What is GEO and how it differs from SEO
GEO stands for generative engine optimization. It means adjusting your website and its surroundings so that AI answers mention and cite your business: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI Overviews in Google. It does not replace SEO, it builds on it.
The short answer
SEO makes your website appear among the links in a search engine. GEO makes your business appear directly in the answer an AI writes for someone. In search results you compete for a position. In an AI answer you compete for whether the system uses you as a source at all.
The same idea also goes by AEO (answer engine optimization), AIO and LLMO. In practice they mean the same thing and differ only in who happens to use them.
Where the term comes from
The name GEO was introduced in 2023 by researchers from Princeton, Georgia Tech, the Allen Institute for AI and IIT Delhi in the study GEO: Generative Engine Optimization. They tested which text changes increase the chance that a generative engine uses the text in an answer. Texts citing sources, giving concrete data and direct quotations did best. Repeating keywords, which once worked in search engines, did not help.
It is research on selected systems, not a guaranteed recipe. But the direction makes sense on its own: a machine assembling an answer reaches for text that is concrete and verifiable.
SEO and GEO side by side
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | A link to your website as high as possible in results | A mention or citation of your business in an AI answer |
| Where it shows | Google, Bing | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, AI Overviews and AI Mode in Google |
| What decides | Content, technical state, links | The same plus clear wording, concrete data and mentions of your business elsewhere |
| How it is measured | Rankings, impressions and clicks in Search Console | Harder: manual AI queries and asking customers where they heard of you |
| When it shows | Weeks to months | Weeks to months, longer for a new brand |
What Google says
In its documentation for site owners, Google writes that there are no special requirements or special optimisation for appearing in AI Overviews and AI Mode. The page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet. It explicitly adds that you do not need new machine readable files or special markup.
In other words: whoever has the basics in order has most of the work done. Whoever does not, GEO will not help. If your website does not even show for your company name, start with why your website is not showing on Google.
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- Write one sentence at the top of the homepage saying what you do, where and for whom. AI can take it over almost word for word.
- Add questions and answers. People ask AI in full sentences and a ready answer on your website is the easiest material to cite.
- Give concrete data: starting price, delivery time, the area you serve. A general sentence about quality and tradition cannot be cited.
- Keep text as text. A price list in an image or PDF is not reliably read by machines.
- Add structured data that matches what is visible on the page.
- Complete your Google Business Profile and collect reviews. The steps are in how to set up a Google Business Profile.
- Take care of mentions outside your own website: business directories, industry sites, supplier and customer websites. AI builds answers from several sources, and a business mentioned only on its own website looks weak.
What GEO is not
It is not a trick or hidden text for robots. It is not a service where someone can guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend you. AI answers change with the wording of the question, the location and even the day. Whoever promises first place in ChatGPT promises something they do not control.
It is not a replacement for ads either. If you need enquiries next week, the organic path through search or AI will not make it in time.
How to tell whether it works
The simplest test you can do yourself. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the way a customer would: who in your city offers your service, what it costs, what to watch out for. Note who they name and which sources they use. Repeat it in a month.
Google counts visits from AI Overviews and AI Mode in the normal performance report in Search Console and does not show them separately. That is why it pays to ask new customers where they heard about you. A step by step guide is in how to appear in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answers.
Want a website that brings enquiries?
Tell me in two minutes what you need. I reply within 24 hours with a free homepage design and a fixed price in writing.
Get a free proposal →Frequently asked questions
Will GEO replace classic SEO?
No. Generative engines look up information on websites and in search indexes. A website that cannot be found by normal search will hardly make it into an AI answer.
Do I need a new website because of GEO?
Usually not. A clear introduction, questions and answers, concrete data and structured data are enough. A new website makes sense when the old one is slow, cannot be edited or does not show even for the company name.
How much does it cost?
The changes themselves are hours to days of work depending on the size of the website. With a new website it is cheapest to think of them from the start. A new website at Webify starts at CZK 19,990.
Should I block AI robots from my website?
If you want AI to recommend you, no. For the main systems you can separately block robots that collect content for model training, and that does not affect appearing in answers.
How soon will changes show?
Search engines pick up text changes within days to weeks. Mentions on other websites and reviews take months to build.