What is generative engine optimisation? It's the work of making your business easy for AI answer tools, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Google's AI Overviews, to find, understand and cite when someone asks them a question. Where SEO aims for a place in a list of links, GEO aims for a mention inside the answer itself.
Quick answer: Generative engine optimisation (GEO) means shaping your website so AI tools can reach it, trust it and quote it. In practice that means letting their crawlers in, answering real customer questions clearly near the top of each page, keeping your business details consistent across the web, and backing claims with named sources. It builds on good SEO rather than replacing it.
Key Takeaways
GEO is about being cited in AI-generated answers, not about automating SEO tasks.
The term comes from a 2023 research paper, "GEO: Generative Engine Optimisation", by a team that included researchers from Princeton University and IIT Delhi.
Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode beyond being indexed and eligible for a snippet.
OpenAI says sites that block its OAI-SearchBot crawler won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
No one can guarantee an AI mention, and answers change from one run to the next.
Where generative engine optimisation came from
The phrase was coined in a 2023 paper titled "GEO: Generative Engine Optimisation" by Pranjal Aggarwal and colleagues, including researchers from Princeton University and IIT Delhi, later presented at the KDD 2024 conference. The researchers called tools that write answers from several web sources "generative engines", and asked what makes a page more likely to be used in those answers.
In their tests, pages that added clear citations of sources, quotations from credible sources and relevant statistics were more visible in the generated answers, while old-fashioned keyword stuffing did poorly. That finding sums up GEO well: the pages that get quoted are the ones that are easiest to trust and easiest to lift a clear fact from.
How AI tools choose which pages to use
Most AI answer tools don't rely on memory alone when a question needs current or local information. They search the web, pull back a handful of pages, and write an answer from them, often with links to the sources. So the first job of GEO is simply being findable by the systems those tools use.
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on Google's own index. Google's page "AI features and your website" says a page needs to be indexed and eligible to show in Search with a snippet, and that no new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup are needed.
ChatGPT search uses OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot crawler. OpenAI's documentation says sites that opt out of it won't appear in ChatGPT search answers.
Perplexity and Copilot also search the live web and list their sources, so pages that rank and read well in traditional search tend to be the ones they draw from.
Once a page is found, the tool still has to decide whether to use it. We've written a fuller explanation in how AI tools choose who to recommend, including the signals that seem to matter most for local businesses.
GEO vs SEO: what's the difference?
SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
Goal | A high position in Google's list of results | A mention or citation inside an AI-written answer |
Where it shows | Google and Bing results pages | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, AI Overviews |
How success is seen | Rankings, clicks and impressions in Search Console | Being named in answers, and visits from AI tools in your analytics |
What it relies on | Relevant content, a crawlable site, links | The same, plus clear facts that are easy to quote and consistent details across the web |
The overlap is large. A page that is crawlable, well structured and genuinely useful helps both. That's why GEO isn't a replacement for SEO: it's SEO written with the answer engines in mind. The basics still start with pages Google can read, which we cover in on-page SEO that Google can read.
What generative engine optimisation looks like in practice
Let the crawlers in. Check your robots.txt, security plugin and CDN settings don't block OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot or Googlebot. A forgotten block makes everything else pointless.
Answer first. Put a direct, two or three sentence answer to the page's question at the top, then expand on it under clear headings.
State facts plainly. Prices, areas covered, opening hours and services are easier for an AI tool to use when they're written as plain sentences rather than buried in images or sliders.
Name your sources. When you quote a figure, say where it came from. That matches what the GEO research found and what readers trust.
Keep your details consistent. Your business name, address and phone should match across your website, Google Business Profile and directories, so every source tells the same story.
Cover your topic properly. A set of linked articles answering the questions customers really ask gives AI tools more to draw on than one thin page.
For local businesses, consistent details and reviews do a lot of the work, as they do in Google's local results. Our guide to local search ranking factors covers those signals in more depth.
What GEO can't do
It's worth being clear about the limits. Nobody controls what an AI tool says, and the same question can produce a different answer an hour later. Anyone promising a guaranteed ChatGPT recommendation is promising something they can't deliver.
There's also a lot of noise about special files and tricks. Google states that you don't need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear in its AI features, and that structured data should simply match the visible text on the page. The dependable route is the slow one: a sound, crawlable site and a growing library of clear, honest pages. If you're not sure where your site stands, our website audit guide and checklist is a good place to start.
How to tell if GEO is working
Keep a list of five to ten questions your customers would ask, such as "who does boiler servicing in Stockport?", and put them to ChatGPT (with search on), Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot once a month. Note whether you're named or linked, and who appears instead.
Then check Google Analytics 4 for visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com. Google Search Console counts AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic within its normal Web figures, and its Search Generative AI performance report shows how often your pages appeared in those features. Look for growing impressions on longer, question-style searches.
How Auto-SEO handles generative engine optimisation
Auto-Geo, our GEO service, is included in the Growth (£79 a month) and Pro (£129 a month) plans. Every article opens with a short, direct answer, uses clear headings and an FAQ section, and links to your related pages. After your first payment we also run a free AI Readiness Check on 12 technical signals, including whether crawlers such as GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended can reach your site. See the full details on our Auto-Geo service page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GEO the same as AI SEO or AEO?
They overlap heavily. "Answer engine optimisation" and "AI SEO" are used for much the same idea: making your content easy for AI tools and answer features to find and quote. GEO is the term from the 2023 research paper that named generative engines.
Do I need an llms.txt file or special schema for GEO?
Not for Google. Google says no new machine-readable files, AI text files or special markup are needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Accurate structured data that matches the page is still good practice.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. AI tools mostly draw on pages that search engines can already find and trust, so strong SEO is the foundation that GEO builds on.
Can anyone guarantee my business appears in ChatGPT?
No. AI answers vary between runs and users, and no one controls them. What you can do is make your site easy to reach, easy to understand and easy to quote.
Auto-SEO writes and publishes answer-first articles to your website every week, shaped for Google and for AI answers. Plans start at £49 a month, Auto-Geo is included from £79 a month, and you can try it for £1 and cancel any time. Compare the plans on our Auto-SEO pricing page.
