What is GEO (generative engine optimisation)?
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making your pages likely to be used and linked as a source when an AI system writes an answer, for example Google's AI Overviews or ChatGPT search. It builds on SEO: the same crawlable, well-structured pages, plus content specific and checkable enough that an answer engine wants to cite it. Some people call it GEO SEO.
By Jarek Piotrowski · Last updated
Where the term comes from
The name comes from a 2023 research paper, "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization" (Aggarwal and others), which tested how changes to a page's content affect whether generative search engines cite it. You will also see "AI search optimisation", "answer engine optimisation" (AEO) and "AI visibility" used for much the same work.
GEO and answer engine optimisation (AEO)
Answer engine optimisation (AEO, often spelt "answer engine optimization") came into use with featured snippets and voice assistants: shaping a page so a search engine can lift a direct answer from it. GEO is the newer name for the same aim in answers written by generative AI, which draw on several sources and link a few. The work overlaps almost entirely: a clear answer early on the page, specific sourced facts, and pages search engines can crawl.
SEO and GEO compared
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | Rank in the list of results and earn the click | Be one of the few sources an AI answer links or names |
| Where it shows | Google and Bing results pages, the map results | Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and similar tools |
| What it needs | Crawlable, indexed, fast pages that match the search | All of that, plus specific, sourced facts and a clear answer early on the page |
| How you measure it | Search Console clicks, impressions and position | Repeated checks of a fixed question list: linked or not, named or not |
What Google says
Google's own guidance on AI features and your website says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimisations needed: the same SEO fundamentals apply. In practice that makes good SEO the foundation of GEO, not a separate trick. What that means step by step for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
What has worked in our own measurements
For one client firm, Google's AI Overviews linked its pages on 10 of 12 tracked specialist questions in the scan of 28 Sep 2026 (8 to 10 of 12 in every scan from 21 Aug to 28 Sep 2026), and on none of 3 broad questions. The cited pages said specific, sourced things nobody else had published. The field note has the detail.
What GEO is not
- Not an llms.txt file. Google has said these files are not needed for Google Search, so I do not sell one as a fix.
- Not FAQ markup. Google stopped showing FAQ rich results for most sites on 7 May 2026 (field note). Visible questions and answers still help readers and AI answers; the markup is not a fix.
- Not guaranteed. AI answers change from run to run. Anyone can commit to the work and the measurement, not to a citation.
Want it working on your own site? SEO and AI-answer visibility is the ongoing work; the AI Visibility Audit is the one-off check. Free: the AI crawler checker and the monthly Australian AI Overview Index. Run a GEO or AI SEO agency? White-label AI visibility reporting for your clients.
Jarek Piotrowski runs LayerOps from Canberra: fast, lead-ready websites, and SEO and AI-answer visibility for professional and service businesses Australia-wide.