Quick answer: GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the practice of making your content easy for AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity to understand, trust and cite. It builds on SEO but adds direct answers, structured data, consistent brand facts and credible sources.
01. Why GEO exists
Buyers increasingly ask an AI assistant for a recommendation instead of scrolling through ten blue links. The assistant writes one answer and mentions only a handful of brands. If yours is not among them, you are invisible at the moment of decision.
02. What AI systems look for
- Clear, direct answers placed near the top of a page.
- Consistent facts about your business across your website and public profiles.
- Structured data that labels who you are, what you sell and which questions you answer.
- Evidence such as case studies, reviews, original data and named experts.
- Mentions on trusted third party sites, not just your own pages.
03. A practical starting checklist
Ask the main AI assistants the ten questions your best customers ask, and record which brands are named. Then rewrite your key pages so the first paragraph answers the question outright, add FAQ and organisation schema, and make sure your sitemap and robots file allow AI crawlers.
Finally, track enquiries that arrive from AI sources. GEO is only worth doing if it shows up in leads and revenue.
04. What GEO cannot do
No agency controls what an AI system says. Anyone promising guaranteed citations is guessing. The honest approach is to improve the factors within your control and measure the movement over time.
Frequently asked
Is GEO the same as SEO?
No. SEO aims to rank a page in a list of results. GEO aims to be mentioned inside an AI generated answer. Good SEO still helps, because AI systems draw on the same quality signals.