Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Definition
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of improving how AI models describe and recommend a brand: making the brand present, accurate, and preferred in generated answers. It is also called AEO, answer engine optimization, LLMO, or AI SEO.
SEO optimizes for a ranked list of links. GEO optimizes for a written answer: whether the AI model 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 AI model 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 AI models 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.
