Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) in Leeds & Yorkshire

Search is entering a new phase.

For more than two decades, businesses have concentrated on being found through conventional search engines. Search Engine Optimisation has consequently become a fundamental part of digital marketing.

That requirement has not disappeared.

What is changing is the way people interact with search technology.

Instead of simply typing a keyword, reviewing a page of links and visiting several websites, users can increasingly ask detailed questions and receive AI-generated responses assembled from multiple sources.

They can ask for recommendations, comparisons, explanations, suppliers and solutions.

This changing behaviour has led to the development of a term increasingly used within the search industry:

Generative Engine Optimisation – GEO.

Code Inclusive provides Generative Engine Optimisation services for businesses in Leeds and throughout Yorkshire, helping organisations strengthen the content, technical infrastructure, business entities and evidence that generative search systems may use when discovering and interpreting information.

Our approach is deliberately evidence-led.

We do not claim there is a secret GEO formula capable of guaranteeing inclusion within an AI-generated answer.

Instead, we concentrate on something considerably more sustainable:

Making your organisation an excellent source of accessible, distinctive, understandable and trustworthy information.

What Is Generative Engine Optimisation?

Generative Engine Optimisation is commonly used to describe work intended to improve the visibility and representation of websites, brands and information within generative AI search experiences.

It is often abbreviated to:

GEO

You may also encounter:

AEO – Answer Engine Optimisation

These terms reflect a genuine change in search behaviour, but they can also create confusion.

Google's position is particularly useful.

Google now explicitly acknowledges both GEO and AEO terminology but states that, from its perspective, optimising for generative AI search is still optimising for the search experience and therefore remains SEO. Its generative search systems continue to rely upon Google's core Search ranking and quality systems.

Code Inclusive therefore does not present GEO as the death of SEO.

We see it as an evolution in the way organisations need to think about search visibility.

How Does Generative Search Differ from Traditional Search?

Consider someone looking for an engineering supplier.

A conventional search might be:

precision engineering Leeds

A generative search could be:

"Which precision engineering companies in Yorkshire have experience supplying specialist components to the energy industry?"

That second query contains several relationships:

Service: Precision engineering

Location: Yorkshire

Experience: Specialist components

Sector: Energy

A useful answer requires considerably more understanding than a simple keyword match.

The search system needs information capable of establishing which businesses meet the combination of requirements.

This is where GEO becomes interesting.

Businesses need to consider whether their digital presence provides sufficient information to establish those relationships accurately.

Retrieval Before Generation

One of the most important concepts for businesses to understand is that generative search is not simply an AI system "knowing everything on the internet".

Retrieval matters.

Google describes the use of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) within its generative search systems. Its systems can retrieve relevant and current webpages from the Search index and use that information to help construct useful responses.

This creates an important principle for GEO:

Before your information can contribute to an AI-generated search experience, it needs to be discoverable and retrievable.

This is one reason why conventional technical SEO remains fundamental.

A beautifully written GEO strategy cannot compensate for important pages that are inaccessible, non-indexable or technically compromised.

Query Fan-Out and the Changing Search Landscape

Generative search can also break complex questions into multiple related searches.

Google describes this process as query fan-out.

A user's original question can result in multiple concurrent searches around related topics and subtopics before information is assembled into a response.

For businesses, this potentially broadens the visibility opportunity.

Imagine someone asking:

"Which Yorkshire manufacturers could supply precision components for a renewable-energy project?"

The system may need information concerning:

• Yorkshire manufacturers
• Precision engineering
• Manufacturing capabilities
• Renewable energy experience
• Materials
• Quality standards
• Certifications
• Production capabilities

A company with useful, well-structured information covering these genuine areas of expertise may provide greater contextual relevance than one whose website simply repeats "precision engineering Yorkshire".

This is why Code Inclusive GEO focuses on information depth and relationships rather than keyword repetition.

GEO Content Strategy

Content is central to Generative Engine Optimisation.

However, the answer is not necessarily more content.

The objective should be better information.

Google's latest guidance specifically recommends valuable, unique and non-commodity content for generative AI search. It encourages organisations to contribute first-hand experience, original viewpoints and information that goes beyond material that could easily be reproduced from existing internet sources.

Code Inclusive GEO content strategies can therefore concentrate on areas such as:

• First-hand expertise
• Original observations
• Technical knowledge
• Proprietary information
• Case studies
• Customer questions
• Research
• Industry experience
• Processes
• Product knowledge
• Service capabilities
• Expert commentary
• Comparisons
• Original statistics
• Local knowledge

The question we ask is:

What does this organisation know that thousands of generic websites do not?

That is where genuinely valuable content begins.

Technical GEO

Generative Engine Optimisation still requires a technically competent website.

Our technical assessment can include:

• Crawl accessibility
• Indexability
• Robots.txt
• HTTP status codes
• Canonical URLs
• XML sitemaps
• Internal linking
• JavaScript rendering
• Duplicate URLs
• Mobile usability
• Page performance
• Website architecture
• Redirects
• Bot protection
• Server configuration

Google's minimum technical requirements remain remarkably straightforward: Googlebot must not be blocked, the page needs to return a successful HTTP status, and it must contain indexable content. Meeting those conditions makes a page eligible for indexing but does not guarantee indexing.

For Google's generative search features, the page must also be indexed and eligible to appear within Google Search.

Technical SEO therefore remains part of serious GEO.

GEO and AI Crawler Access

Businesses are increasingly asking whether they should allow or block different AI-related crawlers.

There is no universal answer.

The correct configuration depends upon:

• The organisation
• Content ownership
• Commercial objectives
• Search visibility requirements
• AI training policies
• Individual crawler purposes

Code Inclusive can review robots.txt and relevant crawler access as part of GEO implementation.

However, businesses should understand the distinction between search discovery, retrieval and AI model training rather than treating every bot containing the letters "AI" identically.

The objective is an informed crawler policy rather than indiscriminately allowing or blocking everything.

Do You Need an llms.txt File?

This deserves its own section because the subject is frequently associated with GEO.

The proposed llms.txt format has received considerable attention as a possible mechanism for communicating website information to AI systems.

For Google Search specifically, it is not required.

Google states that it does not use llms.txt files for Search and that creating one will neither help nor harm Google Search visibility.

Other services may choose to use such mechanisms in future or currently support different standards.

Our position is therefore straightforward:

We will implement emerging technologies when there is a defensible reason to do so. We will not recommend technical additions simply because they are fashionable within the GEO industry.

GEO for Leeds Businesses

Leeds provides an excellent environment for developing a regionally focused GEO strategy.

The local economy includes substantial activity across:

• Financial services
• Professional services
• Technology
• Digital industries
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Engineering
• Construction
• Education
• Retail
• Hospitality
• Logistics

These businesses frequently compete beyond Leeds while retaining strong regional expertise.

GEO can help communicate those relationships.

For example:

Leeds company → specialist service → Yorkshire capability → UK customer base

is considerably more informative than simply adding "Leeds" to every heading.

Code Inclusive GEO strategies therefore use geographic information where it genuinely helps explain the organisation.

The Code Inclusive AI Readiness Directory

Code Inclusive is developing a proprietary AI Readiness Directory, initially concentrating on businesses throughout Leeds and Yorkshire.

This will provide an important distinction between our GEO proposition and generic consultancy.

The directory is being designed to assess individual businesses across areas including:

• Crawl and AI bot accessibility
• Local relevance
• Content answerability
• Structured data and entity clarity
• Trust and authority

Individual companies will receive an AI Readiness Score supported by company-specific analysis.

The directory will therefore become both a public resource and, as its dataset grows, a source of proprietary information about Yorkshire business AI readiness.

This is particularly relevant to GEO.

Instead of merely writing about generative search trends, Code Inclusive intends to build its own evidence base.

As sufficient data becomes available, we expect to be capable of examining questions such as:

• Which Yorkshire sectors demonstrate the strongest AI readiness?
• Where are structured-data weaknesses most common?
• How does Leeds compare with other Yorkshire locations?
• Which industries produce the strongest answerable content?
• How are AI readiness scores changing over time?

This proprietary dataset has the potential to generate precisely the kind of original, non-commodity information that modern search increasingly values.

GEO and the AI Readiness Directory

The relationship between the services is deliberately structured:

• AI Readiness Directory
• Benchmark
• Where does the business currently stand?
• AI Readiness Audit
• Diagnose
• Why is the business achieving that result?
• AI Search Optimisation
• Improve
• What technical and content changes should be implemented?
• AI Visibility
• Measure
• Where and how is the business being discovered?
• GEO
• Develop generative-search relevance

How can the organisation become a stronger, more useful and more authoritative information source for complex AI-assisted discovery?

These are related disciplines, but they are not identical services.

Measuring GEO Performance

One of the historic challenges with GEO has been measurement.

That is beginning to change.

In June 2026, Google announced dedicated Generative AI performance reporting within Search Console for a subset of websites. The reports can provide information including generative AI impressions, URLs appearing within generative experiences, countries, devices and performance over time.

Where available, this creates a useful first-party measurement source.

GEO performance may also be evaluated using:

• Search visibility
• Generative AI impressions
• Organic traffic
• Brand discovery
• Relevant landing pages
• Engagement
• Leads
• Conversions
• AI Readiness Scores
• Content coverage
• Entity improvements
• Search Console data

We are cautious about third-party "AI ranking" metrics.

Google specifically warns that third-party tools do not have access to Google's internal ranking or AI systems and cannot guarantee performance.

GEO Versus SEO

GEO does not make SEO obsolete.

SEO remains foundational.

Google itself says this explicitly.

We see the relationship as:

SEO

Helps establish technical accessibility, search relevance, indexing, authority and conventional organic visibility.

GEO

Extends the strategy towards information retrieval, complex questions, generative answers, entities, original information and AI-assisted discovery.

A technically poor website does not become AI-ready because somebody adds GEO content.

Likewise, a technically excellent website may underperform in emerging search experiences if it publishes little useful or distinctive information.

The disciplines need to work together.

GEO Services from Code Inclusive

Depending upon the organisation, a GEO programme may involve:

• Generative search assessment
• Technical SEO
• Content architecture
• Entity optimisation
• Structured data
• Original content strategy
• Expert content development
• Local business optimisation
• Service-page development
• Sector content
• Case studies
• Original research
• Knowledge resources
• Internal linking
• Technical accessibility
• AI crawler policy
• Generative search monitoring
• AI Readiness reassessment

Every project should begin with the actual weaknesses and opportunities of the organisation.

Not a predetermined GEO checklist.

Generative Engine Optimisation Services in Leeds & Yorkshire

If your organisation operates in Leeds, Wetherby, Harrogate, York, Bradford, Wakefield or elsewhere throughout Yorkshire, Code Inclusive can help assess and strengthen your position within the developing generative-search environment.

Our GEO services can work independently or alongside an AI Readiness Audit, AI Search Optimisation programme, AI Visibility strategy or forthcoming AI Readiness Directory assessment.

The objective is straightforward:

Don't optimise for an AI trick.

Build an organisation that search and AI systems have good reasons to discover, understand and reference.

That is the foundation of sustainable Generative Engine Optimisation.

For more information use our contact form or email sales@codeinclusive.co.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you.