Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of shaping your content and brand signals so that generative AI answers use and cite you. Those answers come from tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Where SEO aims for a ranked link, GEO aims for a mention or a citation inside the answer itself.
GEO doesn’t replace SEO. Most generative engines search the web before they write, so the pages they cite usually have to be crawlable, indexed and trusted first. GEO adds a second question on top: once your page is found, is it easy for an AI to pull an accurate answer from it and credit you?
Where the Term GEO Comes From
The term comes from a research paper, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, by Pranjal Aggarwal, Vishvak Murahari, Tanmay Rajpurohit, Ashwin Kalyan, Karthik Narasimhan and Ameet Deshpande. It was first posted to arXiv in November 2023 and accepted to KDD 2024.
According to the abstract, the authors:
- Describe generative engines as systems that pull from several sources and summarize them with large language models to answer a query.
- Point out that content creators have little or no control over whether or how their content is shown, because these engines are black boxes that change quickly.
- Propose GEO as a flexible black-box framework for improving visibility in generative engine responses, including a way to define visibility metrics.
- Introduce GEO-bench, a benchmark of diverse user queries across multiple domains along with the sources needed to answer them.
- Report that GEO can boost visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40%.
- Find that how well each strategy works varies by domain.
That last point matters for businesses. There’s no single trick that works for every topic. What gets a plumber cited may not be what gets a law firm cited.
GEO vs. SEO vs. AEO
The three overlap heavily. The difference is where you want to appear.
| SEO | AEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Rank pages in search results | Be the direct answer to a question | Be used and cited in AI-written answers |
| Where it shows | Google and Bing results pages | Featured snippets, voice answers, AI answers | ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot |
| What you measure | Rankings, clicks, traffic | Answer placements | Mentions, citations, accuracy of what AI says about you |
In practice, AEO and GEO are often used to mean nearly the same thing. AEO grew out of featured snippets and voice search. GEO is the newer, research-backed term for AI-generated answers. For a fuller comparison, read the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO, or start with what answer engine optimization is.
How Generative Engines Pick Their Sources
The short version: most generative engines run a search, read the top results, and write an answer from them. So the first filter is ordinary search visibility. Google, for example, says a page only needs to be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that its AI features may run several related searches across subtopics before answering.
Each tool draws on a different index. Google’s tools use Google Search. Copilot uses Bing. ChatGPT and Perplexity run their own web searches. That’s why a business can be cited in one and missing from another. We cover the details in how AI search engines choose sources.
Core GEO Tactics
1. Get Indexed Everywhere AI Looks
Verify your site in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, submit sitemaps to both, and fix anything blocking your key pages. Check that your robots.txt doesn’t block the search crawlers the AI tools rely on. If a tool can’t find the page, nothing else on this list matters.
2. Answer First
Put the direct answer in the first sentence or two under each heading, then explain. Use headings that match the questions people ask. A page that states its answer plainly is easier to quote than one that builds up to it.
3. Back Claims With Named Sources
Specific, checkable facts are easier to trust than general claims. When you cite a number, name where it came from and link to it. When you describe your own work, use real details: the services you offer, the areas you serve, how long you’ve been in business. Bing’s guidance for publishers in its AI Performance announcement says the same thing: support claims with examples, data and sources.
4. Use Structure AI Can Lift
Clear headings, short paragraphs, comparison tables, numbered steps and FAQ sections make it easy to pull out one piece of a page. Bing’s guidance names headings, tables and FAQ sections. Add schema markup where it fits, and make sure it matches the text visitors actually see, as Google’s documentation advises.
5. Make Your Brand an Unmistakable Entity
Use the same business name, address, phone number and description on your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places and directories. Link your social profiles from your site. When every source agrees, it’s easier for AI to connect them to one business. See our guides to entity SEO and local citations and NAP.
6. Earn Mentions Beyond Your Own Site
AI answers often cite other websites: reviews, local news, trade associations, comparison articles. Being mentioned in those places gives a generative engine more than one source that confirms who you are and what you do. Reviews on your business listings count here too.
7. Keep Content Current
Update hours, services and service areas wherever they appear. Refresh older articles when facts change. Bing suggests using IndexNow to tell search engines when a page changes.
For step-by-step versions of these tactics by platform, see getting cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity, ranking in Google AI Mode, and AI search optimization for local businesses.
How to Measure GEO
GEO is harder to measure than SEO because most AI tools don’t report who they cite. Use a mix of methods:
- Prompt tracking. Pick ten to twenty questions your customers ask. Run them in each AI tool every month and record whether you’re named, whether you’re cited with a link, and whether the details are correct. Answers vary between sessions, so look for trends over time.
- Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance. This public preview report shows how often your pages are cited in Microsoft Copilot and AI summaries in Bing, which pages are cited, and a sample of the queries that led to them.
- Referral traffic. In your analytics, watch for visits referred from AI tools such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com.
- Search Console. Google says sites that appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode are reported in the Search Console Performance report, within the “Web” search type. It isn’t broken out separately, but it shows whether your overall Google visibility is growing.
- Leads. Ask new customers how they found you, and add “AI assistant” as an option on your forms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GEO the same as SEO?
No, but they overlap. SEO aims to rank pages in search results. GEO aims to get your content used and cited inside AI-generated answers. Because most AI tools search the web first, good SEO is usually the starting point for GEO.
Who coined the term generative engine optimization?
The term comes from the paper “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization” by Aggarwal, Murahari, Rajpurohit, Kalyan, Narasimhan and Deshpande. It was posted to arXiv in November 2023 and accepted to KDD 2024.
Which AI tools does GEO apply to?
Any tool that writes answers from web sources. That includes ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Each draws on a different index, so results can differ from tool to tool.
How do I know if GEO is working?
Ask each AI tool the questions your customers ask and track whether you’re named and cited over time. Check the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools for Copilot citations, and watch your analytics for referral visits from AI tools.
Get Started With GEO
Local Blitz has helped businesses get found online since 2009, with offices in San Diego (Encinitas) and Indianapolis. We can review how AI tools describe your business today and build a plan to get you cited more often. See our AI search optimization service, or book a free strategy call. Plans are month-to-month.
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We will ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI about your business and show you what they say. It is free.
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