Why Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) matters for the ASEAN market

People across ASEAN are changing how they search for information faster than most companies can adjust their marketing budgets. More consumers in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to learn about products and services. This creates a new challenge for foreign businesses in the region. Even if a brand appears near the top of Google search results, that does not mean AI tools will recommend it when customers use those tools to make decisions.

This change has led to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), also called Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). GEO means organising online content so AI tools can correctly describe a brand, mention it as a source, and recommend it. For companies starting or growing their businesses in ASEAN, understanding GEO is becoming as important to planning their entry into a market as understanding local tax rules and labour laws.

The change is happening on a large scale. In Indonesia, the number of people using ChatGPT each week has roughly tripled over the past year. This puts Indonesia among the world's top five markets for weekly ChatGPT use. In the Philippines, surveys show that 92 percent of knowledge workers, meaning people whose jobs mainly involve working with information, already use generative AI tools at work. This is higher than both the worldwide average and the Asia-Pacific average. Across Southeast Asia, the AI industry was worth more than US$4 billion in 2024. It is expected to grow to more than four times that size by 2033.

Companies expanding into several ASEAN countries should know that people use AI differently in each country. This also means the opportunities for GEO are different. In Vietnam, the number of AI startup companies grew from around 60 in 2021 to nearly 280 by 2024. This growth was supported by the country's large number of people with technical skills. In the Philippines, the main strengths in generative AI have developed around business process outsourcing, where companies provide services for other businesses, and work involving information. Singapore remains the main centre for AI investment in the region. Consumers there have also been among the first in the region to use AI tools for searching. A GEO strategy designed for Singapore's more developed market may not work the same way in Vietnam or Indonesia. People in these countries are adopting AI at different speeds and have different levels of trust in it.

For companies setting up businesses in ASEAN, planning how customers will find them online is worth considering alongside the usual steps of entering a new market. These steps include registering a company, organising its taxes, and hiring workers. A company may follow all the legal rules and set up its business operations correctly. But if customers cannot find its brand through AI-powered search tools, the company may still struggle to turn its entry into a new market into a larger share of sales in that market.