OZ Oleg ZherlitsynMarketing Lead · SEO & GEO
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Marketing Lead — search-first

Be found on Google. Be the answer in AI.

I'm Oleg Zherlitsyn, a marketing lead specialising in SEO and GEO. I help B2B brands rank on Google and Bing and get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Overviews — and I run the rest of the marketing mix: content, brand, video and launches.

Book an intro call SEO vs GEO, explained ↓
SEO GEO / AI search Content & brand US · UK · EU
Oleg Zherlitsyn, Marketing Lead specialising in SEO and GEO
AI visibility check
ChatGPTcited
Perplexitycited
AI Overviewsgap
0
SEO & GEO terms
in my 2026 handbook
0terms

defined in my SEO & GEO Handbook 2026

0guides

practical playbooks: Google, AI assistants, GEO, tech audit

0markets

covered in depth — United States, United Kingdom, European Union

0AI engines

tracked: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, Gemini

The playbook I work from — checked against Google and Bing documentation and updated as search changes.

Selected work

Search is splitting in two. I work on both halves.

Classic search still sends the traffic. AI answers increasingly decide who gets mentioned. Here's how I approach each — and the rest of marketing around it.

Research · SEO & GEO

SEO & GEO Handbook 2026

A 37-page desk reference I wrote and maintain: how Google search works after AI Overviews and AI Mode, how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot pick their sources, market rules for the US, UK and EU, and a technical audit checklist. Every claim checked against official documentation.

Guides6
Glossary217 terms
Pages37
Google search in 2026guide
AI assistants: bots, sources, adsguide
Markets: US · UK · EUguide
GEO — visibility in AI answersguide
Technical audit checklistguide
Practicum: reports & experimentsguide
GEO · AI search

Getting cited by AI assistants

When a buyer asks ChatGPT or Perplexity for a recommendation, the answer names a few brands and links a few sources. GEO is the work of being one of them: crawlable pages for AI bots, clear entities, content that answers the question directly, and presence on the sites AI already trusts.

Checksbots · entities · sources
Measured incitations + referrals
Which provider should we shortlist for this in the UK?
Three options stand out. Your brand is often recommended for mid-size teams[1], with clear pricing and UK support[2]…
Cited · 2 sources · your domain
Content · Brand

Marketing Big Idea — animated shorts

A series of short vertical videos that explain marketing to business owners in under a minute — from script and voice to animation and edit. Content that works on social and gives AI engines something quotable to cite.

Format9:16 · under 90s
Pipelinescript → voice → cut
EpisodeTopicStatus
Does Business Really Need Marketing?StrategyProduced
Why Does Branding Matter?BrandProduced
Next episodeSearchIn script

SEO vs GEO

Same goal — be chosen. Different rules.

SEO wins the click on a results page. GEO wins the mention inside an AI answer. In 2026 a brand needs both, and they share more foundations than most people think.

SEO — search enginesGEO — AI answers
Where it showsGoogle & Bing results pagesChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, AI Overviews & AI Mode
What winsRelevance, links, page experienceClear answers, strong entities, trusted third-party mentions
Who reads the siteGooglebot, BingbotThose plus OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and other AI crawlers
How it's measuredRankings, clicks, Search ConsoleCitations, AI referral traffic, Bing AI Performance, prompt tracking
Shared baseTechnical health, structured data, expert content, a brand people search for by name

Short version of the comparison in my SEO & GEO Handbook 2026.

What I do

Five areas. Search first, the whole mix covered.

Each one is a starting scope, not a fixed package — shaped around your market, your team and the number you need to move.

Technical audit, content strategy and rankings on Google and Bing
CoversCrawling & indexing, site structure, structured data, Core Web Vitals, keyword & intent mapping
Audit + roadmap
prioritised by impact, not by checklist order
Visibility and citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and AI Overviews
CoversAI bot access, entity & brand signals, answer-first content, third-party mentions, Bing index
Prompt set + baseline
the questions buyers ask AI, tracked before and after
Positioning, editorial plan, video and visual identity
CoversMessaging, expert articles, short-form video, brochures, presentations, website copy
One voice everywhere
site, social, sales deck and AI answers say the same thing
Measure search and AI visibility, not just traffic
CoversSearch Console incl. generative AI report, Bing AI Performance, GA4, AI referral traffic, plan vs fact
Monthly report
one page: what moved, why, what's next
Strategy, go-to-market and running the team or agencies
CoversMarketing plan & budget, launches, market research, agency briefs, AI tools in the workflow
Fractional or full-time
a marketing lead without a long hiring process

Beyond search

General marketing projects.

Search is the focus, not the limit. These are the other kinds of work I lead and deliver.

Video & motion

  • Animated explainer shorts
  • 3D product and process videos
  • Voice-over and editing

Print & brand

  • Product brochures
  • Visual identity assets

Presentations

  • Sales and pitch decks
  • Project presentations for public clients

Websites

  • Landing pages and company sites
  • Built SEO- and AI-ready from day one

Market research

  • Competitor and market scans
  • Tender monitoring and lead sourcing

Analytics

  • Plan vs fact sales reports
  • Data collection and parsing

Have a project that doesn't fit a box? Tell me about it — if it moves the brand or the pipeline, it's marketing.

How we'd work together

Four steps. One clear plan.

01

Audit

Where you stand today: rankings, technical health, and how AI assistants describe your brand — or don't.

02

Strategy

Priorities, channels and the few numbers we'll track — agreed before any work starts.

03

Execute

Fixes, content, video and outreach — done by me, your team or agencies I brief and manage.

04

Measure & adjust

Monthly review of search and AI visibility, then a clear decision on what to scale and what to stop.

Questions

SEO and GEO: short answers.

The questions I hear most often from founders and marketing teams.

What is GEO?

GEO — generative engine optimization — is the work of getting a brand mentioned and cited in AI answers: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews or AI Mode. It builds on SEO: AI assistants find their sources through search indexes, so a page that isn't indexed by Google or Bing rarely gets cited.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO wins the click on a search results page; GEO wins the mention inside an AI answer. They share the same base — technical health, clear content, a recognisable brand. GEO adds AI crawler access, answer-first writing, presence on the third-party sites AI trusts, and tracking how often AI names you.

Why does Bing matter for AI search?

Microsoft Copilot runs on Bing, and ChatGPT's search leans heavily on it too. A site that Bing hasn't indexed is largely invisible to both. That's why every project I run includes Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow, not only Google Search Console.

How do you measure visibility in AI answers?

I build a set of 20–50 questions your buyers ask, run each one repeatedly in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Google AI Mode from your target country, and track how often your brand is named and which sources are cited. I add Search Console's generative AI report, Bing's AI Performance report and AI referral traffic in analytics.

Do I need an llms.txt file?

Not for Google: it has said llms.txt is not used in Search. It doesn't hurt, so I add one when it's cheap, but the work that matters is the same as for SEO — indexable pages, clear answers, original data and real expertise.

Which markets and companies do you work with?

B2B companies and founders targeting the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. I work remotely and on-site in the EU, as a fractional marketing lead or on a project basis.

Oleg Zherlitsyn

About

A marketing lead who reads the search docs.

I'm Oleg Zherlitsyn, a marketing lead focused on SEO and GEO — how people and AI find, compare and recommend brands. I work with B2B teams and founders on the whole marketing picture: strategy, content, video, sales materials and the analytics that shows what's working. I use AI tools in every part of the workflow, so small teams ship like big ones.

  • Search first: if buyers can't find you, nothing else matters.
  • Facts from the source — Google, Bing and AI vendors' own documentation.
  • Every project starts with a baseline and ends with a number.

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