What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
Also called: GEO, generative search optimization
Definition
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of making a brand easy for generative AI engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini to find, trust and recommend. Its goal is to have the brand named, and its pages cited, inside the answer the AI writes, rather than to rank a link on a results page.
Explained
The term comes from a 2023 research paper by researchers at Princeton, IIT Delhi and others, which tested how content changes affect how often a source is used in generated answers. Since then it has become the most common umbrella name for optimizing for AI answers, alongside AEO and LLM SEO.
GEO work usually has three parts: measuring which prompts mention you today, getting your brand onto the third-party pages the engines already cite, and making your own pages clear and quotable. It builds on SEO, because most AI engines retrieve pages through a search index, but the success metric is a mention or citation, not a click.
Example
A project management startup notices that Perplexity cites the same three "best tools" listicles and a Reddit thread whenever someone asks for a tool for small teams. Its GEO plan is to get reviewed in those listicles, answer honestly in the thread, and publish a clear comparison page, then re-run the same prompts weekly to see whether mentions rise.