Generative engine optimization (GEO)
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of making a brand more likely to be named, recommended and cited by AI assistants when people ask them questions in its category. SEO optimizes for a ranked list of links; GEO optimizes for a single generated answer that names a few products and cites a few sources.
How it differs from SEO
Search engines rank documents. Assistants generate answers from what the model learned in training plus what it retrieves at answer time, then compress the result into a few sentences. GEO therefore rewards pages that answer a question directly, brands that describe themselves in one plain sentence, and presence on the third-party sources the assistants cite.
The loop
Measure where the brand stands with a prompt set, read the sources the assistants cite, publish citable pages and get listed on those sources, then measure again. The measurement half is AI visibility tracking; the improvement half is GEO.
Related terms
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is an older label for a nearby idea and is now used almost interchangeably. LLM optimization and AI search optimization are the same discipline under other names.