Rank on Google and get quoted by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews. Answer engine and generative engine optimisation for brands in India, measured honestly.
AI search optimisation, often called AEO and GEO, is the work of making your brand the answer that AI tools quote when people ask questions about what you sell.
Route Ignite structures your content so it can be lifted accurately, fixes the technical and factual gaps that keep AI tools from understanding you, earns the third-party mentions they trust, and measures how often your brand actually appears.
We are a Google Partner and a Meta Business Partner with 680+ page-one keywords behind our SEO work. We treat AI search as an extension of strong SEO, not a replacement for it, and we do not promise placements nobody can guarantee.
A search engine returns a list of ten links and lets the person choose. An AI answer engine reads many pages, writes one answer and names only a handful of sources. For the person asking, that is a better experience. For a brand, it changes what winning means.
Being on page one is no longer enough. If the AI answer to "which agency should I hire" or "what is the best clinic for this treatment" does not mention you, a growing share of buyers will never see your page at all. If it mentions you wrongly, with an old address or the wrong service, that error is repeated to everyone who asks.
This does not mean traditional SEO is dead. The same tools lean heavily on the pages Google already ranks, and on the same authority signals. What has changed is the extra layer on top: whether your content is easy to quote, whether your facts are consistent everywhere, and whether other sites vouch for you.
The vocabulary is messy, so here is how we use it. Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is about being the direct answer: the featured snippet, the voice assistant reply, the box at the top of Google. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is about being cited when an AI tool writes a longer answer, in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot or Google AI Mode.
Some people also say LLM optimisation or LLMO. The work overlaps so heavily that treating them as separate projects usually wastes money. We run one programme that covers all of them.
Different tools read the web differently, and we plan for each one. We will not claim to control any of them. We can improve how well your content fits the way each one tends to work.
| Platform | What tends to matter | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Pages that already rank well, clear answers near the top, structured content and strong authority | Answer-first rewrites, schema, internal linking and the usual SEO fundamentals |
| ChatGPT with search | Pages it can crawl and quote, brand mentions across trusted sites, up-to-date facts | Allow the right crawlers, make passages quotable, build third-party mentions |
| Perplexity | Freshness, clear sourcing and pages that answer a question directly | Dated, well-sourced content with the answer stated plainly |
| Gemini | Google's own index and knowledge of your business entity | Consistent entity data, Business Profile accuracy and structured data |
| Microsoft Copilot | Bing's index, so Bing Webmaster hygiene matters | Bing indexing checks and clean technical foundations |
This table is a guide to where we put effort, not a rulebook. The platforms change often, which is exactly why we measure on a schedule instead of trusting a one-off test.
The work falls into five areas. Most clients need all five, in roughly this order.
Each area has a clear owner and a clear output, and we write the findings in plain language so your team can follow them even if they never work with us again.
We start by asking the tools. We take a list of real buyer questions, run them across the major AI platforms and record who gets named, who gets cited and what is said about you.
Almost every brand we look at has some surprises: an outdated service listed, a competitor named for something you do better, or no mention at all for a question you assumed you owned. That gap list becomes the work plan.
We trace each wrong fact back to its source. Often the AI is repeating an old directory listing, an outdated press piece or a third-party page that nobody has touched in years. Fixing it at the source is slower than editing your own site, and it is the fix that sticks.
AI tools lift passages, not pages. A passage that works on its own, makes a clear claim, names who is making it and sits under a clear heading is far more likely to be used than a clever paragraph that depends on the three before it.
This is also better writing for human readers, which is why we do not treat it as a trick. Content built for people who want a straight answer tends to be the content AI tools prefer.
AI tools weigh what the rest of the web says about you. A brand that is named in credible places is more likely to be named in an answer. We focus on the mentions that are genuine and durable: industry publications, relevant directories, partner pages, useful data and expert commentary.
We do not buy links or mass-produce guest posts. That can backfire with Google and with the tools that learn from it. Our PR citations service covers this work in detail.
| Step | What happens | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Understand the business | We learn what you sell, to whom, and which questions buyers really ask | A shared list of target questions |
| 2. Baseline | We run those questions across AI tools and record the results | A dated visibility baseline, with gaps marked |
| 3. Audit | We review facts, content, technical health and existing mentions | A ranked fix list with effort against each item |
| 4. Build | We rewrite pages, fix technical issues and start earning mentions | Shipped changes, not just recommendations |
| 5. Monitor | We re-run the same questions on a schedule | A monthly trend: named, cited and recommended |
| 6. Refine | We shift effort toward what is moving the numbers | A plan that changes as the tools do |
AI answers vary from run to run, and from person to person. A single screenshot of your brand being mentioned proves very little, and a single screenshot of it missing proves just as little.
So we measure the same question set on the same schedule and report the trend: how often you are named, how often you are cited with a link, how you are described, and how that compares with the competitors who appear alongside you. We also connect it to the outcome that matters, by tracking visits and enquiries that arrive from AI tools.
Early on the numbers can move up and down. We tell you that up front, and we judge the programme over quarters, not days.
It is tempting to treat AI search as a separate world with its own tricks. In our experience the foundations are the same ones that have always worked: technical health, genuinely useful content, clear structure and real authority.
A site that is slow, confusing or thin will struggle in AI answers for the same reasons it struggles in Google. That is why we pair this service with technical SEO and, for local businesses, local SEO. If you already work with us on SEO, much of this is an extension of that work.
If your customers never ask questions before buying, this is probably not your first priority, and we will say so.
No one can guarantee that ChatGPT, Gemini or any other tool will mention your brand. The tools are not for sale, they change without notice, and the people who claim guaranteed placements are either misleading you or gaming something that will stop working.
What we can promise is a clear view of where you stand today, specific fixes in priority order, honest monthly reporting, and no black-box tricks that put your Google rankings at risk.
Answer engine optimisation (AEO) aims to be the direct answer in search features and voice assistants. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) aims to be cited by AI tools that write their own answers. The work overlaps heavily, and we run them as one programme.
No, and be wary of anyone who says they can. We improve the odds by fixing facts, structuring content and earning mentions, and we measure the result openly.
It builds on it. Strong technical SEO, useful content and authority still do most of the work. AI search adds a layer: quotable content, consistent facts across the web and third-party mentions.
If you want to be cited, allowing them is usually the right call. The decision depends on your content and goals, so we review it with you rather than applying a rule.
Technical and content fixes can show effects within weeks. Earned mentions and authority build over months. We report monthly and judge the trend over a quarter.
We take a fixed set of real buyer questions, run them across the major AI tools on a schedule, and record whether you are named, cited or recommended, and what is said about you.
Yes. We offer technical SEO, local SEO and full SEO programmes, and we recommend combining them with this service.
Clinics and aesthetics, salons, franchise brands, education, real estate, ecommerce and B2B, among others. The questions buyers ask differ by sector, so the plan does too.
Tell us what's broken. We'll tell you whether we're the right people to fix it, and if we're not, we'll say so.