Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Short answer
GEO is the practice of improving how often and how accurately content is surfaced and cited in AI-generated answers. The term comes from a 2023 research paper; Google's position is that optimizing for its generative AI features is still SEO.
Definition
Section titled “Definition”Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is work aimed at visibility inside answers from generative systems. These include Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Copilot. The goal reaches beyond ranked lists of links. “Answer engine optimization” (AEO) is used for roughly the same idea.
Where the term comes from
Section titled “Where the term comes from”Those results come from the authors’ benchmark and engine setup. They do not by themselves show the same effect in production systems such as Google AI Overviews, whose retrieval and ranking are not public.
How Google frames it
Section titled “How Google frames it”Google’s later AI optimization guide adds one site-level condition: the site must be included in Search’s generative AI features in Search Console, which it is by default (Search generative AI control).
What is not established
Section titled “What is not established”- That any single on-page technique reliably increases citations across engines. Engines differ, and change often.
- That citation counts measure influence or traffic. See Claim: llms.txt improves AI search visibility for one widely repeated claim checked against sources.
Related
Section titled “Related”- Google AI Overviews
- robots.txt — access is a precondition for any visibility.