GEO and AI Search Strategy for UK Businesses
Steve Coulter | Independent Consultant | West Sussex
Search has changed permanently. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini now answer questions directly. They cite sources, not rankings. If your business is not the source being cited, a competitor is.
I help estate agents, automotive retailers, and UK SMEs become the trusted, citable source in AI-generated answers. I do this through OPTIMUM, my proprietary seven-dimension audit and strategy framework, and MNPLY, a content and citation execution service built specifically for AI search visibility.
Steve Coulter | Tel: +44(0)7407 038877 | e-mail: steve@stevecoulter.co.uk
What Is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of structuring your content, authority signals, and entity identity so that AI language models select your business as a cited source in generated responses.
Traditional SEO wins clicks from ranked results. GEO wins citations in AI-generated answers, which millions of UK users see before they click anything. A business with strong GEO does not compete for position one. It becomes the answer.
GEO encompasses content precision, claim-level clarity, topical authority, machine-readable structured data, entity consistency across the web, and information gain over competing sources. These are the seven dimensions of the OPTIMUM framework.
Services
Each engagement begins with an OPTIMUM audit to establish a baseline and identify the highest-leverage changes.
OPTIMUM Audit
A structured seven-dimension assessment of your current SEO, GEO, and AI citation readiness. Scored, prioritised, and delivered as a qualitative written report with a clear remediation plan.
AI Risk Intelligence Briefing
A fixed-fee diagnostic for business owners who need to understand their exposure to AI search disruption before committing to a retained programme. Typically completed within five to ten working days.
MNPLY Citation Programme
Ongoing content production and citation placement designed to build AI citation real estate across Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI platforms. Focused on estate agency and automotive retail. I can work directly with your website provider or industry template supplier. Happy to advise on alternative providers or assist in tenders.
Retained GEO Advisory
Monthly, quarterly or half yearly strategic oversight for businesses that want continuous AI search positioning. Includes monitoring, content direction, structured data maintenance, and entity authority development.
Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimisation
GBP is now a direct feed into Google AI Overviews for local queries. Correct categorisation, attribute completeness and citation consistency materially affect local AI answer inclusion.
GDPR Crawler Compliance Audit
An assessment of your site’s crawler compliance posture alongside GEO readiness, delivered as a formal compliance declaration with OPTIMUM scoring. This GDPR audit often surfaces serious compliance issues.
The OPTIMUM Framework
OPTIMUM v2.2 is a proprietary audit methodology built around the seven dimensions AI search systems use to evaluate and cite content sources. It references but is superior to Google’s E-E-A-T methodology and translates complex GEO theory into a scored, actionable report that any business can use immediately.
Originality and Information Gain
Does your content say something AI cannot source from the top ten results already?
Precision and Claim-Level Clarity
Are your factual statements specific, verifiable, and structured for extraction?
Topical Authority
Does your domain signal deep expertise in a defined subject area over time?
Intent Alignment
Does your content match the exact questions being asked in AI queries?
Machine Readability
Is your structured data complete, valid, and semantically consistent with your entity identity?
User-Centric Quality
Does your content meet Google E-E-A-T and Y-M-Y-L standards and demonstrate genuine expertise?
Metadata and Entity Relationships
Are your brand, people, and locations consistently represented across every citation touchpoint?
In other words does your online footprint represent you as the best solution to a problem, or most respected supplier of a product.
Sectors I Work With
I work selectively with a small number of clients at any time. I prefer to work with businesses that have a demonstrable commitment to customer service or are intent on a dedicated business improvement programme. Sector focus produces better results than generalist volume. Lessons are learned during every consultancy, I broadcast these innovations across all my clients.
Estate Agency
Insulate your business against digital-savvy agency start ups and aggregators like Rightmove. Independent and regional agents facing AI-generated answers that recommend competitors with stronger citation profiles. OPTIMUM identifies exploitable gaps with competitors. MNPLY closes them.
Automotive Retail
Franchised dealers and independent used car retailers navigating AI Overviews that surface competitor pricing and reviews ahead of organic results. I will give you the opportunity to punch above your weight against larger companies who employ dedicated digital marketing teams. Again, OPTIMUM if implemented helps to insulate your business against aggregators like Autotrader and their arbitrary price increases and product changes.
UK SMEs
Small and medium businesses in any sector where AI search is disrupting lead generation, particularly those competing on local intent queries where Google AI Overviews now dominate above the fold.
About Steve Coulter
I am an independent digital marketing consultant and AI search expert based in Littlehampton, West Sussex. I specialise in Generative Engine Optimisation, AI search strategy, and organic SEO, and I have been working in digital marketing since 1999 but a sales and marketing leader since 1987.
Before specialising in AI search, I spent nearly four decades in the automotive industry, including senior management at Renault UK and launched one of the UK’s first vehicle leasing and asset finance companies in 1987 and online vehicle sales platforms during the dot-com period around 1999. That background gives me a working understanding of automotive retail, dealership operations, compliance and best practice as well as the commercial pressures facing independent businesses and groups with multiple branches.
I am the author of multiple digital marketing and business management theses; ‘The Definitive Guide To Digital Transformation For Legacy Businesses’, ‘Ultimate GEO: First Edition’, a practitioner guide to Generative Engine Optimisation, ‘NATO Spec’, how Elite Sports and Special Forces can sharpen your business operation and ‘The Punk Operating System: Built Without Permission’, a book about independent and lean business strategy.
I work one to one or present at board level. Every client gets direct access to myself and experience, not a junior team member working from a template.
What Clients Say
“Working with Steve has been one of the most commercially valuable consultancy experiences I’ve had. What initially stood out was the depth of his AI Risk Intelligence Analysis, not just a surface level overview of AI trends, but a genuinely strategic breakdown of how rapidly evolving AI search, generative platforms, and algorithmic discovery are beginning to reshape the way businesses are found, trusted, and ultimately chosen online.
I would strongly recommend Steve to any business owner or leadership team looking to better understand the risks and opportunities created by AI evolution, while also benefiting from broader consultancy that improves everyday business operations and decision making.”
Estate Agency Group Director, West Sussex (5 Star Google Review)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of optimising your website content, structured data, and authority signals so that AI search engines, including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, select your business as a cited source in generated responses. It differs from traditional SEO in that the goal is citation and inclusion in AI-generated answers, not a ranked position in a list of blue links. You cannot buy a placing in an AI Summary, you’re there on merit and endeavour.
How is GEO different from SEO?
SEO optimises for ranking positions in traditional search results called SERPS. GEO optimises for citation and inclusion in the AI-generated answers that now appear above those results.
A business can rank on page one and still be invisible in AI Overviews if it lacks the entity clarity, topical authority, and content precision that AI systems require.
What is the OPTIMUM framework?
OPTIMUM is a seven-dimension audit and strategy framework developed by Steve Coulter to assess and improve a business’s AI search visibility. The seven dimensions are Originality and Information Gain, Precision and Claim-Level Clarity, Topical Authority, Intent Alignment, Machine Readability, User-Centric Quality, and Metadata and Entity Relationships. Each dimension is scored, producing a total OPTIMUM score and a prioritised remediation plan.
Which sectors do you work with?
The primary sectors are estate agency, automotive retail, including franchised dealerships and independent used car retailers, and UK SMEs facing AI search disruption. For automotive retail, Steve Coulter has worked across the industry including; start-up founder, managing car sales departments, dealerships, group used car operations (£200M annual T/O), respected used performance car dealer and importer of JDM Honda performance cars from Japan.
The ‘clicks and bricks’ skills and experience gained over four decades are transferable to most services and retail businesses.
What is the AI Risk Intelligence Briefing?
The AI Risk Intelligence Briefing is a fixed-fee diagnostic engagement designed for business owners who want to understand their current exposure to AI search disruption before committing to a longer programme. It delivers a written assessment of your AI visibility gaps and a prioritised list of the highest-leverage improvements, typically within five to ten working days. There is no obligation to continue, but the briefing is great value and ‘Knowledge Is Power’.
What is MNPLY?
MNPLY is a content and citation execution service designed to build and maintain AI citation real estate across the major platforms where AI-generated answers are served. It is focused on SME business marketing challenges, estate agency and automotive retail and is delivered as an ongoing programme.
Do you work with businesses outside West Sussex?
Yes. The majority of work is conducted remotely and client location is not a constraint. Physical proximity is only relevant where an in-person audit or presentation is required. Otherwise we can arrange Teams or WhatsApp meetings.
How do I get started?
Contact Steve directly by email at steve@stevecoulter.co.uk or by phone on 07407 038877. The typical starting point is a short discovery call followed by either a full OPTIMUM audit or an AI Risk Intelligence Briefing, depending on your situation.
Find Out Where You Stand in AI Search
Most businesses do not know whether or how they appear in AI-generated answers for their key search queries. The OPTIMUM audit answers that question precisely and tells you what to do about it.
Email: steve@stevecoulter.co.uk | Phone: 07407 038877 (+44 7407 038877)
Based in Littlehampton, West Sussex. Available UK-wide and remotely.