Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Definition
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of improving how AI assistants describe and recommend a brand: making the brand present, accurate, and preferred in generated answers. It is also called AEO, answer engine optimization, or AI SEO.
SEO optimizes for a ranked list of links. GEO optimizes for a written answer: whether the assistant names you, what it says about you, and which sources it leans on when it says it.
The work is different from SEO in one important way: the assistant reads a wider set of sources than a search results page shows, weighs agreement between them, and composes a single opinion. GEO is therefore mostly about the reading list: being present and correct in the places assistants actually draw from, including your own site.
GEO does not require becoming a practitioner. The mechanics can be measured and most fixes are concrete, one-at-a-time actions: correct a fact, get listed on a source, publish a page that answers the question being asked.
The Beginner’s Guide covers GEO end to end→
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