Generative engine optimization (GEO): what it is and what actually works
Generative engine optimization (GEO, also spelled generative engine optimisation) is the work of getting your company named and cited in AI-generated answers: ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot. Our view after doing it for clients and for ourselves: GEO is mostly SEO done properly, packaged under a new name. The basics haven’t changed. What changed is that a buyer now reads an answer before a list of links, so being the source of that answer matters more.
What is generative engine optimization?
Classic search shows ten links. Generative engines write an answer and cite a few sources. GEO aims at those citations and mentions:
- your page is quoted or linked in the answer;
- your company is named when someone asks «who should I hire for…»;
- the facts about you (services, prices, location, experience) come out right.
You’ll also see it called AI SEO, AI search optimization, answer engine optimization (AEO) or LLM optimization. It’s the same goal.
GEO vs SEO: what’s really different
Most of it is the same work:
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Who reads your page | Google’s crawler, then a person | an AI model, then a person |
| What wins | the best answer to the search | the clearest, most quotable answer to the question |
| Foundations | technical SEO, content, structure, links | the same |
| Extra weight | rankings and clicks | facts that agree everywhere: site, directories, reviews |
| Measured by | positions, traffic, requests | mentions and citations on real prompts, requests |
AI assistants mostly draw on search results: Google’s index for AI Overviews and AI Mode, Bing’s for ChatGPT search and Copilot. Pages that don’t rank rarely get cited. That’s why GEO without SEO doesn’t exist.
How AI engines choose sources and citations
From our checks on real prompts:
- Clear, direct answers. A page that answers the question in its first lines gets quoted; a page that circles around it doesn’t.
- Specific facts. Prices, timelines, locations, industries served, numbers from real work.
- Relevance to the exact ask. Location and industry matter. A manufacturing contract came to us through an AI assistant because it could name us as a local studio with experience in the buyer’s industry.
- Consistency across the web. The same name, services and location on your site, your Google Business Profile, Clutch and other directories.
- Niche pages and checklists. AI cites pages about a specific niche and checklists that answer a buyer’s question point by point.
- Pages that already rank. An AI system with web search pulls from the search engine’s top results first; ranking still matters.
A practical generative engine optimization checklist
- Answer the questions your buyers ask, fully, on the page, near the top.
- Show prices or price ranges. «Contact us for pricing» gives AI nothing to quote.
- Add structured data: organization, services, products, FAQ, reviews, articles.
- Build a clear site structure: one page per service, industry and location, so each question has one best page.
- Link internally between related pages, with descriptive anchors.
- Earn external links and mentions: trade press, directories, partners, reviews.
- Keep company facts identical everywhere: website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Clutch, LinkedIn.
- Write from real experience: cases, numbers, what you’ve seen. Generic text is what AI already has.
- Keep pages fast and indexable. AI can’t cite what search engines can’t read.
- Measure on representative prompts (below), not on feelings.
Every item on this list is also a classic SEO item. That’s the point.
How to build a GEO strategy
- Map the questions. List the prompts your buyers type into AI tools: «who makes…», «best … for…», «how much does … cost», with your industry and location.
- Check your AI visibility today. Run those prompts and record whether you’re named, which sources get the AI citation, and which brand mentions come up instead of yours.
- Give each question one best page. A direct answer at the top, facts and prices in text, proof from real work.
- Fix the technical side. Make sure AI crawlers can read your site: search engine bots, plus OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot (OpenAI), PerplexityBot and Google-Extended, unless you have a reason to block them. Fast pages, clean HTML, structured data.
- Earn mentions off your site. Directories, reviews, trade press and partners. Generative AI trusts what several independent sources agree on.
- Measure monthly on the same prompts, alongside traditional search rankings and the requests that follow.
GEO and traditional SEO: one plan, not two
Traditional SEO gets you into the results; GEO makes the same pages easy for AI to quote. In practice we run them as one plan: the same research, the same pages, the same technical work, with the AI prompts added to the reporting. Splitting them into two budgets usually means paying twice for the same work.
What’s overhyped in GEO
- «Secret AI optimization». If someone sells GEO as a separate kind of magic, ask what they do differently from good SEO. Usually nothing.
- llms.txt as a ranking lever. We keep one up to date, but it hasn’t moved results for us or our clients.
- Guaranteed placement in AI answers. Nobody controls what a model writes. You can raise the odds; you can’t buy the answer.
- Rewriting everything «for AI». Clear writing for people is what AI quotes best.
How to measure AI search visibility
- Pick representative prompts: the questions your buyers ask, with your service, industry and location.
- Run them regularly in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, logged out, from the right location.
- Record whether you’re named, which sources are cited, and who’s named instead.
- Track visits from AI assistants in your analytics, and the requests that follow.
On our own site, visits from AI assistants grew 75% in two months (September–October vs July–August 2026). In one test, ChatGPT named us for website and marketing agencies for manufacturers in Central Texas, but not for Texas as a whole. That told us exactly which pages to build next.
GEO examples from our work
- MassHere (a Los Angeles listing platform for massage therapists): we brought the service into AI answers for California and Los Angeles queries, and AI assistants now actively cite it. See the case
- A manufacturing contract through AI search: the buyer asked an AI assistant for an agency that builds websites for manufacturing companies nearby, and it named us.
- Our own site: the Central Texas test and +75% AI visits above.
GEO for B2B companies
B2B buyers ask AI to shortlist suppliers: «who manufactures…», «best 3PL for…», «commercial contractor in…». For B2B, GEO means:
- a page per industry and service that answers those questions;
- capability, certification and price information in text, not only in PDFs;
- case studies with facts;
- directory profiles that agree with your site.
That’s also what good B2B SEO looks like. See AI search optimization and B2B SEO.
Frequently asked questions
What is generative engine optimization?
Getting your company named and cited in AI answers (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity) by making your pages the clearest, most trustworthy source for the questions buyers ask.
Is GEO different from SEO?
Mostly not. The foundations are the same: answers, structure, structured data, links, speed. GEO adds weight on consistent company facts across the web and on measuring mentions in AI answers.
How long does GEO take?
As long as SEO: months, not days. Changes show up after search engines recrawl your pages and the AI tools refresh their sources.
Can you guarantee my company appears in ChatGPT?
No one can. We raise the odds and measure the result on real prompts.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It doesn’t hurt and takes minutes, but in our experience it doesn’t move results. Spend the time on content and structure.
How much does GEO cost?
At Uwindi, AI search optimization is included in every SEO plan: $750, $2,000 or from $3,500 a month.
