What Is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

Short answer: Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of getting your brand and your pages into the answers that AI tools write. Examples are ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI features. SEO tries to get you a high spot in a list of links. GEO tries to get you named, quoted or cited inside the answer itself. Most of the work overlaps with good SEO. The big change is what you measure.

Want to know if AI names you today? MadeTheAnswer's free check asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude 5 buyer-style questions, one run each, and shows whether your product comes up. We work out your category and suggest likely competitors. Your score shows on screen right away, and the full report comes by email. No card. It's a quick snapshot, not a verdict.

Where the term "GEO" came from

The name comes from a research paper called "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization." It was written by researchers from Princeton University, IIT Delhi and others. It was first posted in 2023 and presented at the KDD conference in 2024.

The paper calls tools like Perplexity "generative engines." These tools search for sources and then use a language model to write one answer, with citations mixed in. The authors argued that website owners have "little to no control" over how their content shows up in these answers. GEO was their name for a way to fix that.

They also pointed out a real problem with old ways of measuring. In a list of links, you can say "we're number 3." In an AI answer, there's no clean rank. Your source might get one short line or a whole paragraph. It might show up first or last. So they measured how much of the answer came from each source and how high up it appeared.

What the researchers tested

The team rewrote web pages in different ways and checked which versions AI answers used more. Some of what they found:

• Adding sources, quotes and statistics helped most. Pages that cited credible sources, added relevant quotes, or added real numbers got more space in the answers.
• Keyword stuffing didn't help. Cramming in more search keywords, an old SEO trick, gave little or no gain.
• Clear, smooth writing helped too. Easier-to-read text was used more.
• Results depended on the topic. What worked for history questions wasn't the same as what worked for law or opinion questions.

The paper reports gains of "up to 40%" on its own measure, in its own test setup. That setup used a benchmark of 10,000 questions and an older OpenAI model, plus a smaller test on Perplexity. It's a useful signal, not a promise. AI tools have changed a lot since then, and nobody can guarantee a result like that for your site.

One more caution: "add statistics" means add real numbers with a source. Made-up numbers are a bad idea for many reasons, and AI tools that check other sources may not repeat them anyway.

GEO vs SEO vs AEO

You'll see three terms used, often for the same thing:

In practice, AEO and GEO are used almost the same way. Both are about AI answers.

Here's how SEO and GEO compare in day-to-day work:

What Google says

Google's own guide on AI features takes a clear position. It says: "From Google Search's perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO."

The same guide says you can ignore some popular "AEO/GEO hacks" for Google Search. It names "chunking" content, making extra AI text files like llms.txt, and chasing fake ("inauthentic") mentions. It also warns that "no third-party tool has access to our internal ranking or AI systems." (More on llms.txt: Does llms.txt work?)

So, for Google, GEO is mostly good SEO with a new name. For other AI tools, like ChatGPT and Perplexity, the basics are similar, but each tool finds and picks sources in its own way.

What GEO work looks like in real life

Strip away the buzzwords and most GEO work is this:

1. Let the AI tools in. Make sure your site doesn't block the crawlers that AI search tools use. For example, ChatGPT search uses one called OAI-SearchBot, and Perplexity uses PerplexityBot.
2. Answer the real question on your page. If buyers ask "What's the best invoicing app for freelancers?", have a page that says plainly who your product is for and why.
3. Back up claims. Link to sources, use real numbers, and quote real experts or customers who agreed to be quoted. This matches what the GEO paper found.
4. Show up where AI tools look. AI answers often lean on other sites, like reviews, "best of" lists, forums and news. Being mentioned honestly on those pages matters.
5. Keep your facts current. Old prices or old product names on your site or on other sites can end up in answers.
6. Measure the right way. Ask the same buyer questions again and again, and track how often you're named. One screenshot proves very little.

For step-by-step plans for each tool, see How to get your product recommended by ChatGPT and How to get recommended by Perplexity.

What GEO is not

• Not a trick. Hidden text, fake reviews and paid mentions that pretend to be real are risky. Google calls out "inauthentic mentions" as not worth it.
• Not a guarantee. Nobody can promise that an AI tool will name you. Be careful with anyone who does.
• Not a replacement for SEO. Many AI tools use search results to find sources. If search engines can't find your pages, AI tools may not find them either.
• Not one channel. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude don't always agree. You may show up in one and not another.

How to tell if GEO is working

Because answers change from run to run, measure in batches:

• Pick 10 to 20 questions your buyers really ask.
• Ask each AI tool those questions more than once.
• Write down two things: mentions (your brand is named in the answer) and citations (your page is linked as a source).
• Compare how often you're named against your main competitors.
• Repeat on a schedule, such as weekly, and watch the trend.

You can do this by hand. Here's how: Is my brand in ChatGPT?. Or read about tools in How to track AI visibility. If a competitor keeps getting named and you don't, see Why does ChatGPT recommend my competitor?

FAQ

Is GEO the same as SEO? A lot of it overlaps. Google says that for Google Search, it's still SEO. The main difference is the goal: being named inside an AI answer, not just ranking in a list.

Is GEO the same as AEO? Mostly, yes. Both terms describe work aimed at AI-written answers. People use them almost the same way.

Who came up with GEO? The term was introduced in a 2023 research paper, "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization," by Pranjal Aggarwal and other researchers, presented at KDD 2024.

Do I need a GEO agency or a special tool? Not to start. You can check a few buyer questions by hand and fix the basics yourself. Tools and agencies help when you need to track many questions over time.

Does GEO work for small businesses? It can. The GEO paper found that lower-ranked pages gained the most from its changes in their tests. That's a lab result, not a promise, but clear and well-sourced pages are within reach for any size of business.

How long does GEO take? There's no set timeline. Fixing crawler access is quick work. Earning mentions on other sites and improving your pages takes longer.

Related guides

• How to Track AI Visibility: A Plain-English Guide — Once you know what GEO is, this shows how to measure it.
• Is My Brand in ChatGPT? How to Check, and What to Do if You're Missing — A simple, free way to see if ChatGPT names you today.
• How to Get Your Product Recommended by ChatGPT: A Step-by-Step Plan — A practical plan for one of the main assistants buyers use.
• Does llms.txt Work? — A common GEO idea, and what the evidence actually says.

See where you stand

The first step in GEO is knowing whether AI tools name you today. MadeTheAnswer's free check asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude 5 buyer-style questions, one run each, and shows you the results. We work out your category and suggest likely competitors. Your score shows on screen right away, and the full report comes by email. No card. One run is a snapshot. The report shows whether AI names you, which competitors get mentioned, and which sites it cites, and each assistant's score links to the actual AI answers behind it. Paid weekly reports start at $29/month. They cover all 4 assistants, ask each question 3 times, and include a weekly Fix plan. See plans and prices. See a sample report.

---

Sources: Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization" (arXiv / KDD 2024); Google Search Central, AI optimization guide.