What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) for cannabis?

You'll see agencies selling "GEO," "AI SEO," or "AEO" as a shiny new service, often at a premium. Be skeptical. The people who actually understand search, and the engineers building these AI tools, will tell you the same thing: large language models surface businesses using the existing web and the same authority and relevance signals good SEO has always built.

Why GEO is really just SEO

When ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI answer "what's a good dispensary near me," they're drawing on the open web, Google's index, business profiles, reviews, and structured data. Every one of those is something SEO already optimizes. There is no secret "GEO" lever sitting outside of search. If your SEO is strong, you're already in the running for AI answers; if it's weak, no amount of "GEO" buzzwords will save you.

Be wary of anyone selling "GEO services"

A lot of "GEO" and "AI SEO" packages are repackaged SEO sold at a markup to people who assume AI changed everything. It didn't change the fundamentals. If someone can't explain how their "GEO" work differs from solid SEO, profile, citations, reviews, content, technical health, authority, that's your sign it doesn't.

How you actually show up in AI answers

• An accurate, complete Google Business Profile and consistent listings.
• Real reviews and a reputation worth trusting.
• Clear, well-structured pages that state plainly what you offer and where.
• Authority, credible sites referencing and linking to you.
• Answer-first, clean content that's easy to read and easy to cite.

That last point is the only place "GEO" holds a sliver of truth: writing clear, answer-first content with good structure helps machines quote you. But that's just modern SEO and good writing, with no separate product to pay extra for.