GEO doesn’t work the same in the US, Europe and Asia. The basics of getting cited hold everywhere. But each region uses different AI tools, trusts different sources and got Google’s AI features at different times. A good international GEO strategy plans for all three. GEO, or generative engine optimization, is the work of getting AI tools like ChatGPT to mention your brand in their answers.
US marketers wrote most of the GEO advice you’ll read this year, and they wrote it for US buyers. That advice makes three guesses. It guesses that Google’s AI answers show up where your buyer lives. It guesses that your buyer uses ChatGPT.
And it guesses that your website is the main thing AI tools read about you. All three hold in New York. In Paris, the first one failed for two years. In Shanghai, all three fail. In Seoul, Google’s AI answers exist, but Naver handles most searches and leans on its own sites.
If you sell in more than one country, your international GEO strategy needs to show which parts of your GEO work carry over. Some of it does. Get the rest wrong, and buyers in Seoul or Munich won’t see your name.
Read: GEO vs SEO – Which One Should You Invest in First?
Key Takeaways
- The basics of getting cited work everywhere, while each region uses different AI tools, trusts different sources and got AI features at different times.
- Google’s AI Overviews reached India 92 days after the US. Europe waited 316 days. France waited until July 2026.
- In China, most AI users pick Doubao and DeepSeek (CNNIC). In Korea, Naver handled 62.9% of searches in 2025.
- In our study, ChatGPT cited Google Business Profiles for 86% of agencies in Indian metros and 18% elsewhere
- Test your AI visibility from inside each country. Google shows AI features based on where the searcher is.
Does GEO work differently by country and do you need an international GEO strategy?
The basic rules of getting cited are the same almost everywhere. AI tools pick text that is clear, comes from a trusted source, and matches what other sources say. A guide to China’s AI tools describes Doubao and DeepSeek working this way. GEO writers in the West describe the same pattern for ChatGPT and Gemini.
Three things change when you cross a border:
- The AI engines/tool. Your buyer may use a different one.
- The trusted sources. Each tool trusts different websites. Often, these are sites its parent company owns.
- The timing. The AI feature may not exist in your buyer’s country yet, or it may have arrived a year late.
| Market | Main AI tools | Sources they trust | What a US plan misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity | The open web, forums, review sites, your website | Little. Most GEO tools and data come from here. |
| EU | The same tools, but they arrived late | The open web, local-language news sites | Late launches, publishers opting out, strict rules |
| China | Doubao, DeepSeek, ERNIE, Qwen, Kimi | Chinese platforms like Baidu Baike, Baijiahao, Toutiao and Douyin | Western AI tools and English websites count for little |
| South Korea | Naver’s AI Briefing and AI Tab, Google | Naver Blog, Café, KnowledgeIn, Place | Your website is one small source among many |
| India | Google’s AI features (early), ChatGPT, Gemini | The open web, Google Business Profile | Business listings matter more than US guides say |
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Why is most GEO advice built for the US?
Google launches its AI search features in the US first. AI Overviews, the AI summaries at the top of Google results, started in the US in May 2024 and reached other countries months or years later. AI Mode, Google’s chat-style search, followed in May 2025. Google rolled it out to all US users before India became the second country to get it
Because of that head start, GEO vendors built their first tools, case studies and click benchmarks on US search results. If your AI visibility tool asks its questions from a US server, you’re measuring US buyers. You learn little about a buyer in Frankfurt or Pune.
US users spend more time with AI tools. In 2025, Sensor Tower found that US users spent about 21% more time each week in top AI chat apps than users in India, and opened the apps 17% more often . More chats give an AI tool more chances to name you, or to name your competitor.
Check out our GEO services
Why did Europe get AI search so late?
Google brought its AI features to Europe late, and to a few countries at a time. AI Overviews reached India 92 days after the US. Europe waited 316 days. Google’s earlier test, called SGE, reached India in 98 days. Google never launched it in Europe
The first European countries got AI Overviews on March 26, 2025. They were Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. A week earlier, the European Commission said Google may be breaking the Digital Markets Act. That EU law aims to stop big tech firms from favouring their own services.
Google left France out. French law gives news publishers extra rights to be paid when platforms use their content. France enforces those rules harder than any other European country. Google turned on AI Overviews and AI Mode in France only on July 22, 2026.
AI Mode took a similar path. In August 2025, Google launched it in more than 180 countries but left out the EU. Most EU countries got it in October 2025. France waited for both features until July 2026.
These delays give you two problems.
Problem 1: Your numbers can mislead you. Google shows AI features based on the searcher’s physical location. Account settings make no difference. In May 2026, Google’s own product experts told users in France the feature wasn’t available there. The same search from Madrid would have shown it. Any French report that compares this year with last year has a break in the data at July 2026.
Problem 2: The sources can change. Some website owners can now stop AI Overviews and AI Mode from using their site, through Google Search Console. A page-by-page version arrives in March 2027, because a UK regulator required it. European publishers already fight Google over payment. If many of them opt out, AI tools will need other sources for the same questions. Your own pages and your coverage in trade magazines could fill that gap.
SISTRIX measured the effect in Germany, which joined the first wave. It studied more than 100 million German search terms and found AI Overviews on about 20% of them. On those results, the share of people who clicked the top result fell from 27% to 11%.
China runs on its own AI tools
China’s AI search runs on its own tools and its own sources, in Chinese. You can reuse little of a Western GEO plan here. By December 2025, 602 million people in China used AI tools. That is 42.8% of the population, and 141.7% more than a year earlier. CNNIC is China’s official internet statistics agency.
Among those users, 72.2% use ByteDance’s Doubao and 62.0% use DeepSeek. Many people use both. Other tools include Baidu’s ERNIE, Alibaba’s Qwen and Moonshot’s Kimi. ChatGPT and Google don’t operate in mainland China, so you can’t use your US results to judge this market.
Chinese AI engines prefer content from sites their parent companies own. ERNIE favours Baidu Baike, a Wikipedia-style site, and Baijiahao, a publishing platform. Baidu owns both. Doubao may give more weight to Toutiao, a news app, and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. ByteDance owns both. Your English website and your LinkedIn posts sit outside these platforms.
An international GEO strategy that includes China starts with finding out which company owns the AI tool your buyer uses, and which of its platforms that tool reads. A B2B brand selling to Chinese buyers may need Baike entries, Baijiahao articles and Chinese-language content before any AI engine will cite it.
Why does Naver matter so much in Korea?
In South Korea, Naver answers most searches, and its AI leans on Naver’s own sites for answers. Naver handled 62.9% of Korean searches in 2025, up from 58.1% in 2024. In March 2026, Naver averaged 63.8% and Google 28.7%.
Analysts expected AI chatbots to hurt Naver, but Naver’s share grew. Its AI Briefing feature now writes a summary for about 20% of searches. Its chat-style AI Tab reached 3 million monthly users within a month of testing. On shopping and place bookings, its click-through rate averaged about 25%. The Korea Times gives one more reason for Naver’s growth: Korean users check answers from AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini on Naver.
A Naver results page mixes normal websites with Naver’s own sites. These include Naver Blog, Café (online forums), KnowledgeIn (a question-and-answer site), Shopping and Place. A brand entering Korea needs mentions inside those Naver sites. Your own website matters less on Naver than on Google.
Check your source before you quote these numbers. Research firms disagree on Korean search share. Some say Google leads by a small margin, and others say Naver leads by more than 35 points.
India gets AI features early and has huge numbers of users
India is the closest match to the US, with one big difference. India was the second country to get Google’s AI Mode, in late June 2025. By February 2026, OpenAI said India was ChatGPT’s second-largest market, with 100 million weekly users.
In May 2026, Sensor Tower counted more than 330 million monthly ChatGPT users in India. Gemini had about 229 million. With Gemini this close behind, a ChatGPT-only check misses a big share of Indian buyers. <!– ORIGINAL DATA: Crimson Salt GBP study, 94 listings, 19 cities –>
You see that difference in local search. In our 19-city study of ChatGPT’s local answers, we asked ChatGPT for a “GEO agency [city]” in each city. Then we checked which sources it said it used for the 94 agency listings it gave us. ChatGPT cited a Google Business Profile for 86% of agencies in four Indian metros.
Everywhere else, the figure was 18%. The five other fast-growing markets in the study scored 15%, lower than the 19% for established markets. The Business Profile effect showed up in India and almost nowhere else.
A Business Profile got Indian agencies named. Agencies controlled what ChatGPT said about them with a dedicated GEO page. Without one, ChatGPT guessed an agency’s focus 66% of the time. With one, it made no guesses. These numbers come from ChatGPT describing its own sources after one round of questions, so treat them as a strong signal that needs repeat testing.
For brands in Indian local search, this means two jobs. First, write what you do into your Business Profile in plain words. Second, publish a page that explains how you work. If your international GEO strategy includes India, don’t assume a US-ready website is enough for local searches.
Read: The State of AI Search in India 2026: Who Owns the Query Now?
What should an international GEO strategy check in each country?
Run these five checks in each new country before you spend money. Then use the answers to build your plan.
- AI tools. Find out which AI tools your buyers there use. In Korea, that means Naver. In China, start with Doubao and DeepSeek.
- Trusted sources. List the sites each AI tool trusts. In China, that means Baike and Baijiahao. In Korea, it means Naver Blog and KnowledgeIn. In Europe, look at trade magazines in the local language.
- Feature availability. Check that the AI features work where your buyer lives. Run test questions from a local internet connection, since Google shows features based on location.
- Language. Ask your test questions in your buyer’s language. An English question and a German question from the same Munich office can bring up different sources.
- Measurement. Use Search Console’s AI reports, added in June 2026. They show how often your site appears in AI features, country by country. If a local launch date falls inside your comparison period, flag it.
Where to start with an international GEO strategy
The core of GEO is the same everywhere. Write clear claims that an AI tool can pull out, and back them up with sources it can check. From one country to the next, you change the work around that core: which AI tool to target, which sites to appear on, and when the features arrive.
If your international GEO strategy treats your US or Indian results as a global score, you’ll think you’re bigger in Seoul than you are. You’ll underestimate the work Shanghai needs, too. Pick your next market and run the five checks from inside that country. Then plan content for the AI tool your buyers there use most.
Crimson Salt’s AI Visibility Audit checks how AI tools describe your brand, one country at a time. If a new region is in your 2027 plans, write to hello@crimsonsalt.com.
Sources
- Xpert.Digital, AI Mode rollout and EU delays (2025)
- PPC Land, Google ends France AI Overviews blackout (July 2026)
- PPC Land, Google expands AI Mode to over 40 countries and territories (October 2025)
- SISTRIX, AI Overviews in Germany: How Much Click-Through Rates Are Really Dropping (February 2026)
- i-Click, AI Search Optimization in China: The 2026 GEO Guide (2026)
- The Egg, GEO in China (2026)
- The Korea Times, Naver remains dominant player in Korea’s search market (April 2026)
- FN News, Naver’s search market share tops 80% after AI search boost (June 2026)
- Seoulz, Naver vs Google Korea (2026)
- The Egg, Naver SEO 2026: The Complete Guide for Marketers (April 2026)
- TechCrunch, India has 100M weekly active ChatGPT users (February 2026)
- TechCrunch, ChatGPT in India and Sensor Tower engagement data (2026)
- Crimson Salt, A Google Business Profile Moves ChatGPT in India and Almost Nowhere Else (July 2026)
- Kotak Neo, ChatGPT market share falls below 50% (2026)
