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What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
Published 10 October 2026
Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the work of getting your business named in answers written by AI, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. SEO helps you rank in a list of links. GEO helps you get mentioned in the one answer the AI gives.
How GEO works
When someone asks an AI assistant a question, it searches the web, reads a few pages, and writes an answer from what it trusts most. GEO makes sure your pages are among the ones it reads, that they are easy to understand, and that they contain sentences worth quoting.
GEO vs SEO
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | A high position in a list of links | Being named inside the AI's answer |
| Where | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| Winning content | Keyword-focused pages | Short, factual, quotable answers |
| Key signals | Backlinks, speed, relevance | Crawler access, clear facts, mentions elsewhere |
| Measured by | Rank position and clicks | Mentions and citations per question |
How to do generative engine optimization
- Open the door. Allow GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot. Check yours.
- State the facts. What you do, where, for whom and roughly what it costs, near the top of each page.
- Answer questions. One clear heading per buyer question, with the answer in the first sentence.
- Add the machine layer. Structured data and an llms.txt file.
- Get mentioned. Directories, reviews and articles that name your business.
- Measure. Track mentions per question every week with monitoring.
Common questions
- What does GEO mean in marketing?
- GEO stands for generative engine optimization: improving your website so AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews mention and cite you in their answers.
- Is GEO replacing SEO?
- No. GEO builds on SEO. Search engines still feed most AI assistants, so a site that is indexed and well structured has a head start in both.
- How do you measure GEO success?
- Track how often you are named for your buyers' questions across AI assistants, who is named instead of you, and whether AI crawlers can read your pages. Monitoring tools do this weekly.
- How do I start with generative engine optimization?
- Run a free AI visibility check, open access for AI crawlers, add clear facts and FAQ answers to your main pages, and add structured data and an llms.txt file.
Get your free GEO score
See your AI visibility score from 0 to 100 and the fixes in order. Free, about 60 seconds.
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