When AI answers,
does it mention you?

SEO is about ranking high in Google's search results, where the user clicks through themselves. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is about being named when AI answers the user directly — the user may never click a link. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is another name for the same thing, said of generative AI like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.

Three things, all of them required. One, it can be read: your details need a public web page that does not block AI crawlers. Two, it can be understood: there has to be text, not just images — ideally a clear name, description, district, industry and common questions. Three, it joins up: your website, Instagram and Facebook should point at each other, so AI is confident they are one company.

Yes. Instagram is hard for AI to read — it is mostly images and video, and it asks for a login. The practical move is to put one page of your official merchant details on a public site AI can read, and point from there to your Instagram. AI then reads your company's details as text and also knows that Instagram account is yours.

No. No person and no company controls who AI names. Any service promising “guaranteed AI recommendation” is lying to you. What can be done is to make your details exist, be clear and be readable — moving you from “AI has never heard of you” to “AI knows who you are”. Whether it then mentions you is up to the AI.

Some AI identifies itself when it comes to read (the User-Agent), the server writes it down, and so the server log says who, when and which page. But that kind of number has three limits worth stating plainly. One: a User-Agent can be forged, so strictly speaking it only tells you how many reads claimed to be that. Two: having read a page only means a program fetched it — not that you are indexed, will be quoted, or will be recommended. Three: not every AI identifies itself — on 5 September 2026 we measured Grok reading this site without ever announcing itself, from scattered residential broadband IPs, dressed as an ordinary Windows Chrome; in a server log that is indistinguishable from a person. So any “AI read count” is incomplete by construction. Treat it as a reference, not a full list.

It is a block hidden inside the page, written for machines, saying “this page is about a company; here is its name, its industry, its official website”. People never see it; machines read it very accurately. You do not need to understand it — whoever builds your website should do this for you.

It is a plain-text file at the root of a website that explains, in simple language, what the whole site is, what matters on it and what to watch out for. Think of it as a table of contents written for AI. This site's copy is at https://www.rankeasy.hk/llms.txt, open to anyone.

AI crawlers re-read a site on a scale of weeks, not the same day. And even once it has been read, nobody can say when or under which question an AI will mention you. So the reasonable expectation is this: get “can be read” and “can be understood” right today; results come later. Any promise with a definite timetable deserves suspicion.