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What is GEO? A plain-English guide to Generative Engine Optimization

Updated 11 October 2026 · 8-minute read · By Rishabh, founder of Adviol
THE SHORT ANSWER

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the practice of making AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Google AI mention, cite and recommend your brand. It is also called LLM optimization or AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).

How AI assistants pick what to say

When someone asks an AI assistant for a recommendation, it doesn’t look up a ranked list. It builds an answer in three steps.

An AI assistant reads websites, reviews, forums, news and video, then writes one answer that recommends a brand
  1. 1
    It turns the question into searches. “Best law firm in Sydney for startups” often becomes several smaller background searches.
  2. 2
    It reads the sources it trusts. Websites, review sites, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn and news coverage.
  3. 3
    It writes one answer and names a few brands. Usually two to five, with links to the pages it relied on.

GEO works on all three steps: being findable in those searches, being in the sources AI trusts, and being easy to quote.

GEO vs SEO vs AEO

They overlap, but each aims at a different result.

SEOAEOGEO
GoalRank in search resultsBe the featured or voice answerBe named and cited in AI answers
Where you appearGoogle’s list of linksSnippets, voice assistantsChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Google AI
What counts as a winPosition and clicksOwning the snippetShare of Answer
What matters mostKeywords, links, speedClear Q&A formattingTrust, mentions elsewhere, quotable facts

AI engines still rely on search to find pages, so strong SEO makes GEO easier. GEO adds the work that gets you into the answer itself.

What GEO work involves

At Adviol we group the work into four parts, the TUNE method:

T · Trust
Reviews, credentials and the same brand facts everywhere.
U · Understandability
Answer-first pages and structured data AI can read.
N · Network
Being talked about on the sites AI cites.
E · Evidence
Stats, quotes and sources that make you quotable.

Who needs GEO most

Any business whose buyers research before they buy, and now ask AI to shortlist for them.

B2B & SaaS Healthcare & clinics Education & coaching Law, accounting & consulting firms D2C & e-commerce Real estate Travel & hospitality

How to measure GEO

AI answers change from one run to the next, so a single screenshot proves nothing. We ask the same buying questions many times, across engines, and track three things:

Share of Answer
How often you are named, out of all runs.
Position & tone
Named first or fifth; described well or wrongly.
Citations
Which pages AI links to when it mentions you.

Common GEO myths

MYTH
“GEO replaces SEO.”
It builds on it. AI engines still find most pages through search.
MYTH
“Add an llms.txt file and you’re done.”
Large studies found no measurable citation benefit from it. Content, mentions and trust matter far more.
MYTH
“Only your own website counts.”
Brands are mentioned far more often through third-party sites than through their own pages.

GEO glossary

Generative engine
An AI tool that writes answers instead of listing links, such as ChatGPT or Gemini.
LLM
Large language model, the technology behind AI assistants.
AI Overview
Google’s AI-written summary shown above regular search results.
Citation
A link an AI answer shows as its source.
Entity
How AI understands your brand as one thing: name, location, services, people.
Fan-out query
A background search an AI runs while building its answer.
Share of Answer
The share of AI answers, across engines and repeated runs, that name your brand.

Sources: Aggarwal et al., “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization” (KDD 2024); SE Ranking ChatGPT citation study; AirOps off-site signals report; Peec AI GEO statistics 2026.

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