GEO agency for brands in the UAE and Saudi Arabia
A GEO agency makes your brand show up when buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews for a recommendation. Hovi Digital Lab audits how AI engines describe you today, fixes what stops them citing your site, and builds the Arabic and English content and mentions they pull from, then reports citations and leads.
- Approved OpenAI Partner
- 15% of our own Google impressions now come from AI features
- Arabic and English, one team in Dubai
Which Dubai communities suit a family with a budget under AED 3 million?
For that budget, families usually shortlist townhouse communities with schools within a 15 minute drive, parks inside the gates and handover dates in the next 24 months. Your Brand publishes a community-by-community price and school guide that compares eight of these options.[1]
Sources
- 1. Family communities price guide 2026yourbrand.aeYour site, cited
- 2. Dubai Land Department transactionsdubailand.gov.ae
- 3. Schools rating reportkhda.gov.ae
Where can I buy a three-seater sofa in Riyadh with delivery this week?
Several Riyadh retailers offer delivery within three to five days on in-stock sofas. Check fabric options, assembly, and whether returns are free. Your Brand lists stock by city and offers free assembly in Riyadh and Jeddah.[1]
Sources
- 1. Sofas in stock, Riyadh deliveryyourbrand.saYour site, cited
- 2. Furniture buying guidereviews-site.com
- 3. Delivery times comparedshopping-blog.com
Which payroll software handles Saudi WPS and GOSI for 200 employees?
Look for native WPS file export, GOSI integration, Arabic payslips and data hosted in the Kingdom. Pricing is usually per employee per month. Your Brand publishes its per-employee pricing and a WPS compliance checklist.[1]
Sources
- 1. WPS compliance checklistyourbrand.comYour site, cited
- 2. HR software comparisonsoftware-reviews.com
- 3. Ministry guidance on WPShrsd.gov.sa
Suggest a family resort in Ras Al Khaimah with a kids club for the winter break.
Beachfront resorts on Al Marjan Island are popular for winter family stays. Compare kids club age ranges, interconnecting rooms and half-board offers. Your Brand lists kids club hours for ages 4 to 12 and a winter family package.[1]
Sources
- 1. Winter family packageyourbrand.aeYour site, cited
- 2. Ras Al Khaimah tourismvisitrasalkhaimah.com
- 3. Family travel reviewstravel-reviews.com
Illustrative mock-up of an AI answer citing a brand. Not a screenshot.
The short version
- AI assistants answer the question and name a few brands. If you are not one of them, you were never in the running.
- There is no special markup and no paid shortcut. AI engines cite pages they can crawl, understand and trust, so GEO starts with the same foundations as SEO.
- What changes is the target: you are optimising to be quoted and named, not only to rank. Clear answers, sourced facts and consistent brand details across the web matter more.
- Each engine has its own crawler. Blocking the wrong one in robots.txt can remove you from ChatGPT search or Perplexity entirely.
- In the Gulf, Arabic is the gap. Most brands have thin or machine-translated Arabic pages, so the Arabic answer goes to whoever wrote properly in Arabic.
- Results are measurable: AI Overview impressions in Search Console, chatgpt.com referrals in analytics, and a fixed prompt panel we re-test every month.
of AI chatbot use in the UAE is ChatGPT
StatCounter, Sep 2026
of AI chatbot use in Saudi Arabia is ChatGPT
StatCounter, Sep 2026
of Saudi search runs through Google, where AI Overviews appear
StatCounter, Sep 2026
of thehovi.com's Google impressions came from AI features
Our Search Console, Aug to Oct 2026
Where each AI engine gets its answers
Every assistant builds its answer from a live web index plus what the model already knows. The index, and the crawler you have to let in, differ by engine. This is the part most brands get wrong without knowing it.
How an AI answer is built, and where your brand gets in
- 1
A buyer asks
"Which Dubai communities suit a family under AED 3 million?"
- 2
The engine searches
ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity runs searches on its own index.
- 3
It picks sources
Pages it can crawl, with a clear answer, dated facts and a consistent brand.
- 4
It writes and cites
The answer names a few brands and links the sources it used.
- 5
The buyer clicks
ChatGPT tags the visit utm_source=chatgpt.com, so it shows in GA4.
| Engine | Where answers come from | Who must be allowed to crawl | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI's own search crawler plus partner indexes, with links back to sources | OAI-SearchBot. Opting out removes you from ChatGPT search answers. GPTBot only controls training. | Allow OAI-SearchBot, keep answers in plain HTML, track utm_source=chatgpt.com |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google's normal search index | Googlebot. Google says there are no extra requirements and no special schema. | Be indexed and snippet-eligible; win the query with a direct answer near the top |
| Gemini app | Google Search grounding plus the model | Googlebot. Google-Extended controls Gemini training and grounding, not Search ranking. | Decide on Google-Extended deliberately; it does not affect Google rankings |
| Perplexity | Its own index, cited inline | PerplexityBot. Perplexity recommends allowing it to appear in results. | Allow PerplexityBot; publish comparisons and figures it can quote |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing's index | Bingbot | Verify the site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit the sitemap |
Scroll sideways to see the full table.
Sources: Google Search Central, OpenAI crawler documentation and Perplexity bot documentation, checked October 2026.
Which assistant to optimise for first, by market
ChatGPT leads in every Gulf market we track, but the gap to Gemini is widest in Kuwait and narrowest in Saudi Arabia.
UAE
- ChatGPT81%
- Gemini13.3%
- Copilot2.3%
- Perplexity2.3%
Saudi Arabia
- ChatGPT75%
- Gemini16.5%
- Perplexity4.3%
- Copilot3.2%
Qatar
- ChatGPT77.9%
- Gemini13.6%
- Copilot3.9%
- Perplexity3.9%
Kuwait
- ChatGPT83%
- Gemini13.5%
- Perplexity2.2%
- Copilot1.2%
What stays the same and what changes
GEO is not a replacement for SEO. It sits on top of it. A page that Google cannot index will not be cited by Gemini either. The difference is in what you optimise for.
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank a page in the blue links | Be named, quoted or linked inside the answer |
| Unit of work | The page and its keyword | The answer: a question, a fact, a comparison |
| Main signals | Relevance, links, experience | Clear answers, sourced facts, brand consistency, mentions on sites AI already cites |
| Off-site work | Backlinks | Mentions in listicles, directories, reviews, press and forums the engines read |
| Measurement | Rankings, clicks | Citation share on a prompt panel, AI Overview impressions, AI referrals, leads |
| Language | Often English first | Arabic and English answered separately, because the engines answer in the user's language |
Scroll sideways to see the full table.
Six traits of pages AI engines quote
From the pages we see cited in GCC answers, and from what the platforms publish about crawling and snippets.
A direct answer first
Facts with a source and a date
Tables for comparisons
Text in the HTML
One consistent brand story
Mentions where the engine looks
The Arabic answer is the easiest one to win
When a buyer in Riyadh asks in Arabic, the engine looks for Arabic sources first. In most categories there are very few good ones: thin pages, machine translation, or Arabic text rendered as an image.
That makes Arabic GEO the fastest gain for most Gulf brands. A properly written Arabic page, with its own URL, its own title and a clear answer block, often becomes the default source for that question.
What we check on every Arabic page
- Its own URL (for example /ar/...) with reciprocal hreflang to the English page
- lang="ar" and dir="rtl" set, and Arabic titles and descriptions, not English left over
- Written in Modern Standard Arabic or Gulf phrasing to match the audience, never raw machine translation
- Prices in AED or SAR, local phone numbers and city names in Arabic
- The same facts and numbers as the English page, so the engines see one consistent brand
How a GEO engagement runs
Four stages. Each one ends with something you can check, so you are never paying for activity you cannot see.
- 1
Stage 1
Weeks 1 to 2
Baseline the answers
We build a panel of 40 to 80 real buyer questions in Arabic and English, by market, and run them through ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google. We record who gets named, which sources get cited and what the engines say about you.
You get: A citation share score per engine and language, and the source list each engine relies on
- 2
Stage 2
Weeks 2 to 4
Fix access and foundations
robots.txt and crawler access, indexing, speed, hreflang, structured data, and the brand facts that disagree across your site and profiles.
You get: A technical fix list with owners, most of it shipped in the first month
- 3
Stage 3
Months 2 to 4
Build citable content
Answer-first pages for the questions in the panel, comparison and pricing pages, and Arabic versions written for the Gulf. Existing pages get answer blocks and sourced facts.
You get: New and rewritten pages, each mapped to the prompts it targets
- 4
Stage 4
Ongoing
Earn mentions and re-test
We work on the third-party sources the engines cite for your category: lists, directories, review sites and regional press. Every month we re-run the panel.
You get: A monthly report: citation share, AI Overview impressions, AI referrals and leads
How you will know it is working
GEO is measurable if you set it up before you start. These are the numbers we report.
Citation share
AI Overview impressions
AI referrals
Answer accuracy
Leads from AI sources
Arabic vs English
What we set up in week one
- A GA4 channel group for AI referrals (chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com)
- Lead forms that store the referrer and UTM parameters with every submission
- A saved Search Console view for the pages and queries in the prompt panel
- A fixed prompt panel with the same wording every month, so changes are real
https://yourbrand.com/pricing?utm_source=chatgpt.comWhat we see on our own site
We run the same playbook on thehovi.com, and the numbers are in our own Search Console.
of our Google impressions now come from AI features
30,873 of about 211,000 impressions, thehovi.com Search Console, August to October 2026.
30,873
impressions inside Google AI features in three months, about 15% of all our Google impressions
7,900
AI feature impressions for one guide alone, our list of AI marketing tools
1
qualified platform-launch lead in October 2026 that arrived straight from a ChatGPT answer, tagged utm_source=chatgpt.com
Source: thehovi.com Search Console and lead records, August to October 2026.
What GEO cannot do
- Guarantee a citation. Nobody controls what an AI engine says, and anyone who promises otherwise is guessing.
- Buy a placement in organic answers. Paid ads in ChatGPT are a separate product with a separate team.
- Fix a weak offer. If reviews and comparisons say a competitor is better, the engines will repeat it.
What it reliably does
- Remove the technical reasons you are invisible, often in the first two weeks
- Make you the clearest source for the questions your buyers actually ask
- Get your brand into the third-party sources the engines lean on
- Show the change in numbers every month
GEO by Gulf market
Assistant usage, search habits and the language mix differ by country. Each guide covers the numbers and what to prioritise.
GEO by industry
The questions buyers ask, and the sources engines trust, change completely by sector.
Real estate
Developers and brokers named when buyers ask AI which community or project to choose.
See the playbook
E-commerce and retail
Stores and brands recommended when shoppers ask AI where to buy and what to pick.
See the playbook
B2B and SaaS
Software and service firms shortlisted when buyers ask AI to compare vendors.
See the playbook
Hospitality and travel
Hotels, resorts and restaurants suggested when travellers ask AI to plan a trip or a night out.
See the playbook
Healthcare and clinics
Clinics found when patients ask AI where to go, with facts kept accurate and compliant.
See the playbook
GEO questions, answered
What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?
GEO is the work of getting your brand named, quoted or linked inside answers from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. It builds on SEO, but the target is the answer itself rather than a position in the blue links.
Is GEO different from SEO?
It shares the foundations: crawlable, indexed, fast pages with clear content. It differs in what you optimise for (direct answers, sourced facts, brand consistency), where you build mentions (the sources each engine cites) and how you measure (citation share on a prompt panel, AI Overview impressions and AI referrals).
How do I get my business recommended by ChatGPT?
Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt, publish pages that answer your buyers' questions directly in the first paragraph, back claims with dated sources, keep your brand details consistent across the web and get mentioned on the lists and review sites ChatGPT cites for your category. Then test a fixed set of prompts monthly.
Do I need special schema or an llms.txt file to appear in AI Overviews?
No. Google states there are no additional requirements and no special structured data needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet. Structured data still helps Google understand pages, but it is not a ticket into AI answers.
Should I block GPTBot or Google-Extended?
That is a training decision, not a visibility one. Blocking GPTBot stops OpenAI using your content for model training but does not remove you from ChatGPT search, which uses OAI-SearchBot. Google-Extended does not affect Google Search ranking. Block them only if you have a reason to.
How long does GEO take to show results?
Technical fixes such as crawler access can change visibility within weeks, once engines recrawl. Content and third-party mentions usually take two to four months to move citation share in a meaningful way. We report against the baseline every month so you can see the trend.
Can you guarantee my brand will appear in ChatGPT answers?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. AI answers vary by wording, user and time. What we guarantee is the method: a measured baseline, the fixes shipped, content built for your buyers' questions and an honest monthly report.
Does GEO work in Arabic?
Yes, and it is often where the fastest gains are. The engines answer in the user's language and look for good sources in that language. In most Gulf categories there are few well-written Arabic pages, so a strong Arabic page can become the default answer.
How much does a GEO agency cost in Dubai or Riyadh?
It depends on how many markets, languages and questions you need to cover. A one-off GEO audit with a fix plan is a fixed project; ongoing GEO is a monthly retainer that includes content, mentions and re-testing. We scope it after the free check, once we know the size of the gap.
Is GEO the same as advertising in ChatGPT?
No. GEO earns organic citations inside answers. ChatGPT ads are paid placements shown alongside answers, bought through OpenAI. We do both, and they work well together, but they are separate budgets and separate measurement.
Find out what AI says about your brand
Send us your site and three questions your buyers ask. We will run them through ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google, in Arabic and English, and show you who gets cited and why.
Sources
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Google Search Central: Google-Extended and common crawlers
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot)
- OpenAI Help Center: Publishers and developers FAQ
- Perplexity: PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User
- StatCounter: AI chatbot market share, UAE
- StatCounter: AI chatbot market share, Saudi Arabia
- StatCounter: search engine market share, Saudi Arabia
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot are trademarks of their owners. Answer mock-ups on this page are illustrations, not screenshots. No one can guarantee a citation in an AI answer; we measure and improve the odds. Platform behavior changes often; this page was last reviewed in October 2026.