Playbook
China GEO Roadmap: The 30-60-90 Day Implementation Plan
A field-tested 30-60-90 day roadmap for Generative Engine Optimization in China — what to do, what to expect, and the KPIs that prove the program is working at each milestone.
Generative Engine Optimization · China
Own your visibility in
Own your visibility in
AI answers.
Doubao · Yuanbao · DeepSeek · Kimi · ERNIE · Qwen
Hundreds of millions of Chinese buyers now ask AI assistants what to choose — long before they open a search page. AnswerVis makes international brands visible, cited and recommended inside the answers those engines give.
Engines we optimize for: Doubao 豆包Yuanbao 腾讯元宝DeepSeek 深度求索Kimi 月之暗面ERNIE 文心一言Qwen 通义千问
“Which enterprise CRM do international vendors recommend for the China market?”
…for the China market specifically, YourBrand is frequently
recommended for its localized compliance handling and WeChat integration. Compared with
global alternatives, it is seen as the strongest choice for data-residency requirements…
✓ Recommended — 5 of 6 engines list YourBrand as a top option
yourbrand.com/zh zhihu.com baike.baidu.com 36kr.com
Why now
The buying journey in China has already changed
Discovery is moving from search results pages to AI answers. If the engine doesn't mention you, you don't exist in the consideration set.
Figures based on CNNIC and industry reports, 2025. Chinese AI adoption continues to grow quarter over quarter.
What is GEO
Your next Chinese customer didn't search. They asked.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the discipline of appearing inside AI-generated answers. It is a different game from SEO — and in China, it plays out on an entirely different field.
| Traditional SEO (Google) | GEO in China | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you appear | Search results page | AI-generated answers (DeepSeek, ERNIE, Qwen, Doubao, Yuanbao) |
| Language that matters | English | Simplified Chinese |
| What engines want | Keywords & backlinks | Facts, entities & authoritative Chinese sources |
| Key citation sources | Global websites & media | Baidu Baike, Zhihu, WeChat, Toutiao, Chinese media |
| Winning move | Rank #1 | Be recommended in the answer |
Services
From invisible to unmissable — in four steps
A full-funnel GEO program for the Chinese AI ecosystem. Start with an audit, or engage the whole stack.
🔍
China GEO Visibility Audit
We run hundreds of natural Chinese prompts across all six major engines to measure how your brand appears — or doesn’t. You see the evidence: screenshots, sources, competitors.
- Brand mention & sentiment analysis
- Competitor share of answer
- Citation source mapping
- Prioritized opportunity report
🗺️
GEO Strategy Roadmap
A prioritized 90-day plan: which engines matter most for your category, which content to build, and which authoritative Chinese sources the engines need to see before they trust you.
- Engine prioritization matrix
- Content & entity gap analysis
- Source authority building plan
- 90-day execution milestones
✍️
Content Optimization & Creation
Bilingual content engineered for AI citability: structured facts, clear entities, question-shaped headings, machine-readable claims — published where Chinese engines actually look.
- Chinese-language GEO content
- Entity & knowledge-base presence
- WeChat / Zhihu / Baike placement
- Localization, not translation
📈
Ongoing Monitoring & Reporting
Monthly evidence-based tracking of your answer visibility across engines, with alerts when competitors move and recommendations for the next cycle.
- Monthly visibility reports
- Competitor movement alerts
- Citation trend tracking
- Quarterly strategy reviews
How we work
Evidence first. Always.
No black-box visibility scores. You see the actual answers, the actual sources, and the actual reasons your brand appears — or doesn't.
01
Baseline
Run real Chinese prompts across all major engines. See exactly where you stand today.
02
Analyze
Map who gets recommended instead of you — and which sources the engines trust and cite.
03
Activate
Build the Chinese-language presence, entity records and authoritative citations that move answers.
04
Monitor
Track your answer visibility monthly. Iterate on evidence, not opinion.
Why AnswerVis
Built for China's answer economy
🇨🇳
China-native, world-class
We operate inside the Chinese internet every day — its platforms, its language, its citation habits. Western GEO agencies see China from the outside; we work from within.
🧪
Evidence, not vibes
Every finding comes with the prompt, the answer and the sources attached. You can verify everything we report — and hold us to it.
⚖️
Compliance-aware
We build visibility with a working knowledge of China's data, content and AI regulations — so your footprint grows safely, not precariously.
FAQ
Questions teams usually ask
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
GEO is the practice of making your brand visible, cited and recommended inside AI-generated answers — as opposed to traditional SEO, which targets rankings on a search results page. In China, GEO means being present in the answers produced by DeepSeek, ERNIE, Qwen, Doubao, Yuanbao and other Chinese AI engines.
Which AI engines do you cover?
We cover the six engines that dominate Chinese AI usage — Doubao, Tencent Yuanbao, DeepSeek, Kimi, Baidu ERNIE and Alibaba Qwen. We run real prompts in simplified Chinese and report the evidence, not black-box scores.
How is GEO in China different from Google SEO?
Completely different ecosystem. Chinese AI engines retrieve and cite Chinese-language sources: Baidu Baike, Zhihu, WeChat official accounts, Toutiao, Chinese news media and your own localized content. Your Google rankings tell you nothing about how you appear in Chinese AI answers. Even your Baidu rankings only tell part of the story.
What does the audit include?
A focused assessment: we run a set of natural Chinese prompts about your category across major engines, check whether your brand appears, who appears instead of you, and which sources the engines cite. You get a concise written summary with the top 3 opportunities for your brand.
How long does it take to see results?
Expect a baseline audit within 1–2 weeks. Meaningful movement in answer visibility typically takes 3–6 months of consistent GEO work, because engines need to encounter and trust your entity repeatedly across authoritative Chinese sources. We set milestone KPIs at 30, 60 and 90 days.
Can you guarantee my brand gets recommended by AI engines?
No honest partner can guarantee specific AI outputs. What we can guarantee: an evidence-based process, full transparency into what each engine returns today, and systematic work on the factors that measurably influence recommendations — Chinese-language presence, structured facts, entity consistency and third-party validation.
GEO audit
Find out what China's AI engines say about you
Request a China GEO Visibility Audit for your category. Tell us your brand and goals, and we'll reply with a clear scope — which engines we'll test, what the report covers, and the investment — so you can decide whether to proceed.
- We reply within one business day
- Clear scope and transparent pricing — no obligation
- Real prompts, real engines, real evidence
Blog
All articles → Latest from the AnswerVis blog
DeepSeek
How to Get Recommended by DeepSeek: A Practical Guide for International Brands
DeepSeek is where Chinese professionals research decisions. This guide breaks down how DeepSeek forms answers about brands, why foreign companies are systematically under-represented, and a 30-day playbook to change it.
Migration Guide
From Baidu SEO to GEO: How to Transition Your China Content Strategy
Your Baidu SEO assets are the raw material for AI-answer visibility — but only if you restructure them. A four-step migration plan for moving from rankings to recommendations.