Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Grow Downloads With AI Search

Starting point: App Store listing gave a 5-10% AI mention rate; the website was fully JavaScript-rendered (AI crawlers do not run JavaScript) and not in search indexes. Over ~30 days: restructured the site so content is in the served HTML (server-side rendering), got it listed in search indexes (Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster, which feeds ChatGPT), then published ~20 pieces of content. Content answered problem-recognition questions users ask AI ('I deleted my SMS, I don't have my script, what do I do?') and ended with the fix (use our free app, it syncs everything automatically), plus pieces owning the rural/offline-access angle (which app to use when connection is spotty). Test: paste your URL into ChatGPT and ask what it can tell you about the company.

In a crowded category (meditation, dominated by Calm and Headspace, with problem questions answered by doctors), listed every blogger who showed up in AI answers for the space and reached out to them for guest posts or collaborations.

Users mostly ask 'I have this card, what's the rating/value?'. Created a web page for every Pokemon card and every variation (~11,000 pages) with rough information about the card and a push to the app's AI photo grading to judge its quality.

Wrote the App Store description as questions and answers users ask AI: 'What is Momego? Does Momego work in Sydney? What about Melbourne? Can I use it in Brisbane?'

Built a website giving away a free layer of information (schedules, traffic times) with a funnel down to the app.

Wrote a 'top couples apps' article: her own app at #1, competitors at #2-#4, with pros and cons of every app including her own. Guest adds: be charitable to competitors and frame it as which app fits which user.

Posted a public Reddit thread announcing the app launch ('this is the app we're launching').

AI favours recent content: citations fall off about 3 months after publishing. Do a light refresh of older pages (some rewording, a few added links, update for anything new) to get a bump in AI traffic to those pages. Also watch for old negative reviews and threads AI keeps surfacing, and respond on Reddit/community forums.

1) Measure a baseline: how often AI names you for questions in your space. 2) Make the site readable: paste your URL into ChatGPT and ask what it can find; if it is JavaScript-only (common with Lovable/Claude Code sites), switch to server-side rendering; don't block AI bots; submit to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster. 3) Publish 10-20 pieces: why you vs a bigger competitor, a landscape of the apps in the space and who each is for (conditional 'if you're X, use Y'), guides for the exact pain points that trigger a search, definitions of the category terms. 4) Ask ChatGPT for list sites and directories covering your space and get listed on them.