Fi. They provide different answers.
First, identify which element is the largest. Often, it is an image that is too heavy.
Pay attention to third-party scripts, such as tag managers and pixels. They slow down the page without you seeing them.
Measure again after every change, so you know which adjustment actually helped.

Speed is not a goal in itself. A fast page that does not convince yields nothing. However, a slow page loses visitors before they have read anything.

Is GEO a replacement for SEO, or something you do separately alongside it?

Short answer: neither. GEO does not replace SEO, nor is it a separate process alongside it. It is the same work on the same site, measured in two places.

We go through the same four phases for both: audit, structure, content, and measurement. A text that ranks well in Google can certainly be improved so that an AI can also process it. This is often the same intervention, just evaluated on two outcomes instead of one.

We agree in advance on what needs to be addressed in your case, so you don’t have to guess what we are working on this month.

Should you add new content, or optimize what’s already there?

Short answer: we usually optimize what is already there first. New content is only added when a customer’s question isn’t answered anywhere on your site.

We start by identifying which questions customers actually ask AI about your type of business. If the answer is already on your site, we rework that page: facts first, a clear structure, fewer adjectives. If the answer is missing entirely, we write a new page that addresses it directly.

This way, GEO remains a matter of sharpening what you already have, rather than building a second site on top of it.

What do AI search engines really want to see in your content?

Short answer: a clear answer that can be quoted independently of the rest of the page, and that is verifiably correct.

An AI assistant does not read your page like a visitor does. It looks for a passage that stands on its own and contains the answer. Four factors determine whether you provide that:

The answer is at the beginning. Not after a three-paragraph introduction. Start with the conclusion and then provide further explanation.
Facts instead of adjectives. “Response within two business days” is quotable. “Fast service” is not.
Readable structure. Proper headings, short paragraphs, lists where possible, and structured data that matches the content on the page.
External confirmation. AI systems weigh what others say about you. Mentions, reviews, and references outside your own site carry significant weight.

And one thing that is often forgotten: check whether your site allows AI crawlers in at all. We regularly encounter sites that block GPTBot or CCBot in robots.txt without anyone knowing. In that case, the rest of your efforts are futile.

What exactly is GEO, in plain English?

Short answer: GEO ensures that an AI assistant mentions your business directly in its response, instead of you appearing somewhere in a list of links.

With SEO, Google evaluates a page and places it in a list of results. You choose which one to click. An AI assistant works differently: it reads several pages, summarizes them, and returns a single answer. An AI assistant doesn’t read your page like a visitor. It looks for a fact to extract, not a story to scroll through.

For you, that means: it’s not about a ranking, but about whether you are mentioned. That’s why with GEO, we work on the same site but with a different standard. Is the answer stated clearly, factually, and concisely enough to be extracted?

What is GEO and why is it important now?

Short answer: GEO stands for generative engine optimization: ensuring that AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot mention and recommend your business.

More and more customers are first asking an AI for advice before they start googling. If you are not mentioned there, you do not exist for that customer. There is no second page where you might still appear, because an AI provides an answer instead of a list.

What is different compared to SEO:

You don’t win a position, you get cited. That requires answers that can be understood independently of the rest of the page.
Facts carry more weight than adjectives. “Response within two business days” is citable, “fast service” is not.
What others say about you counts. Mentions and reviews outside your own site help determine whether an assistant trusts you.

And the basis remains the same: a fast, clean site with content that truly answers the question. GEO does not replace SEO; it builds on top of it.

Which AI platforms do you monitor, and is my company already sufficiently represented?

Short answer: we test against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity — the assistants that now handle a large portion of search queries.

In addition to testing responses, we also check if those assistants can technically read your site. Are you, for example, accidentally blocking robots.txt GPTBot or CCBot? It happens more often than you might think, and then even the best content is useless: the AI simply cannot access it.

Whether you are “already appearing enough” only becomes clear after the initial measurement: zero mentions is a clear starting point, while a single mention for the wrong query is a different conversation entirely.

Why doesn’t traditional SEO work like it used to?

Short answer: because a growing share of search queries ends with an answer rather than a list of links.

For twenty years, the game was simple: get high in the list, get the click. That is changing on two fronts simultaneously.

Google answers itself. AI Overviews and featured snippets provide the answer at the top. Whoever provides that answer is cited. Whoever is in third place with the same information receives nothing.
People search outside Google. Increasingly, a search begins with ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity. These do not show ten blue links but instead mention a handful of sources.

What carries more weight as a result: clear, citable answers instead of long texts that beat around the bush. Verifiable facts. Structure that a machine can read. And mentions in places outside your own site, because that is where AI systems get their image of you.

What has NOT changed: a fast, technically clean site with content that truly answers the question. That was always the basis and still is. GEO does not replace SEO; it builds on top of it.

Do you only work with WordPress?

Short answer: no. We also perform SEO and GEO on other systems, but not on every system.

We only start a project on a system that we expect can function reasonably well. Some packages technically do not allow what is necessary to rank: you cannot enter proper page titles. Load times cannot be influenced and the URL structure is fixed. Or the generated code is difficult for search engines and AI assistants to read.

If that is the case, we will say so in advance and we will not start. Pushing for years against a foundation that does not cooperate costs more than a new base and yields less.

What that means for your lead time:

Healthy existing system: we can start immediately; normal terms apply.
Maintenance backlog: repair first, expect one to three months of cleaning up. The clock for results only starts after that.
Technically unsuitable system: there is no lead time, because we do not start. First a new foundation, then we talk about marketing.

Why we most often recommend WordPress ourselves: you hold the key. No subscription where your content is trapped, full control over your content, your domain, and your hosting. And the freedom to switch to another party without starting over.

Unpleasant news to hear, but better than having to explain a year later why no progress is being made.

How long does it take to see results from SEO?

Short answer: the first visible improvements usually appear between six and twelve weeks. Structural growth is built over six to twelve months. That is an average—and an average says little about your specific situation.

How fast it goes for you depends mainly on three things:

Is there a maintenance backlog? A site that hasn’t been maintained for years often has outdated plugins, slow load times, broken links, and security risks. In that case, the work doesn’t start with growth, but with repair: expect one to three months of cleaning up. The good news is that this catch-up often yields quick wins because low-hanging fruit has been left behind.
What is the current status of your site? A healthy existing site wins faster because the foundation is right. A new domain must first build trust with Google and simply needs time for that.
How high is the competition? This makes the difference between weeks and years. Locally and specifically (“heat pump installer Zaandam”), you can compete within a few months. Nationally and commercially (“refinance mortgage”), twelve to eighteen months is normal.

Roughly, per situation:

Healthy existing site, local: first signals after 4–8 weeks, serious growth after 3–6 months.
Existing site with backlog: first signals after 2–4 months (after the repair work), serious growth after 6–9 months.
Completely new site or new domain: first signals after 3–6 months, serious growth after 9–18 months.

The type of improvement also determines the pace. Technical fixes such as speed and indexing often take effect within days to a few weeks. Content and structure take weeks to months. Building authority (mentions, links, brand awareness) takes months to years, and is simultaneously the most sustainable layer.

What you will not get from me is a guarantee in the form of “position 1 within three months.” That certainty does not exist: your competitors are not standing still, and Google adjusts its algorithm several times a year. What you will get: a monthly report in plain language. It details what has been done, what has changed in the figures, and what is scheduled for next month, including what was disappointing. And if the measurable signals are not moving in the right direction after about three months, I will sound the alarm myself.

How much influence does the competition have on how quickly I rank in Google?

Short answer: a great deal. Competition makes the difference between a few weeks and a year and a half.

SEO is not an exam with a fixed standard, but a comparison. Google puts your page next to all other pages that want the same keyword. The tougher that company, the longer it takes before you can compete.

Local and specific (“hairdresser Amsterdam East”, “heat pump installer Zaandam”): here you can truly compete within a few months. Often, the competitors are small businesses that do little with their websites.
Regional or niche-oriented: expect six to nine months before the trend becomes structural.
National and commercial (“refinance mortgage”, “business car lease”): these involve parties with large budgets, dedicated editorial teams, and years of authority. Twelve to eighteen months is normal in these cases.

In the latter category, a frontal attack is rarely the smartest move. A more specific entry point (a subtopic, a region, a target group) usually yields customers faster and more affordably than struggling for years on a single expensive keyword.

I therefore always first look at who is currently at the top and what weight that party brings to the table. If the conclusion is that a certain keyword is currently out of reach, I will tell you—along with a more realistic alternative.

Our clients know us through their network, not via Google. Does SEO still make sense?

Short answer: yes, but not to be found. To be verified.

Someone hears your name in a conversation or sees it in a report. What that person does next is look you up. What appears then determines whether the conversation continues. That is not discovery but confirmation, and it is at least as important.

A second movement has emerged. Increasingly, someone asks an AI assistant to name parties in a niche. If you aren’t among them, you don’t exist in that conversation. There is no second page where you might still turn up.

What this means for the approach: less chasing search volume. More ensuring that anyone looking you up immediately sees who you are and why you can be trusted.

Part of our content is for clients only. What does that mean for visibility?

Short answer: gated content does not count toward your visibility, so the question is which part you make public.

Search engines and AI assistants only see what is public. If all your value is behind a login, you remain invisible to the very people who do not know you yet.

The practical balance: your method, your perspective, and your assessment of developments are public. The details, data, and recommendations are behind the login. This allows you to demonstrate your expertise without giving away what your clients pay for.

Common mistakes: making everything public out of fear of invisibility, or gating everything out of fear of giving too much away. Both will cost you clients.

What is the average CTR of Google Ads and organic search?

Short answer: there is no average that is correct for your specific market. The CTR depends on your position, the search query, and the industry. Your own figures are more reliable than any average.

CTR (click-through rate) is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. With 1,000 impressions and 50 clicks, the CTR is 5%.

As a rule: higher in the list means more clicks. The difference between the first and tenth position is significant, and it shifts again for search queries involving a local pack or an AI overview.

Where you see it:

Google Ads: the CTR per advertisement and per keyword.
Google Search Console: the CTR per page and per search query, for your organic positions.

Look at the trend, not at a single number. A low CTR at a high position usually means the title or description does not align with the search query. That is often a cheap improvement.

See also the question about the percentage of visitors who do not click on advertisements.

What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?

Short answer: on-page SEO is what you do on and within your own site. Off-page SEO is what other parties show about your site. You control the first; the second is largely out of your hands.

On-page is about three things:

Content: does the page answer the question someone is searching for, and better than what is currently there?
Structure: headings, internal links, titles, and descriptions that show Google and AI assistants what the page is about.
Technical: speed, mobile usage, and whether Google can read the page.

Off-page is about what happens outside your site: other sites linking to you, mentions of your company, reviews, and your Google Business Profile. Google reads these as signals that you are a trustworthy source.

That is why you start with on-page. If the page is weak, any link pointing to it helps very little. If the page is good, it pays to work on what happens outside of it. The latter takes months and cannot be forced.

What percentage of users do not click on Google Ads?

Short answer: there is no fixed percentage. It depends on the search query, the industry, and the ad position.

Most people do not consciously refuse ads. They click on what seems to provide the answer. Someone looking for an explanation, like “what is a heat pump”, is usually not looking for a provider, and an ad is a poor fit for that query. For a query like “heat pump installer Zaandam quote”, an ad is simply one of the options.

These differences are greater than any average. That is why isolated percentages from research are of little use: they were measured on different queries, in a different market, and in a different year.

What actually works: your own numbers.

In Google Ads, you see how often each ad was shown and how often it was clicked.
In Google Search Console, you see the same for your organic results.
Compare those two per keyword, not across your entire account.

This way, you know what paid and organic deliver for your market, and you can allocate your budget accordingly. See also the question about the average CTR.

What slows down SEO results the most?

Short answer: overdue maintenance. In practice, that is the biggest delayer, and at the same time the most underestimated.

A WordPress site that has not been maintained for two or three years often has outdated plugins, slow loading times, broken links, and security risks. Furthermore, the theme no longer keeps up with modern standards. Optimizing on such a foundation is like mopping with the tap running: Google has more difficulty reading the site, visitors drop off sooner, and every improvement you implement is partially undone by the underlying issues.

That is why, in this situation, the work doesn’t start with growth, but with repair. Expect one to three months of cleaning up before optimization can even have an effect. Unpleasant news, but better than hearing afterwards why things aren’t progressing.

The good news: that catch-up effort often yields quick wins. There is usually years of low-hanging fruit waiting: pages without titles, three-megabyte images, and pages that Google does not see at all. Repairing that sometimes makes a measurable difference within weeks.

Other common delayers: a brand new domain that still needs to build trust, heavy competition in your market, and copy or decisions that sit idle for weeks. That last one is the only one you have full influence over yourself.

Why is it not wise in internet marketing to only spend time and budget on AdWords and not on SEO?

There are several reasons why it is not wise to only spend time and budget on AdWords and not on SEO within internet marketing:

Costs: AdWords can be expensive, especially if you target competitive keywords. You may have to spend a lot of money to stand out from the competition, and the costs for clicks can add up. With SEO, you can attract organic traffic to your website without paying for every click.
Temporary: With AdWords, you only get traffic to your website as long as you pay for ads. As soon as you stop advertising, the traffic stops too. SEO can have a long-lasting impact, even after you have stopped investing in optimization.
Authority and trust: Search engine users often have more trust in organic search results than in paid ads. By investing time and resources in SEO, you can work on building authority and trust with your target audience.
Diversity: It is not wise to put all your eggs in one basket. By relying only on AdWords, you miss opportunities to attract traffic to your website in other ways. SEO can help you attract organic traffic via various search terms and channels.
User experience: A good user experience is an important part of SEO. By investing in SEO, you can work on improving the user experience of your website. In the long run, this can lead to more traffic and higher conversions.

In general, it is wise to invest in both AdWords and SEO to create a balanced and effective online marketing strategy.

What is link building and how does it work?

Short answer: link building is ensuring other sites link to yours. Such a link acts as a recommendation. It is not about having as many links as possible, but about links from sites relevant to your field.

Why it still matters: a link from an industry blog, a partner, or a trade association shows Google that you are a player in your sector. It also sometimes brings direct visitors—people already looking for what you do.

What works:

Quality over quantity: better one strong link from a relevant site than ten from unknown sources.
Context: the link fits the text and aligns with what you offer.
Something worth linking to: a practical guide, your own research, or an explanation no one else has.

What no longer works: buying links, listings on pages full of spam, and large-scale link exchanges. Google ignores many spam links automatically. If you buy links or exchange them on a large scale, you risk a manual penalty.

How to start: first, create the page that is worth sharing. Then, personally approach a handful of relevant parties, for example with a guest post or a concrete proposal. Then, see what it delivers.

Need help mapping your link profile? SEO & GEO starts with a three-month trial period for €495 (excluding VAT), for sites up to 50 pages.

Why is it important to look at your website’s link profile?

Short answer: because links from other sites count toward how trustworthy Google finds you, and because you need to know which links you have before you can determine which ones matter.

Your link profile is the collection of links pointing to your site. An analysis reveals four things:

Which sites link to you, and whether they fit your industry.
What text is in the link. A natural profile has a lot of variation, and primarily features your company name.
Which pages the links land on. If everything points to the homepage, you are missing opportunities.
Which links are suspicious: purchased, exchanged between similar sites, or originating from pages full of spam.

Google ignores many spam links automatically. However, if you buy links yourself or exchange them on a large scale, you run the risk of a manual action. Therefore, inventory unwanted links first and then assess whether they matter.

Want an initial analysis? SEO & GEO starts with a three-month trial period for €495 (excluding VAT), for sites up to 50 pages.

Free Website Scan

See in black and white where you stand on Google and with AI

We’ll analyse your rankings for the keywords that drive customers to your site and test what AI assistants are currently saying about you. We’ll also prioritise areas for improvement based on their potential return on investment. This will let you know right away whether an SEO and GEO strategy is right for you.

Have your site reviewed

SEO

GEO

Search Engine Optimisation

Generative Engine Optimisation

What One Sector Survey Shows

This way, you can see month after month whether it’s working

How do you measure AI traffic to your website?

How do you measure if GEO is working when an AI doesn’t provide the same answer every time?

How fast should a website load?

Is GEO a replacement for SEO, or something you do separately alongside it?

Should you add new content, or optimize what’s already there?

What do AI search engines really want to see in your content?

What exactly is GEO, in plain English?

What is GEO and why is it important now?

Which AI platforms do you monitor, and is my company already sufficiently represented?

Why doesn’t traditional SEO work like it used to?

Do you only work with WordPress?

How long does it take to see results from SEO?

How much influence does the competition have on how quickly I rank in Google?

Our clients know us through their network, not via Google. Does SEO still make sense?

Part of our content is for clients only. What does that mean for visibility?

What is the average CTR of Google Ads and organic search?

What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?

What percentage of users do not click on Google Ads?

What slows down SEO results the most?

Why is it not wise in internet marketing to only spend time and budget on AdWords and not on SEO?

What is link building and how does it work?

Why is it important to look at your website’s link profile?

At the top of Google.Recommended by AI.

SEO and GEO are not two separate processes

SEO

GEO

SEO and GEO Side by Side

Search Engine Optimisation

Generative Engine Optimisation

What One Sector Survey Shows

Two locations, two sets of rules

Four Steps to Visibility

Audit

Structure

Content

Measurement

This way, you can see month after month whether it’s working

Frequently Asked Questions About SEO and GEO

How do you measure AI traffic to your website?

How do you measure if GEO is working when an AI doesn’t provide the same answer every time?

How fast should a website load?

Is GEO a replacement for SEO, or something you do separately alongside it?

Should you add new content, or optimize what’s already there?

What do AI search engines really want to see in your content?

What exactly is GEO, in plain English?

What is GEO and why is it important now?

Which AI platforms do you monitor, and is my company already sufficiently represented?

Why doesn’t traditional SEO work like it used to?

Do you only work with WordPress?

How long does it take to see results from SEO?

How much influence does the competition have on how quickly I rank in Google?

Our clients know us through their network, not via Google. Does SEO still make sense?

Part of our content is for clients only. What does that mean for visibility?

What is the average CTR of Google Ads and organic search?

What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?

What percentage of users do not click on Google Ads?

What slows down SEO results the most?

Why is it not wise in internet marketing to only spend time and budget on AdWords and not on SEO?

What is link building and how does it work?

Why is it important to look at your website’s link profile?

See in black and white where you stand on Google and with AI

At the top of Google.
Recommended by AI.