How people (and AI) find you when your business is new

Try this: type the question your ideal client would ask into Google, and then into ChatGPT. Something like “business coach for expats in Copenhagen” or “consultant to help my team with onboarding”. Look at who comes up, and read why the answer says they’re a good fit.

You’ll notice a pattern. The names that appear belong to people who say very clearly who they help, who answer real questions in public, and who are mentioned by other people. Experience matters, but only when it can be found and understood.

This is what’s now called GEO, generative engine optimisation: making it easy for AI tools to understand and recommend you. It sits on top of good old SEO, and for a small service business the two mostly ask for the same things.

Say who you help in one plain sentence

Somewhere near the top of your homepage, write one sentence that a stranger, or a machine, could repeat without help. “I help expats with 10+ years of experience turn their expertise into a business offer they can sell” is easy to quote. “Empowering transformation through holistic growth” isn’t. If an AI tool can’t summarise what you do, it won’t recommend you for it.

Use the same description everywhere

Your website, LinkedIn headline, Google Business Profile, podcast bio and event pages should describe you in the same words. Consistency helps people recognise you, and it helps search engines and AI tools connect the dots and trust that all those pages are about the same person.

Answer the questions your clients actually ask

Write down the questions you hear on every discovery call, and answer each one properly on your site, in a blog post or an FAQ. Use the question itself as a heading. AI tools love pages that answer a question directly in the first few lines, and so do busy readers.

Show proof that can be checked

Names, numbers and specifics make you believable to people and to machines. “Worked with 30+ internationals from 23 nationalities” says more than “worked with many clients”. Case studies with real names, dates and results are some of the most useful pages you can publish.

Get mentioned in places you don’t own

Podcast guest spots, workshops for communities, event pages, articles and directories all tell search engines and AI tools that other people consider you worth talking about. A few genuine mentions on relevant sites do more than any amount of posting on your own channels.

Take care of the technical basics

A fast site that works well on phones, clear page titles, a sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, and a site that doesn’t block search or AI crawlers. None of this is exciting, and none of it is optional.

Nobody controls what an AI tool will say, and anyone who promises otherwise is guessing. It also takes months, not weeks.

Funnily enough, what helps an AI recommend you is exactly what helps a person trust you: being clear, being specific, and being talked about by someone other than yourself.