Guide
AI SEO guide 2027: how to stay visible in ChatGPT and Google AI
A practical AI SEO guide covering AEO and GEO, with a 90-day plan of work and an audit checklist. This is an English overview. The full guide is published in Bosnian on AISEO.ba.
When someone in Bosnia and Herzegovina looks for a hotel, a mechanic, a dentist or a piece of software, the path to the information no longer starts by typing keywords into Google. It increasingly starts with a conversation with an AI assistant, continues with a check of map reviews, and only then opens the company website. This guide explains what a business can actually control: technical availability, useful content, accurate public data, reputation and measurable results.
It is a companion to the data in my report on AI adoption in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it turns those trends into a process any team can follow.
What the guide covers
- What AI SEO is and what actually changes
- How AI systems reach an answer, including retrieval-augmented generation and query fan-out
- The digital identity of a company and its authors
- The technical foundations of AI visibility
- Content that can serve as a source, not just another article
- Measurement, local AI SEO and a 90-day plan of work
AI SEO, AEO and GEO explained
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) describes adapting information for systems that give the user a direct answer. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) describes work on visibility inside generative answers and the sources they draw on. AI SEO is a practical umbrella term for all of it. The guide treats these as related practices, not three separate technical systems, which is consistent with Google Search Central guidance on AI features. You can go deeper on each discipline in my work on AI SEO, Answer Engine Optimization and Generative Engine Optimization.
Mention, citation and recommendation are not the same
One of the core ideas in the guide is that visibility is not a single event. Before you report on AI visibility, separate these three outcomes because each measures something different.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Mention | The company name appears in the text of the answer. |
| Citation | A link to the company domain or page is shown. |
| Recommendation | The system lists the company as an option for the user. |
A 90-day plan of work
The guide closes with a 90-day plan so the work stays measurable rather than theoretical.
| Period | Focus |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 15 | Establish the baseline: goal, technical audit and first queries. |
| Days 16 to 30 | Fix the foundations: crawl blocks, canonicals, services and contact details. |
| Days 31 to 60 | Publish useful proof: a service page or a piece of research. |
| Days 61 to 90 | Verify changes under predefined, repeatable conditions. |
The guide also covers how to read robots directives correctly, noting that OpenAI documents distinct bots such as OAI-SearchBot for search and GPTBot for training, so access decisions should be made deliberately rather than by copying an unverified template.
Key takeaways
- There is no secret formula for "ranking in ChatGPT". AI answers are not a fixed list, so the guide favours a verifiable process over tricks.
- Visibility is not the same as a click. Mention, citation and recommendation each measure a different thing and should be reported separately.
- Standard SEO still matters. Google confirms that core SEO practices remain relevant for AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no separate "AI SEO" schema types required.
- A consistent digital identity, real expertise and transparent authorship are more durable than any single technical trick.
Read the full guide on AISEO.ba
The complete guide, including the audit checklist and all 15 chapters, is published in Bosnian on AISEO.ba.
Open the guide on AISEO.baAbout the author
Adel Fejzić is an SEO and AI Search specialist with more than a decade of experience in search strategy, international SEO, content and organic growth. His current work focuses on the intersection of traditional search, generative AI, Answer Engine Optimization and Generative Engine Optimization. Learn more about Adel or explore his areas of expertise.