Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO, is the practice of improving how likely your business is to be mentioned and cited in answers from generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Where traditional SEO aims to rank a page in a list of links, GEO aims to make your content clear, credible and quotable enough that an AI assistant draws on it when it writes an answer. In practice it is not a separate discipline: because those assistants usually cannot answer a buying question from memory, they run their own web searches and build the answer from what already ranks, so GEO is really SEO pointed at AI answers rather than a new product to buy.
How GEO works in practice
Generative engines rarely answer from memory alone; for most real questions they run their own web searches, read across the published content that ranks, and reference the sources they consider trustworthy and relevant to a question. To be one of those sources, your content needs to state things plainly, back up claims, and cover the topics your audience actually asks about. Common GEO groundwork includes:
- Clear, factual writing that answers real questions directly
- Well-structured pages with sensible headings and definitions
- Consistent, accurate details about your business and its expertise
- Genuine signals of trust, such as reviews and cited references
Why GEO depends on SEO
GEO is not a replacement for search engine optimisation; it builds on the same foundations. AI systems tend to favour content that is already well made, well organised and reliable, which is precisely what Google describes in its guidance on creating helpful, reliable content. If your site is technically sound and genuinely useful, you give both search engines and generative engines the raw material they need. That overlap, and where the two approaches differ, is something we cover in our comparison of GEO versus SEO.
In short, treat GEO as an extension of good SEO rather than a separate discipline. Publish clear answers, keep your information accurate, and make it easy for any engine to understand and trust what you offer. Be wary of anyone selling GEO as a magic, standalone package; there is no trick that places you inside an AI answer, only the steady work of making your real signals clear and consistent. Our work on AI visibility optimisation is built around exactly that, and our free SEO audit is a sensible first step to see how ready your content is to be cited.
