What is GEO? Generative engine optimization explained
GEO is the work of getting a brand mentioned, described correctly and recommended in AI answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
GEO (generative engine optimization) is the work of getting a brand mentioned, described correctly and recommended in answers written by AI, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews. SEO aims for a ranking position on a results page. GEO aims for a place inside the answer itself.
When someone asks an AI assistant which accountant, coffee roaster or project tool to choose, they often get one short answer with two or three names in it. If your company is not one of those names, the customer may never see a link to your website at all.
Where the term comes from
The name comes from a 2023 research paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, by researchers from Princeton University, IIT Delhi and independent researchers. It was published at KDD 2024, one of the main conferences in data science.
The researchers tested how different changes to a web page affected how visible that page became in AI-generated answers. Three findings are worth knowing:
- Adding quotations from relevant sources and adding statistics were among the most effective changes.
- Making the text clearer and easier to read also helped.
- Keyword stuffing, a classic SEO trick, performed worse than doing nothing.
Overall, the best methods raised visibility by up to 40 percent in their tests. The exact numbers will differ for every brand and every engine, but the tests point the same way: engines reward content that is specific, well sourced and easy to quote.
How GEO differs from SEO
| Aspect | SEO | GEO |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank high in a list of links | Be mentioned and recommended in the answer |
| What the user sees | Ten blue links and ads | One written answer, often with a few sources |
| Main signals | Relevance, links, technical quality | Clear facts, trusted sources, consistent information |
| How it is measured | Rankings, clicks, traffic | Mentions, descriptions and citations across prompts |
The two are closely connected. AI engines that look things up on the live web, such as Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews, still start from pages that can be crawled and indexed. SEO is the foundation that GEO builds on.
How AI engines decide what to say about you
An AI answer about your brand is built from two places:
- What the model learned during training. This is a snapshot of the web from some point in the past. It changes slowly, usually when a new model version is released.
- What the engine finds when it searches right now. Many engines run a live search, read a handful of pages and write an answer from them. This part can change within weeks when your pages or sources change.
In both cases the engine leans on what others say about you, not only on your own website. Directories, review sites, news articles, forums and your Google Business Profile all feed into the answer. When those sources disagree, the answer tends to become vague or wrong.
What GEO work looks like in practice
A typical GEO project follows the same loop:
- Map the answers. Turn the questions customers ask into a fixed set of prompts and run them across the major engines, several times each, since answers vary from run to run.
- Find the gaps. Note where the brand is missing, described wrong or passed over for a competitor, and trace each answer back to its sources.
- Make the key pages quotable. Answer real questions plainly, add clear definitions and facts, and add structured data that matches the visible page.
- Line up the sources. Make sure the website, Google Business Profile, directories, reviews and LinkedIn tell the same story.
- Track over time. Rerun the same prompts at regular intervals and compare. A single good answer says little. Look at the trend across many prompts.
A quick check you can do yourself
You can get a first picture on your own:
- Write down ten questions a customer might ask before buying what you sell. Include at least three where you would expect to be recommended.
- Ask each question in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google. Run the most important ones twice.
- For every answer, note three things: are you mentioned, is the description correct, and which sources are cited.
If you are missing from most answers, or the descriptions are off, that is where GEO starts.
Frequently asked questions
Is GEO the same as AEO?
They overlap but are not the same. AEO (answer engine optimization) is about making content easy for an engine to lift a direct answer from. GEO is the wider goal of being mentioned, described correctly and recommended in AI answers. Good AEO is one of the main tools of GEO.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. AI engines that search the live web still depend on pages that can be crawled, indexed and trusted, which is what SEO takes care of. GEO builds on top of that foundation.
How do I know if my brand shows up in AI answers?
Write down ten questions your customers ask before they buy, run each one in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google a few times, and note whether you are mentioned, how you are described and which sources are cited.