When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews a question related to your business, one of two things happens: either your website is cited as a source, or someone else's is. Which outcome you get depends on whether AI tools can read your site, understand who you are, and trust your content enough to quote it. That is what Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is about. And a lot of what you can do depends on which platform your site runs on.

Why this matters more than it did two years ago

Search behavior is shifting. A growing share of people now ask AI tools their research questions instead of typing into Google and clicking links. When someone searches for "best accountant in [city]" or "how to choose a web designer" and an AI tool answers, the businesses that get named are the ones whose websites made it easy to be cited. The ones that do not show up may not even know they are missing from the conversation.

Three things that determine GEO readiness

You do not need to understand every technical detail to take meaningful action. There are three things that matter most:

  • AI bot access: whether the tools that power ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are allowed to crawl your site. This is controlled in your robots.txt file, which tells crawlers what they can and cannot access.
  • Schema markup: structured data that tells AI tools who you are (your business name, location, what you do) and what kind of content you publish (FAQ answers, how-to guides, blog posts). Without it, AI tools have to guess.
  • Content in the HTML: for most sites on Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress, this is not a problem. Those platforms render page content in the initial HTML that crawlers receive. The narrow exception is custom JavaScript components, such as an accordion or FAQ section built with a third-party script that only reveals text when a visitor clicks. If you built something like that using a code block or a custom plugin, the answers may not be in the HTML at all. Native platform components do not have this issue.

WordPress: the most you can do

WordPress gives you complete control over every GEO signal. If your site runs on WordPress, none of the following require a developer. They all work through free plugins.

  • AI bot access: install Rank Math (free) or Yoast SEO (free). Both give you a robots.txt editor inside the WordPress admin. A clean User-agent: * with an empty Disallow: allows all crawlers — no per-bot Allow rules are needed. Only add explicit bot-specific blocks if you want to restrict a particular crawler. The most common intentional block is Google-Extended, which opts your content out of Google AI training without affecting standard search indexing.
  • Organization schema: Rank Math's Knowledge Graph settings let you input your business name, type, logo, and description. It outputs the correct JSON-LD automatically. Yoast SEO's equivalent is under SEO > Search Appearance > Knowledge Graph & Schema.
  • Article schema on content pages: Rank Math and Yoast both apply Article or BlogPosting schema to posts automatically. Make sure your content type is set correctly in each plugin's schema settings — this is what tells AI tools your pages contain citable editorial content.
  • Content visibility: standard WordPress themes render content in the initial HTML, which is what AI crawlers read. If you use a page builder like Elementor or a third-party accordion plugin, verify that FAQ sections use native HTML details and summary elements rather than JavaScript-dependent show/hide components. Content that only appears after a JavaScript click event is invisible to AI fetchers.
  • Rank Math SEO ↗

    Free WordPress plugin that handles robots.txt, schema markup, and sitemap generation through a settings UI.

Wix: better than most people expect

Wix has the strongest built-in GEO capability of any fully managed platform. Most of what matters is available directly in the Wix dashboard without any code.

  • AI bot access: Wix provides a robots.txt editor at Settings > SEO > robots.txt. It is limited compared to a fully custom file but lets you add allow rules for major AI crawlers. Add rules for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended.
  • Organization and LocalBusiness schema: Wix auto-generates Organization or LocalBusiness schema at the site level based on your business information. Make sure your business details are complete under Settings > Business Info — this feeds the schema automatically. Verify the output using Google's Rich Results Test.
  • Custom schema: Wix's Structured Data Markup tool (Marketing & SEO > SEO Tools > Structured Data) lets you add and customize schema blocks including HowTo for step-by-step content. It provides a form interface with no code required.
  • Content visibility: Pages built with Wix's native blocks and widgets are generally readable by crawlers without the JavaScript visibility issues that affect custom-coded React sites. If you have embedded any third-party JavaScript widgets for accordions or tab content, verify that the text inside is present in the page HTML and not injected after load.

Squarespace: some good news, some real limits

Squarespace controls its own infrastructure, which limits what you can change. But the starting position is better than many Squarespace users expect.

  • AI bot access: Squarespace generates your robots.txt automatically and you cannot edit it. The good news is that Squarespace's default robots.txt allows all crawlers, including AI bots. No action is needed here.
  • Organization schema: Squarespace auto-generates basic Organization markup from your site settings. Fill in your business name, description, and contact details completely under Settings > Business Information — this feeds the schema automatically.
  • Content visibility: Squarespace's native FAQ and accordion blocks keep content in the page HTML, which means AI crawlers can read it. If you have embedded any third-party JavaScript components for tabs or accordions via a code block, check whether the text content is present in the page source or only appears after a user interaction.
  • Custom schema: Squarespace allows JSON-LD injection through Settings > Advanced > Code Injection. For HowTo pages or step-by-step service guides, this is the only way to add the schema markup that signals instructional content to AI tools.

What works on any platform

Two GEO signals are within reach regardless of which platform you use:

  • Add a sitemap and make sure it is referenced in your robots.txt. WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace all generate sitemaps automatically. Submit yours to Google Search Console to confirm AI crawlers and Googlebot can discover your pages.
  • Write FAQ content in plain, direct language. AI tools quote content that clearly answers a specific question. A paragraph that begins with the question and answers it in the next sentence is more citable than the same information buried in a general description. This applies to any page on any platform.

You do not need to be on WordPress to make progress. A complete business profile, a reachable sitemap, and clear written answers are available to every platform.

What GEO cannot guarantee

GEO work improves your chances of being cited by AI tools. It does not control the outcome. Whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews mentions your business also depends on your content quality, how many authoritative sources already cover your topic, and the specific phrasing of the question being asked. Allowing GPTBot and adding Organization schema are necessary conditions — they remove barriers that would otherwise exclude your site entirely. They are not sufficient on their own to guarantee citation. Treat GEO as hygiene: you need it in place to be considered, but the content still has to earn the mention.

Start here

If you are not sure where to begin, this order covers the highest-impact steps first:

  • Check that your sitemap exists and is submitted in Google Search Console. All three platforms generate one automatically.
  • Confirm your business name, location, and description are complete in your platform settings. WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace all use these details to generate Organization or LocalBusiness schema automatically.
  • If you are on WordPress: install Rank Math (free). Use the Knowledge Graph settings to fill in your business name and type. Rank Math also applies Article schema to posts automatically — check that your content type is set correctly in the schema settings.
  • If you are on Wix: make sure Settings > Business Info is fully completed. Wix uses this to generate Organization schema automatically. Use the Structured Data Markup tool to add HowTo schema to any step-by-step pages.
  • If you are on Squarespace: your robots.txt and basic schema are already handled by the platform. For step-by-step service pages, use Settings > Advanced > Code Injection to add HowTo schema.
  • If you run a medical practice, clinic, or government service: FAQPage schema is still a high-priority signal for your site type. Google continues to surface FAQPage rich results for healthcare and government sites. Rank Math and Wix's Structured Data tool both support it without code.
  • Audit your current GEO signals to see which bots are allowed, what schema is detected, and whether your entity information is clear enough for AI tools to recognize you.