When someone asks ChatGPT “who is a good freelance digital marketer in Dubai?” or “best dental clinic in Business Bay”, the answer is assembled from web pages the model can find and trust. Showing up in those answers is now called generative engine optimisation (GEO) or AI search optimisation, and it overlaps with SEO but is not the same thing. I rebuilt my own site around it this year, and this guide is the checklist I used, written for business owners in Dubai and the UAE.

How AI assistants choose what to recommend

• They search first. ChatGPT uses Bing’s index for live web answers; Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews use their own search. If a page is not indexed, it cannot be cited. If it ranks on page three, it rarely is.
• They prefer pages that answer directly. A paragraph that states what you do, where, for whom and at what price gets lifted into an answer. A page of slogans does not.
• They verify the entity. The model checks that “HM Aslam” or “Smile Dental Clinic” is a real, consistent business: same name, phone and address across the website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories, with structured data that says so.
• They weigh third-party mentions. Directory listings, reviews, press and other sites that describe you the same way you describe yourself raise confidence.
• They like specifics. Prices, timelines, locations, years of experience and named results are what the model needs to compare you with alternatives.

1. Fix the entity

Decide on one exact business name, one phone number, one address format and one short description, and use them everywhere: website footer, About page, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Instagram, directories and schema. Add Organization or LocalBusiness and Person schema to the site with sameAs links to every profile. This is the step most Dubai businesses skip, and it is the one that makes an AI model confident enough to name you.

2. Get indexed in Bing, not just Google

Verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools, submit the sitemap and check that your key pages are indexed. Because ChatGPT’s browsing relies on Bing, this single step is often the difference between being cited and being invisible.

3. Write answer-first pages

Under every H1, put a two-sentence answer: who you are, what you do, where, for whom. Then use H2s that match real questions (“How much does SEO cost in Dubai?”, “How long does it take?”) and answer each in the first sentence below the heading. Add an FAQ section with FAQPage schema on every service page. This is also what wins Google featured snippets, so nothing is wasted.

4. Publish specifics

Price ranges, timelines, industries served, areas served, process steps and real results with numbers. AI assistants cannot recommend “contact us for a quote”; they can recommend “freelance SEO in Dubai from AED 2,500 per month with results in 3 to 6 months”. If you are uncomfortable publishing exact prices, publish ranges.

5. Add an llms.txt file

An llms.txt file at the root of your site is a plain-text summary written for AI crawlers: who you are, what you offer, and links to your key pages with one-line descriptions. It is a small, cheap signal that several AI tools already read. Keep it current; a stale llms.txt that lists deleted pages does more harm than none.

6. Build third-party confirmation

• Google Business Profile with reviews that mention your services and area.
• Listings on the directories AI answers already cite for your category (for marketing services in Dubai that includes Sortlist, Clutch, GoodFirms and Contra; for clinics and restaurants, the major UAE review and booking platforms).
• A complete LinkedIn page that uses the same description as your site.
• Guest articles, interviews and press that describe you consistently.

7. Keep the technical basics clean

No 404s on pages that used to rank, valid schema on every page, fast mobile pages, and no robots rules that block AI crawlers if you want to be found. Run a quick audit with the free SEO audit tools I use before you start.

8. Measure it

Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the questions your customers ask, monthly, and record whether you appear and what they say about you. Track referral traffic from chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai in GA4. Watch Bing Webmaster Tools alongside Google Search Console.

What this looked like on my own site

I replaced a stale llms.txt that listed more than a hundred deleted pages, fixed invalid schema on my landing pages, rewrote every service page to open with a direct answer and a pricing range, added FAQ schema everywhere, and made my name, phone and description identical across the site, LinkedIn and my business listings. The same checklist is now part of every SEO engagement I run for Dubai businesses.

Frequently asked questions