GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the set of practices aimed at making a business, a brand or a piece of content visible in AI-generated answers: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and the AI answers of search engines. Where SEO works on a website's position in a results page, GEO works on a name's presence in a written answer.
Why it became a topic
A growing share of buying journeys starts with a question asked to an AI: "which tool for...", "which company would you recommend in...", "what to think of...". The answer is not a list of ten links: it is a text that names a few companies. Either you are part of it, or you do not exist in that journey; there is no "page 2" of an AI answer.
This shift does not remove SEO: generative engines lean heavily on web search. It adds a layer on top, with its own rules and its own measurement.
The terms in circulation (and what they cover)
The vocabulary of the discipline is still settling; in practice, these expressions cover the same reality, with nuances of angle:
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): the umbrella term, modelled on SEO.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): the same topic seen through the lens of "answer engines"; emphasises the question-answer format.
- LLM SEO, AI SEO: common shorthand variants, especially in content; same practices.
- AI visibility: the measurable fact (appearing or not in the answers), independent of techniques.
- AI share of voice: your relative weight in the answers, compared with the other names cited on the same questions.
GEO and SEO: what really changes
- The unit of measurement. SEO measures a position in an ordered list. GEO measures a presence in generated text: your name is cited or it is not, with more or less prominence. There is no "position 7" in an answer.
- Variability. A results page is relatively stable from one query to the next; a generated answer changes from one run to the next. GEO measurement therefore relies on repetitions and is expressed as a citation rate, never as a one-off observation.
- The plurality of engines. Our weekly measurements have shown it since June 2026: on the same question, each engine has its own podium of cited names. Visibility is measured engine by engine.
- The role of sources. Generative engines cite and synthesise third-party pages: comparison articles, directories, press, reference content. Being present in those sources often weighs more than your own homepage; being cited as a source is not enough to be recommended either, the two are measured separately.
What GEO measures
- The citation rate: the share of answers where your name appears, over a panel of questions asked continuously, with repetitions.
- Share of voice: your weight against the other names cited on the same questions.
- Cited sources: the pages engines draw their answers from; that is the work list of any GEO effort.
- Reputation: the tone and the restated facts when the AI is asked directly about your name, to be distinguished from spontaneous recommendation.
All of it is observed over time: a one-off measurement ages quickly, the longitudinal series is where the value lies. The full method is described on our how-it-works page.
Where to start
With measurement, not promises: establish your baseline (where you appear, at what rate, fed by which sources), work on what can be observed, re-measure. "How to know if ChatGPT recommends your business" gives a first manual test; "How to appear in AI answers" details the levers. And keep the discipline's habit of honesty: nobody can guarantee a citation by an AI; what can be steered is presence in the sources, and measurement of the effect.