ChatGPT vs Perplexity vs Google AI: How to Optimize for Each Platform Differently

Most GEO advice treats AI like a monolith. "Optimize for AI" — as if ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews work the same way and want the same things.

They don't.

Each platform has different crawling behavior, different ranking signals, different content formats it favors, and different types of queries where it dominates. Optimizing for all three the same way means you're not fully optimized for any of them.

This is the platform-specific playbook. We'll break down exactly how each works, what it prioritizes, and what tactical adjustments give you an edge on each platform specifically.

The Landscape: Who Uses What, and For What

Before getting into optimization, it helps to understand user behavior on each platform. You're not just optimizing for an algorithm — you're optimizing for a specific type of person asking a specific type of question.

ChatGPT is the general-purpose AI assistant. Users ask everything: recipes, coding help, business strategy, product recommendations, travel planning. The recommendation queries tend to be conversational and exploratory: "I'm looking for a good espresso machine, what do you suggest?" Rather than transactional, it's more like asking a smart friend for advice.

Perplexity is the AI search engine. Users treat it like a better Google — they want researched, cited, accurate answers. Queries tend to be more specific and research-oriented: "What's the best espresso machine under $400 in 2026?" Perplexity users want to see sources. They click through. They verify.

Google AI Overviews appear at the top of Google searches. Users didn't specifically choose AI — they were searching normally and got an AI answer first. Queries are traditional search queries: "best espresso machine under 400." This is the highest-volume channel of the three, because it sits on top of all existing Google search traffic.

Understanding this shapes what content you create and how you frame it for each platform.

ChatGPT: The Conversation Optimizer

How It Works

ChatGPT uses a combination of training data and, with web browsing enabled, real-time web search. Its training data has a knowledge cutoff, which means some of what ChatGPT "knows" about your brand comes from its training, not fresh crawling.

This creates an interesting dynamic: brand reputation built over time matters more for ChatGPT than for other platforms. Brands that have been mentioned in articles, reviews, and forums for years have stronger representation in ChatGPT's training data than newer brands or brands with thin web presence.

With web browsing enabled (ChatGPT Plus and the API with browsing tool), ChatGPT can search the web in real time — and it behaves more like Perplexity in that mode.

What ChatGPT Prioritizes

Brand entity strength. ChatGPT recommends brands it "knows" — brands with strong, consistent presence across the web. This is the entity profile we've discussed before, and it matters enormously for ChatGPT specifically.

Conversational content. ChatGPT tends to cite content that reads naturally and reads like it's written by a real expert for real humans. Highly technical, schema-optimized-but-boring content doesn't perform as well here as clear, direct, authoritative writing.

Training data presence. The more your brand appears in reputable sources that were likely included in OpenAI's training data — Wikipedia, major publications, industry resources — the stronger your ChatGPT baseline is.

Specific product knowledge. When ChatGPT recommends products, it tends to recommend ones it has confident, specific knowledge about: dimensions, price, use cases, pros and cons. Products with rich information across multiple sources get more recommendations.

ChatGPT-Specific Tactics

Build your brand entity systematically. Get mentioned in authoritative publications, industry resources, and high-authority domains. Not necessarily for backlinks — for brand presence that ends up in training data.

Write like a human expert. Your content should read the way a knowledgeable friend would explain something. Conversational but substantive. ChatGPT gravitates toward sources that communicate clearly, not sources that communicate robotically.

Create comprehensive product information. Go deep on every product: detailed specs, comparison with alternatives, common use cases, common questions. The more complete your product knowledge graph, the more ChatGPT has to work with.

Claim your Wikipedia presence if possible. A Wikipedia page is one of the most powerful signals for ChatGPT specifically, because Wikipedia is heavily represented in its training data. If your brand qualifies for Wikipedia notability standards, it's worth pursuing.

Monitor and test regularly. Ask ChatGPT about your brand directly: "What is [brand name]?" and "Recommend products for [use case]." See what it says. Gaps in its knowledge tell you where to build more web presence.

Perplexity: The Research Engine Optimizer

How It Works

Perplexity is fundamentally a real-time web search engine with AI synthesis on top. When you ask Perplexity something, it searches the web, retrieves current results, and synthesizes an answer with citations.

This makes Perplexity closer to traditional SEO than any other AI platform — but with important differences. Perplexity isn't just surfacing links. It's extracting the most directly useful content from those links and synthesizing it into an answer.

Perplexity shows its sources. Users can and do click through. This makes getting cited by Perplexity a direct traffic driver in a way that ChatGPT mentions often aren't.

What Perplexity Prioritizes

Direct, extractable answers. Perplexity is synthesizing. It needs content it can extract cleanly. If your page buries the answer in five paragraphs of preamble, Perplexity passes it over for a page that leads with the answer.

Recency. Perplexity favors fresh content heavily. A blog post updated yesterday beats one from six months ago, all else being equal. The dateModified signal matters here more than on other platforms.

Citation authority. Perplexity cites sources, and it prefers sources that look like credible references. Clear authorship, publication date, and professional presentation all contribute.

Structured content. Tables, bullet lists, and clear headings make extraction easy. Perplexity is doing information synthesis — give it information that's already well-organized.

Review aggregates. For product recommendations, Perplexity often pulls from review sites (Yelp, Trustpilot, Amazon, industry-specific sites). Having a strong presence across these review platforms matters specifically for Perplexity.

Perplexity-Specific Tactics

Structure content for extraction. Lead with your answer. Put the key fact in the first sentence of each section. Use tables for comparisons. Use bullet points for lists of features or steps. Perplexity rewards content that's structured like a reference, not content that reads like an essay.

Update content aggressively. Set a quarterly minimum for updating important pages. Include current dates, statistics, and data. Update the dateModified in your schema. Perplexity's freshness bias is strong.

Optimize for long-tail research queries. Perplexity users ask more specific questions than average. "Best espresso machine for small apartments under $300 in 2026" instead of just "espresso machine recommendation." Content that answers specific, detailed questions gets cited for those queries.

Build review platform presence. Check which review platforms Perplexity is pulling from in your category. Get listed there and maintain your rating. Perplexity often synthesizes from Trustpilot, G2, Yelp, and industry-specific sites depending on the category.

Use clean URLs and proper robots.txt. Perplexity crawls aggressively. Make sure your robots.txt isn't blocking it and your important pages are accessible.

Google AI Overviews: The Volume Leader

How It Works

Google AI Overviews (formerly SGE) appear at the top of Google Search results for queries where Google determines an AI-generated answer would be helpful. They pull from Google's index — the same content that ranks in traditional Google search, plus additional signals from Google's own ecosystem (GBP, Google Shopping, etc.).

Google AI Overviews represent the highest volume opportunity of the three platforms because they sit on top of existing Google search traffic. Getting featured in an AI Overview for a query your competitor ranks for traditionally is a significant visibility gain.

What Google AI Overviews Prioritize

Traditional Google ranking signals. This is the crucial distinction from other AI platforms. Google AI Overviews draw from Google's existing index. If a page ranks well in traditional Google search, it's more likely to be featured in AI Overviews. This means your existing SEO fundamentals directly feed AI Overview visibility.

Schema markup. Google AI Overviews heavily leverage structured data. Product schema, FAQ schema, Review schema, HowTo schema — all of these make your content more extractable for AI Overviews.

FAQ content. Google AI Overviews frequently incorporate FAQ-format content. Pages with well-implemented FAQ schema appear in AI Overviews for the specific questions they answer.

Google ecosystem integration. Google Business Profile, Google Shopping (Merchant Center), Google Reviews — all of these feed into Google's AI. A fully optimized Google presence beyond just your website is a significant advantage here.

E-E-A-T signals. Google AI Overviews apply the same Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness framework that Google uses for all search. Author credentials, accurate information, helpful content — same signals that matter for organic ranking.

Google AI Overview-Specific Tactics

Treat it as an extension of traditional SEO. The same content and technical optimizations that improve your Google organic rankings improve your AI Overview presence. Don't think of them as separate projects.

Implement FAQ schema on every important page. This is the fastest path to Google AI Overview inclusion. Add FAQ sections that directly answer questions in your niche, mark them up properly, and watch for them to appear in AI Overviews.

Connect Google Merchant Center for product queries. If you sell products, connect your product feed to Google Merchant Center. Google AI Overviews pull product data directly from this for shopping-intent queries.

Optimize for featured snippet format. Content that wins featured snippets in traditional Google Search often appears in AI Overviews. This means: concise, direct answers, proper heading structure, short answer paragraphs followed by detail.

Build Google-ecosystem presence. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Collect Google Reviews. Use Google's tools (Search Console, Merchant Center). Google's AI naturally favors data from its own ecosystem.

Side-by-Side Platform Comparison

Here's a quick reference for the key differences:

Signal	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Google AI
Content freshness	Medium	Very High	High
Schema markup	Medium	Medium	Very High
Brand entity	Very High	Medium	High
Review presence	Medium	High	Very High (Google Reviews)
Traditional SEO	Low	Medium	Very High
Content structure	Medium	High	High
Training data presence	Very High	Low	Low
Real-time crawling	Low (browsing optional)	Very High	High
Ecosystem integration	OpenAI plugins	Web-wide	Google ecosystem

## The Content Format That Works Across All Three

Despite the differences, some content characteristics improve performance on all platforms simultaneously:

Lead with the answer. Every section should start with the key information, not build to it. This works for all three platforms because they all need to extract answers quickly.

Use specific numbers and data. "Most mattresses last 7-10 years" beats "mattresses need to be replaced eventually." Specific, verifiable facts get cited across all platforms.

Structure information visually. Tables, bullet points, numbered lists — these work because they make information extractable. All three platforms favor structured content over prose blocks.

Write with clear attribution. Author name, publication date, clear brand identification. All three platforms weight content from identifiable, trustworthy sources higher than anonymous or unclear content.

Keep information current. Outdated information is a liability everywhere. A page that references 2023 statistics in 2026 is a source no AI wants to cite.

Measuring Your Performance on Each Platform

How do you know which platforms you're winning on vs where you have gaps?

For ChatGPT: Ask it about your brand directly. Ask for product recommendations in your category and note where you appear. Vary your questions — the conversational nature of ChatGPT means phrasing matters.

For Perplexity: Search for queries where you want to appear. Check if you're being cited. Click through — Perplexity's explicit citations mean you can see exactly which of your pages it's pulling from.

For Google AI Overviews: Search your target keywords in Google. Note when AI Overviews appear. Look for which sources are featured and whether you're among them. Use Google Search Console's "Search Appearance" filter to track AI-related impressions.

Do this monthly. Track changes over time. After major content updates, check back in 2-4 weeks to see if your presence has improved.

Where to Start If You Can't Do Everything

If you're prioritizing, here's the order I'd recommend:

Priority 1: Google AI Overviews — Highest volume, most accessible (builds on existing SEO), and Google's ecosystem integration creates multiple pathways. Implement FAQ schema, complete your Google Business Profile, optimize your top pages for featured snippet format.

Priority 2: Perplexity — Growing fast, users click through (direct traffic), and the optimization required (fresh content, direct answers, review presence) is foundational good practice anyway.

Priority 3: ChatGPT — Highest overall AI usage but hardest to directly optimize for, because training data presence takes time to build. Start entity building now so you compound over time.

The good news: the foundation that helps all three is the same. Great content, strong brand entity, accurate structured data, fresh information, and clear author attribution. Get those right and you're competitive on all platforms.

The platform-specific tactics are the layer on top. They matter — but they're secondary to the foundation.

See where you stand across all AI platforms — free Recomaze audit checks your schema, content quality, entity signals, and overall AI readiness. Takes 2 minutes.