Generative engine optimization (GEO): a practical guide

What GEO means

Classic SEO tries to rank a page in a list of links. GEO deals with a different output: a written answer from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot or Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, which often names a few brands and sometimes cites sources. The term comes from a 2023 research paper, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization” (Aggarwal et al.), which tested how changes to content affect whether it shows up in generated answers.

In practice, GEO asks one question: when a buyer asks an AI for the best option in your category, does it name you?

How AI assistants decide who to name

There are two routes, and most assistants use both:

• Training data. The model learned about brands from the web text it was trained on. Brands that are written about often, consistently and in the context of a category tend to be “known”. This changes slowly, with each new model.
• Live retrieval. Many assistants search the web at question time and summarise what they find. Here the pages that are retrievable, clear and trusted for the query feed the answer, and these can change week to week.

Either way, the model leans on what third parties say about you, not just your own site: review platforms, directories, comparison articles, forums and news.

A GEO plan in seven steps

1. Measure first. Write down the questions a buyer would really ask (for example “best payroll software for small businesses in Ireland”) and see who AI names today. Our AI buyer question generator and the free check do this.
2. Fix entity clarity. Your homepage, About page and structured data should say plainly what you are, who it is for and where you operate, in the same words everywhere.
3. Write answer-shaped pages. Pages that answer one buyer question directly, with specifics (pricing, who it suits, limits), are easier for retrieval systems to quote than vague marketing copy.
4. Earn third-party mentions. Get listed and reviewed on the sites AI cites for your category. The audit shows which ones those are for you.
5. Be present in comparisons. “X vs Y” and “best X” articles are a common source. Make sure accurate information about you exists in them.
6. Keep crawlers in. Check robots.txt does not block AI crawlers you want, keep pages fast and server-rendered, and consider an llms.txt file.
7. Re-measure on a schedule. AI answers vary between runs and change over time, so track the same questions weekly rather than trusting one screenshot.

What GEO cannot do

No one controls what a model says. Anyone who guarantees “ranking #1 in ChatGPT” is overselling. What you can do is make accurate information about you easy to find, consistent and well-sourced, then measure whether answers move.

Questions

Is GEO the same as SEO?

No, but they overlap. Good SEO (crawlable, clear, linked pages) helps retrieval-based AI answers. GEO adds a focus on being named in written answers and on the third-party sources AI relies on.

How long does GEO take?

Changes to live-retrieval answers can show up within weeks; changes to what a model learned in training only show up when a new model is released. Measure both over time.

Do I need an agency?

Not necessarily. Many of the steps above are things an in-house marketer can do. An audit helps you decide where to spend effort first.