Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of making your brand show up – and get cited – inside AI answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. For most B2B companies it still sounds theoretical. For Chatarmin, the WhatsApp marketing and customer experience platform, it has already become a measurable acquisition channel.
In a recent interview, Chatarmin’s Head of Marketing, Richard Wagentristl, shared the numbers behind that shift – including how ChatGPT went from a rounding error to a meaningful share of booked demos in a matter of months. Below we summarize the conversation and pull out the concrete GEO and SEO lessons for marketers trying to win visibility in AI search.
The headline number: ChatGPT went from <1% to 5–10% of booked demos
The most striking stat from the interview is how quickly AI search became a real source of pipeline.
“ChatGPT is the interesting thing. A few months ago it was below 1% of the demos we booked monthly, and last month it was right around 5 to 10%.”
To put that in context, Wagentristl breaks down where Chatarmin’s demos actually come from:
Channel
Share of booked demos
LinkedIn
~20%
Google / Google Ads
~20%
ChatGPT (AI search)
5–10% and climbing
Partners & referrals
Significant, ongoing
A channel that was statistically invisible at the start of the year is now competing with paid search and LinkedIn for attention. That is the single clearest signal in the whole conversation: AI search visibility has moved from “nice to track” to “drives demos.”
There’s no single growth hack – channels compound
Asked what carried the company, Wagentristl is blunt that there is no silver bullet.
“There’s no single thing that’s carried the whole company. Rather, it’s lots of effects that compound.”
Chatarmin’s sequence looked like this:
Start organic. Heavy early investment in SEO, including backlinks and an agency producing a high volume of articles.
Lean on personal brand. Co-founder Johannes’ large LinkedIn following gave early content real distribution.
Add outbound. Paid marketing, Google Ads and cold email became core pillars once there was traction.
Come full circle to content. Today the team is reinvesting heavily in content again — this time with AI engines in mind.
The strategic point for GEO: the more places your brand shows up — SEO articles, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok — the more those signals reinforce each other, and the more likely AI engines are to surface you.
“The more channels we play, even social channels like Instagram and Facebook, they all compound together — and then you’re more likely that AI engines [pick you up].”
This matches how large language models actually form associations. Citations in AI answers are driven by repeated, consistent, authoritative mentions of an entity across the web — not by one perfectly optimized page.
What that team and budget actually look like
Chatarmin isn’t winning AI search with a skeleton crew, but it isn’t an enterprise machine either. Wagentristl runs a roughly €1 million per year marketing budget (payroll included) with a team of about five people:
In-house SEO — one dedicated owner.
Content — two people producing across formats and channels.
GTM engineering — one person handling cold outbound plus internal AI enrichment for the CRM.
The takeaway for lean teams: you don’t need a 20-person department to build AI search visibility. You need consistent content production and someone who owns organic search as a discipline.
His advice for early-stage teams: start with free channels
For founders and marketers without a budget yet, Wagentristl’s sequencing is clear — start with what compounds and costs nothing but time.
“I would always start with free channels. Start instantly with content because over time it compounds — it takes a long time. Same with SEO. Plus all the other free stuff like cold calling and cold emailing. These are easy, quick wins early on. Then you get money and can reinvest into ads after you’ve proven the message and product-market fit.”
The logic is GEO-friendly by design: content and SEO are slow to start but accrue authority, and that accumulated authority is exactly what AI engines reward when they decide who to cite.
The “secret sauce” is just good content everywhere
Pressed on whether there’s a hidden tactic, Wagentristl resists the premise.
“If there was a secret sauce, everybody would use it. I think it’s always a black box. You can do things to improve your visibility, but the backbone of it is just to have good content all over the internet.”
For marketers obsessing over AI-search hacks, this is the grounding reminder: GEO rewards breadth and consistency of high-quality content more than any single trick. The compounding effect of SEO investment over time is what built Chatarmin’s current visibility.
Radical transparency as a growth strategy
One of the more distinctive parts of Chatarmin’s approach is how openly the team shares its own numbers — wins, losses and all.
“We had really good success with just being 100% transparent. Lots of companies don’t share their numbers or the stuff they maybe messed up. Clients tell us they like that we’re honest and share a lot from internally.”
Two things make this work. First, it differentiates: prospects rarely get a behind-the-scenes look at a startup doing real revenue. Second, it builds the kind of distinctive, quotable, attributable content that both humans and AI engines latch onto. Original data and candid first-hand experience are strong E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) signals — and they’re far more citation-worthy than generic, undifferentiated posts.
Which AI engines matter now? His verdict: Gemini up, ChatGPT cooling, Claude rising
Asked where he sees momentum across AI engines, Wagentristl gives a practitioner’s read of the landscape:
Gemini: gaining ground, helped by Google’s ecosystem reach.
ChatGPT: still the biggest demo driver, but he sees usage cooling somewhat from its peak.
Claude: in his view the rising star and “probably the best one.”
This is one marketer’s perspective, not a market verdict — but it reinforces a core GEO principle: don’t optimize for a single AI engine. Each platform cites differently, and the mix is shifting fast. Tracking your visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Overviews is the only way to know where you actually stand.
They built a tool to find their best-performing topics
Finally, Chatarmin closes the loop with data. Rather than guessing what content to make, they let performance decide.
“We built a tool that scrapes all of our content — all my posts across LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok — puts it in a database, and analyzes which topics pull in the most views. Then we double down on those.”
This is the operational heart of a compounding content engine: produce broadly, measure rigorously, then concentrate effort on the themes that earn attention. The same discipline applies to GEO — once you can see which topics and pages earn AI citations, you double down on what’s working.
Key takeaways for marketers building AI search visibility
Treat AI search as a real channel. Chatarmin went from <1% to 5–10% of booked demos via ChatGPT in months. Measure it the way you measure paid and organic.
Compound across channels. SEO, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok reinforce each other and increase the odds AI engines cite you.
Start free, then reinvest. Content, SEO and cold outreach build the authority base; pay for ads once product-market fit is proven.
Lead with transparency. Original numbers and candid, first-hand content are stronger E-E-A-T and citation signals than generic posts.
Optimize for multiple engines. Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude are all shifting — track visibility across all of them, not just one.
Let data pick your topics. Double down on the themes that already earn views and citations.
Frequently asked questions
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)? GEO is the practice of optimizing content and brand signals so a company appears as a cited source inside AI-generated answers from engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Unlike traditional SEO, which targets rankings on search result pages, GEO targets inclusion and citation within AI-synthesized responses.
How much of Chatarmin’s pipeline comes from AI search? According to Head of Marketing Richard Wagentristl, ChatGPT grew from below 1% of monthly booked demos to roughly 5–10% in a matter of months — making it comparable to LinkedIn (~20%) and Google Ads (~20%) as a demo source.
How do you get cited by AI engines like ChatGPT and Gemini? There is no single hack. The most reliable approach is consistent, high-quality content distributed across many channels, strong E-E-A-T signals (original data, first-hand expertise, transparency), and visibility tracking across multiple AI engines so you can double down on what earns citations.
Which AI search engine should B2B brands optimize for? All of the major ones. Wagentristl sees Gemini rising, ChatGPT cooling slightly from its peak, and Claude gaining fast — so the safest strategy is to monitor and optimize across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google AI Overviews rather than betting on one.
Want to see where your brand shows up across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews — and turn invisible pages into AI-cited sources? That’s exactly what OtterlyAI is built for. Start tracking your AI search visibility today.
