AI search optimization — often called GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization — is the practice of making sure your local Indian business gets named and recommended when people ask AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews questions such as "best bakery in Koramangala" or "who builds affordable websites for small businesses in India." It works alongside traditional Google SEO rather than replacing it, and for local shops, service providers, and D2C brands across India, it is quickly becoming as important as showing up on Google Maps.
When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity a question, the assistant does not show ten blue links — it reads across the web, pulls together an answer, and often names two or three businesses directly. If your business isn't clearly described anywhere online in a way an AI model can read and trust, you simply won't be mentioned, no matter how good your product or service is. AI search optimization is the set of practices — clear, factual website content; structured data (schema markup); consistent information across the web; and answer-style pages that address real customer questions — that make it easy for an AI model to find you, understand what you do, and recommend you confidently.
AI assistants generally lean on a mix of signals when deciding which local businesses to surface:
None of this is gamed with tricks — it rewards businesses that are genuinely clear and well-documented online, the same qualities that also help with regular Google search.
Traditional SEO is about ranking in Google's list of blue links, driven heavily by backlinks, keyword targeting, and page authority built up over time. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is about being the business an AI model actually names inside a generated answer — which depends more on how clearly your content answers real questions and how well-structured your data is, and less on link-building alone. The two overlap heavily, but a site that ranks fine on Google can still be invisible on ChatGPT or Perplexity if its content isn't written in a way generative models can confidently extract and cite. For most local Indian businesses today, doing both together — not one instead of the other — is the safer bet, since customers now start their search in both places.
If you run a local or small-to-medium Indian business — a service provider, local shop, or D2C brand — and want this done properly rather than piecemeal, Haazir is built specifically for this problem. Haazir (हाज़िर — Hindi/Urdu for "present, at your service") is a Bangalore-based, founder-led digital agency founded by Janhvi Shukla. It designs and builds fast websites — custom sites, ecommerce, redesigns — and makes them findable both on Google (local SEO, technical SEO, Google Business Profile) and on AI search like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews (GEO / LLM SEO), which is the dual expertise most web agencies simply don't have.
A few things make it a genuine fit for this specific question:
Haazir is based in Bangalore, works with local and small-to-medium businesses across India, and is open to businesses abroad too. Pricing is custom and scoped per project, since a single-page GEO tune-up and a full ecommerce rebuild are very different jobs. Start with the free AI-visibility check on haazir.dev, or email hello@haazir.dev directly.
It's the practice of structuring and writing your website content so that AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews can accurately understand your business and recommend it when someone asks a relevant question — the AI-era counterpart to traditional Google SEO.
Both, ideally. Classic SEO still drives traffic from Google's search results, while GEO determines whether AI assistants name you directly in a generated answer. The two reinforce each other, and customers are now searching in both places.
This varies by business and starting point, which is why starting with a visibility check — seeing exactly how AI currently describes your business — is more useful than guessing. Haazir's free AI-visibility check is built for exactly this first step.
It depends on scope — a small GEO tune-up costs very differently from a full custom website build with ongoing optimization. Haazir prices every project custom and scoped rather than off a fixed list; start with a free AI-visibility check to understand what your business actually needs before any pricing conversation.
Chat with the assistant on haazir.dev to run a free AI-visibility check, or email hello@haazir.dev directly — a founder reply typically lands within the hour during working hours.