Something changed in how new clients find me, and it happened fast. When I ask people how they heard about me, the answer more and more often isn't Google, and it isn't Instagram. It's ChatGPT and Perplexity. Ask Perplexity for a Black-owned luxury travel agency and see who comes up first. That didn't happen by accident, I optimized for it.
“If you ask Perplexity for a black-owned travel agency, the number one person is me.”
GEO: search engine optimization's younger, hungrier sibling
Generative engine optimization, GEO, is making sure the AI tools people now ask for recommendations know who you are and what you're the authority on. The mechanics overlap with classic SEO: real content, specific expertise, consistent publishing. The difference is where the payoff shows up. AI assistants don't return ten blue links; they return an answer. You want to BE the answer.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Rebuilt my site with search as the priority
not an afterthought, and mobile-first, because your stats will tell you that's where your visitors are.
- 2
Committed to blog volume
essays answering the exact questions my clients ask, published relentlessly. Our organic traffic rose about 30% in the first stretch alone.
- 3
Kept my voice in every piece
A couple once booked me after watching my videos because of a single word I used, they heard themselves in my language. The robots find you; your voic
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
How I did it
- Rebuilt my site with search as the priority, not an afterthought, and mobile-first, because your stats will tell you that's where your visitors are.
- Committed to blog volume: essays answering the exact questions my clients ask, published relentlessly. Our organic traffic rose about 30% in the first stretch alone.
- Kept my voice in every piece. A couple once booked me after watching my videos because of a single word I used, they heard themselves in my language. The robots find you; your voice is what makes the human stay.
The window is open
Here's my honest read: almost nobody in travel is doing this yet. I've searched "travel AI" authority and the space is wide open: and blank space in search is a land grab for whoever publishes first. Whatever your niche is, the AI engines are deciding right now whose name to say. Give them a body of work with your name on it.
Common Questions
What is GEO in marketing?
Generative engine optimization means making sure AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity know who you are and what you are the authority on, so that when someone asks them for a recommendation, your business is the answer they return.
How do travel advisors get found by AI search?
Publish substantive content answering the questions clients actually ask, keep your own voice in it, build mobile-first, and give the engines citable facts and original data they cannot find anywhere else.
Is GEO different from SEO?
The mechanics overlap: real content, specific expertise, consistent publishing. The difference is the payoff. Search returns ten links; an answer engine returns one answer, so the goal shifts from ranking to being the source.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
6× Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist, Certified AI Consultant, and founder of Travel AI University. $3.4B+ in enterprise travel software sold to Google, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD; $16M+ in luxury travel sales with Up in the Air Life.
About Claire
