No. 1 in Google's AI Overview. No. 2 in organic search. Four months ago, Google barely knew I existed unless you searched for my full name.
For years, if someone Googled "Nitin Arvind", they could find me. Search for something broader, like "nitin oman", and I was practically invisible. And Nitin isn't exactly an unusual name in Muscat.
Then I came across a term I hadn't paid much attention to before: GEO, or Generative Engine Optimisation. We had spent years trying to understand SEO. Keywords, backlinks, algorithms, rankings. Now apparently, we had to convince AI to notice us too.
I was intrigued. How difficult could it really be? So I decided to find out.
Four months later, I searched for "nitin oman" again.
There I was. The first name in Google's AI Overview. Google described me as a private equity partner at Amber Wealth, based in Muscat, specialising in M&A advisory, GCC SME turnarounds and working capital optimisation. Pretty close to how I would describe myself. And that, as it turns out, was part of the idea.
My website's About page was also sitting at No. 2 in Google's traditional search results. No agency. No SEO consultant. No advertising campaign. Just a plan, four months of execution, and a little curiosity about how Google actually works.
First, what exactly is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation. In simple terms, it means making your information easier for AI-powered search systems to find, understand and use when generating answers.
Traditional SEO tries to help your pages appear in search results. GEO looks at whether AI search systems can understand and accurately describe you or your business. There is a lot of overlap between them. Despite the impressive new acronym, much of the work is surprisingly familiar.
What I actually did
1. I rebuilt my website around a very basic question: Who am I?
My old website looked fine. The problem was that it didn't tell Google enough. The page title said "Partner & Founder | Amber Wealth International". No Muscat. No Oman. If someone searched for a professional named Nitin in Oman, my website wasn't making Google's job particularly easy.
So I changed that. My new website, www.nitinarvind.com, clearly identifies who I am, what I do and where I work. I included "Muscat, Oman" in relevant page titles and descriptions. I stopped using "MCT" as shorthand. MCT makes sense when you're booking a flight. Not necessarily when you're searching for a person.
I added a proper About page and an FAQ. The first FAQ question was "Who is Nitin Arvind?" Two straightforward sentences answer it. And guess which page Google now shows at No. 2? The About page. Sometimes the simplest things work best.
I also added structured data, which is code that describes the person behind the website, their professional affiliations and online profiles. And a sitemap, so search engines have a clear list of pages to discover. None of this guarantees a ranking, but it removes unnecessary ambiguity.
2. I stopped thinking about keywords and started thinking about readers
I didn't want a website full of articles written for search engines. You know the kind: "Top 10 Reasons Why Oman Is the Best Place to Invest in 2026." I would probably not read that myself.
Instead, I wrote about things I found interesting and that people around me were already discussing. Why does Muscat have a coffee shop on practically every corner? What does it really cost to open one? I even built a calculator so readers could work out how many cups they'd need to sell to cover their costs.
I wrote about how much AI an SME in Oman actually needs, why Chinese capital is increasingly interested in Oman, and other subjects I have opinions about, questions about, or some experience with.
I published the longer versions on my website and shared shorter discussions on LinkedIn. Then I kept doing it. The idea was simple: if people find something worth reading, the content has a reason to exist beyond a Google ranking.
3. I gave LinkedIn some attention
This turned out to be interesting. Google's AI Overview cited my LinkedIn profile, so I made sure LinkedIn and my website told the same story. Same professional identity, company, location and areas of work.
I also started sharing my website articles through LinkedIn, with links back to the original content. The website linked to LinkedIn too.
I can't tell you exactly how much of my result came from LinkedIn. Google's AI systems don't publish that level of detail. But seeing LinkedIn cited in the AI Overview made one thing clear: your website isn't the only place Google looks for information about you.
4. I got my story straight
This was probably the most useful exercise of the entire four months. Ask five people to describe what they do professionally and you'll often get five different answers. Sometimes from the same person, depending on the day.
I was no different. Over the years, I'd worked across investments, operations, technology and business management. All true, but not particularly easy to summarise.
So I settled on a clear description of my current professional work: Partner at Amber Wealth International, based in Muscat, Oman, working with GCC investors and SME owners on deals, turnarounds and portfolio companies.
That became the consistent description across my website and LinkedIn. Not because repeating a sentence is some secret GEO trick, but because if you cannot explain clearly what you do, expecting a search engine to work it out seems a little unreasonable.
5. I cleaned up my other online references
This was the least exciting part. Anywhere I could update my professional details, I made sure they were accurate and consistent. Names, company associations, professional descriptions, locations and links. Nothing glamorous.
But consider what happens when one website describes you as an IT consultant, another as an operations manager, and a third as an investment partner. All might be historically correct. But which one should Google use to describe you today?
Keeping current information consistent makes that question easier to answer.
What surprised me
I expected GEO to be something entirely different from SEO. It wasn't. Most of what I worked on was familiar advice: make your website understandable, explain who you are, publish useful content, keep information consistent and make sure search engines can discover your pages.
The AI part introduced another consideration. Google can now answer a question about you directly, without the person searching ever visiting your website. And it can assemble that answer using information from multiple sources.
In my case, the AI Overview cited LinkedIn and produced a description remarkably close to the one I had been using. I can't prove which individual changes caused that result, but I can see the difference between where I started and where I ended up.
Does this mean I've cracked Google's algorithm?
Of course not. I searched twice and even the AI-generated descriptions weren't identical. Search results change. AI answers can change even faster. Location, device, personalisation and Google's own updates can all affect what appears.
And let's be clear about something else. "nitin oman" is a narrow search query. This is not the same as ranking No. 1 for "investment consultant Oman" or "private equity GCC". I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Nor does being first in an AI Overview automatically translate into new business.
But four months ago, a broad search combining my first name and country barely surfaced me. Now Google can identify me, describe my work and point to my professional profiles. For the experiment I set out to run, that's a pretty satisfying result.
So, what actually worked?
I didn't just build a website and wait for Google to find it. I wrote. A lot.
I wrote about business, investments, AI and things happening around me in Oman. Subjects I understood, had opinions about and thought other people might find interesting. I published on my website, shared on LinkedIn and connected the two.
Then I went looking for my digital footprint. Old profiles, company references, professional descriptions and mentions of my name across the web. Wherever I could, I made sure the information was accurate and consistent. Same person. Same location. Same professional identity.
I wanted Google to find enough consistent information about me that it didn't have to guess. Was every single change responsible for the result? Probably not. I couldn't tell you which one made the difference. But the combined effort worked for the search I was targeting.
Four months. No agency. No SEO consultant. No paid campaign. First in Google's AI Overview. Second in organic search.
Now, here's a question for you.
When someone searches for the services your business offers in Oman, does Google find you? And when they ask AI to recommend someone in your industry, does your name come up? Or does Google know more about your competitors than it knows about you?
You've probably spent years building your business. You might have an excellent website, a decent LinkedIn presence and plenty of experience. But does the internet actually connect all those pieces?
Four months ago, mine didn't. I decided to see if I could change that.
If you're wondering why Google isn't finding you, or why AI is recommending your competitors, give me a call.
I won't promise you a No. 1 ranking. Nobody can honestly do that. But I can show you how I approached the problem, what I changed and what I'd look at first in your business.
Sometimes, the problem isn't that Google doesn't know you exist.
It's that you've never given Google the complete picture.