GEO for exporters and B2B suppliers: get found when buyers ask AI

How buyers ask

B2B questions are specific: “Which Malaysian manufacturers make stainless steel food machinery?”, “OEM skincare factories in Taiwan with a low MOQ”, “Singapore suppliers with ISO 13485”. Buyers from mainland China may ask the same thing in Chinese on DeepSeek; buyers in Europe or the Middle East ask in English on ChatGPT or Gemini. To be shortlisted, the facts that answer these questions need to be public and easy to quote.

1. Publish a capability page, not a brochure

One page per product line with the facts a buyer filters on: processes and equipment, materials, size or tolerance ranges, minimum order quantity, monthly capacity, sampling time and production lead time, and the markets you already ship to. Write it as web text — specifications locked inside images are usually invisible to AI, and PDFs are best mirrored as a web page.

Use ranges where you need to, but keep every number true. Leave out anything you cannot back up.

2. List certifications and quality steps

Name the certifications you actually hold (for example ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 13485, HACCP or halal certification) with their validity, and describe your inspection process. Certifications are a common filter in buyer questions, so they are a common reason a supplier gets named — or left out.

3. Keep one company identity everywhere

Use the same company name, address and description on your website, LinkedIn, trade directories and marketplaces, and make it match your registered entity (ACRA in Singapore, SSM in Malaysia, the company registry in Taiwan). If you trade under a brand name that differs from the registered name, say so on your About page. Inconsistent names are one of the most common reasons AI engines treat one supplier as two, or as none.

4. Write in English, plus the Chinese your buyers read

English is the baseline for international buyers. If you also sell to Chinese-speaking buyers, add a Chinese version written for them: Simplified Chinese and mainland wording for mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia (for example 定制 rather than 客製化, 质量 rather than 品質), Traditional Chinese for Taiwan and Hong Kong. Link the language versions to each other with hreflang so search engines and AI crawlers know they describe the same company.

5. Be present where buyers check

Beyond your own site, keep consistent profiles on the platforms buyers in your industry use — for example Alibaba.com, Taiwantrade, and member directories of industry bodies such as the Singapore Manufacturing Federation or the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers. Trade-show exhibitor pages and association listings are public, crawlable and often cited.

6. Describe projects without naming clients

Most OEM and B2B work is under NDA. You can still write “aluminium components for a European bicycle brand, 20,000 units a month” without naming the client. Publish named case studies only with written permission.

7. Monitor in both languages

Track a fixed set of prompts in English and Chinese — category + location, material or process, certification, and low-MOQ questions — and re-test weekly under the same conditions. The companion guide on checking AI brand mentions explains the logging method. GeoLens runs these prompts automatically on DeepSeek and Gemini today; other engines are being connected. No method can guarantee that an AI engine will recommend you.