Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

Everyone is talking about AI. In the last few years, I haven’t been in a meeting where someone hasn’t mentioned AI or talked about using it in their daily process. I think it’s a great technology that has already made our work easier—and we’ve yet to see its full benefits. I’ve used it for different purposes and have relied on some terrific tools for content production, image generation, voice-overs, SEO optimization, SEO audits, code analysis, and various other tasks. AI saves a lot of time; it’s an absolute must-have for any kind of automation.

I also believe the technology has flaws—not necessarily in the tech itself, but in how we use it, for what purposes, and with what long-term effects. I absolutely dislike AI-generated comments flooding social media, AI images overrunning Pinterest, or outright blunders (cough, Gemini telling people to eat glue on pizza and rocks). That’s why I advise cautious use: experiment, explore its possibilities, but remain skeptical and always verify sensitive information.

From my point of view, the future lies in a human-AI combination. I don’t see either thriving in isolation, whatever you’re building with AI. I recently read a study on how AI can analyze medical images—X-rays, CT scans, MRIs—to detect early signs of cancer. That’s the kind of progress we should champion, not yet another AI tool that summarizes your WhatsApp messages (I mean, really?).

Everyone wonders how AI will affect the SEO and digital-marketing industries. You’ve probably heard high-profile voices proclaiming “SEO is dead.” I strongly disagree. The rise of AI search does not mean SEO is finished. Google still receives almost 14 billion searches per day—about 373 times more than ChatGPT. Even though ChatGPT is growing rapidly, it still pales in comparison to Google search volume.

I see a new acronym and buzzword every week for this emerging type of optimization. I’m using the term Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) here because it feels closest to what I do, but you may have seen Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), AI Optimization (AIO), Chat Engine Optimization (CEO), and many others. The tactics overlap: well-structured, authoritative content and clear entity signals cover most of them. Marketers invent terms faster than Google ships updates.

AEO and GEO absolutely matter—there are fresh tactics for boosting visibility in AI- and LLM-driven search, new metrics for tracking brand mentions in AI answers, and novel challenges and opportunities to analyze that exposure. AI search is inherently conversational; its prompts differ from traditional keywords, and large language models operate differently from classic search engines. Yet none of this signals the death of SEO. In fact, the foundational work that earns search-engine visibility has become even more critical because it now feeds directly into how AI surfaces and cites authoritative content.

AI search currently drives less than 1% of traffic to most sites. SEOs and marketers often spend too much time optimizing for something that might bring in under one percent of visits. As usual, it’s about gaming the system and selling services or courses. Google Search—and organic search overall—still produces the majority of traffic for most sites. AI search is growing, but Google remains crucial for traffic and revenue. Bottom line: don’t ignore Google search for the sake of AI. Huge opportunities remain across AIOs, the 10 blue links, featured snippets, image search, video results, Google News, Discover—even Bing can drive significant organic traffic with a solid SEO strategy.

Now to the key question: How do you optimize content and websites for AI search—how do you get cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews?

The first point is that AI is changing how users consume information. People prefer direct, straight-up answers. That’s what they expect from AI, and you should keep this in mind when optimizing your content. If I search for a recipe, give me the recipe immediately—I don’t need a thousand-word origin story. Tell me right away how much it costs to start a photography business, not a full step-by-step guide.

A lot also comes down to experimentation. I’ve tested extensively to see how certain pages perform in LLMs. Some tests worked; others were frankly bad from the start.

Gary Illyes from Google said at the Google Search Live Deep Dive event that you don’t need to do GEO, LLMO or anything else to show up in Google AI Overviews, you just need to do normal SEO.

Brand signals

I believe the most important factor for appearing in AI search is how well AI trusts your brand. Branding signals matter more than ever (I cover this in my Online Business Development service page). Brand mentions across the web, social-media profiles, user-generated content (UGC) discussing your brand, and your overall web presence all influence how AI views your site. Traditional marketing tactics matter too. A dental office I work with put up a billboard in its service area; the data show an uptick in branded searches in that region. One effort drives another—your business becomes more visible, more trusted, and ultimately more likely to be referenced in AI search.

Many recommendations for driving visibility in AI search are identical to what SEOs have preached for years: use well-structured content; focus on entities; write authoritative pieces with original data and statistics; add structured data, FAQs, Q&A; get mentioned in high-quality lists and third-party review sites; make content readable and digestible; anticipate follow-up questions; and create multimodal content to reach users across platforms.

These are the same practices I’ve honed over the last decade. So, there isn’t much difference from traditional SEO—just a few new angles I’ve personally tested and found effective:

Structured data

I’ve tested this on several sites I manage. Using schema (Product, Person, Organization, FAQ, Recipe, Image metadata, Reviews, etc.) can markedly increase your chances of appearing in AI search. Structured data gives LLM-powered engines what they crave: clean, unambiguous facts they can ingest without guessing. It doesn’t replace high-quality content, but it puts your facts into a format AI systems trust and query first—a big reason the technical side of SEO has become so important.

Listicle presence

How often your brand, product, or service appears in listicles matters. If “best SaaS for restaurants” listicles (articles, videos, forum posts) mention your business multiple times, your odds of being cited in AI search rise. AI trusts repeated references from reputable sources.

Know how each AI answer engine chooses sources: