Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — also known as AI Search Optimization or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) — is the practice of structuring and writing content so that AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews understand it, trust it, and cite it in their responses.
Where traditional SEO optimises for ranking in a list of links, GEO optimises for being named inside a single generated answer. The tactics overlap — both reward clear, credible, well-structured content — but GEO adds answer-first writing, machine-readable structure, an llms.txt file, entity consistency, and third-party corroboration.
GEO is measured not by rankings but by citations: whether, and how often, engines mention your brand when asked the questions you want to own.
You will see the same discipline called AI Search Optimization or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). The naming is still settling, but the goal is identical: be the source an AI answer chooses to cite.
How it works
GEO starts with the questions buyers ask assistants, then checks what the engines currently answer and whom they cite. The work that follows is concrete: answer those questions directly on crawlable pages, add structured data that matches the visible content, publish an llms.txt file, make the business's facts identical across its site and profiles, and earn mentions from sources the engines already trust.
Progress is tracked by re-asking the same questions on a schedule and recording citations over time.
Example
troiana.net publishes a dynamically generated llms.txt, marks up articles, guides and glossary terms with structured data, and puts plain site-wide links in the HTML of every page so crawlers that do not run JavaScript, including AI crawlers, can still see the site's structure.
Common mistakes
- Blocking AI crawlers by default and then wondering why the business is never cited.
- Producing large volumes of thin pages aimed at engines, which search systems treat as scaled content.
- Tracking only traffic, when an answer can name you without sending a click.
