Generative engine optimization (GEO), measured

What we measured

On 19 October 2026 we ran Boldlisted's check on 57 marketing agencies that sell AI search work to their own clients: 41 in the UK and 16 in the US. For each agency, ten questions a business might ask when choosing an agency like it were put to ChatGPT and Gemini, as a logged-out person in that country sees them. That gave 1,140 answers, and 12,213 uses of websites behind them.

We chose agencies because they sell this work, so they are the businesses most likely to have done it well.

1. Being named is rare, even for specialists

The agencies were named in 271 of the 1,140 answers, about one in four. Half of them were named in 4 of their 20 answers or fewer, and 11 of the 57 were not named once. Each answer named about four businesses, so most of a market is left out of any single answer.

ChatGPT named the agency in 153 of its 570 answers, Gemini in 118 of 570. UK agencies were named in 27% of their answers, US agencies in 15%; a larger market means more agencies competing for the same few places.

2. Assistants name the businesses whose websites they read

In 220 of the 271 answers that named the agency (81%), the assistant had used that agency's own website. In the 894 answers where it had not, the agency was named 51 times (6%).

For 12 of the 57 agencies, the assistants did not use the agency's own website in any of its 20 answers. Ten of those twelve were never named, and the other two were named once each.

Part of this runs the other way, because an assistant often links the businesses it has already decided to name. Still, a website the assistant cannot find or read gives it nothing to name.

3. Lists and directories carry the answer

More than half of the answers (613 of 1,140) relied on at least one "best" or "top" list article, such as a ranking of the best SEO agencies in a city. In a sample of 25, most sat on agencies' own websites.

The two assistants lean on different places. ChatGPT linked a Google Maps listing in 155 of its 570 answers; Gemini never did. Clutch was used in 147 answers across both. Gemini drew on Semrush's agency directory in 61 answers and The Manifest in 49, and it was the only one of the two to use Reddit.

What to do, in order

1. Make sure the assistants can read your site. Check that your robots.txt and firewall let the AI search crawlers in. Our free AI crawler checker tests every one in a few seconds.
2. Answer your buyers' exact questions on your own site. The questions buyers ask are specific: a sector, a city, a service. Many of the pages the assistants used were matching service pages, such as a page for one sector or one town. Say who you serve, where, what is included and how pricing works, in plain words.
3. Get into the lists your answers rely on. Find the list articles behind the answers in your market and ask to be included where the list is editorial. Never pay for a place; a paid placement is an advert.
4. Keep your directory profiles complete and consistent. Your Google Business Profile matters for ChatGPT, which linked Google Maps in more than a quarter of its answers. Use the same name, description and services on every directory your market's answers use.
5. Measure it as a share, every week, on more than one assistant. ChatGPT and Gemini used different sources, and every answer is written fresh, so one screenshot proves little.

How we counted

• One day of answers (19 October 2026), two assistants, ten questions per agency, each asked once per assistant. Answers vary from one asking to the next, so treat every figure as a share, not a rank.
• The questions were written by our system from each agency's home page and never contained the agency's name.
• "Named" means the agency appeared in the answer, read by an AI model and matched to the agency's website address.
• Website kinds were sorted by address: list articles are pages whose address contains words such as best, top or agencies; directories are known directory and review sites. The sorting is rough, so the shares are approximate.
• These were agencies chosen because they sell AI search work, not a random sample, and other industries may differ. We do not publish any agency's own results.