Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) & Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Google isn’t the only place your customers look for answers anymore. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews are becoming a discovery channel of their own — and the content that feeds them isn’t optimised by the same rules as traditional SEO.
What is generative engine optimization?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of making your content easy for AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode — to find, understand and cite when they answer a question. Where SEO aims for a ranking, GEO aims for a citation: being one of the sources the answer is built on, with your name and a link next to it.
How GEO differs from SEO and AEO
- 01SEO optimises pages to rank in a list of results. The user still chooses what to click.
- 02AEO (answer engine optimization) came first, from featured snippets and voice assistants: structure content so a single direct answer can be lifted from it. Today the term is often used as a synonym for GEO.
- 03GEO targets engines that write a new answer from several sources. The goal is to be one of those sources, cited by name.
- 04The foundations are shared. AI engines largely retrieve pages through search indexes, so a site that is hard to crawl or has no authority is rarely cited. GEO is built on top of good SEO, not instead of it.
How to optimise for AI answer engines
- 01Let the crawlers in. Check that robots.txt and your CDN don’t block the bots AI search tools use to read pages, such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
- 02Answer first, then explain. Open each section with a clear, self-contained answer — the sentence an engine can quote as it is.
- 03Be specific and verifiable. Numbers, dates, named sources and first-hand experience are what generic AI-written pages lack, and what engines prefer to cite.
- 04Keep your identity consistent. The same name, description and details across your site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories, connected with structured data.
- 05Earn mentions elsewhere. Engines weigh what other sites say about you: reviews, press, industry lists, forums.
- 06Measure it. Track AI referral traffic in analytics and check, on a fixed list of prompts, whether you are cited and how you are described.
What changes with generative search
- 01AI doesn’t “rank” pages, it cites them — content can be cited by ChatGPT without ranking on page one of Google, and vice versa
- 02Structure matters more than length — direct answers, verifiable data and clear structure beat a keyword-optimised wall of text
- 03The source has to be verifiably authoritative — generative engines pull from content that demonstrates genuine expertise (E-E-A-T), not just keyword density
- 04It can be measured — referral traffic from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and similar shows up in analytics, and citations can be tracked across a fixed set of prompts
What I offer
- 01GEO/AEO audit — analysis of how your current content is, or isn’t, being cited by AI answer engines
- 02Content restructuring to answer real audience questions directly and verifiably
- 03Structured data and semantic markup that help AI systems correctly interpret what you offer
- 04A hybrid content strategy — optimised for Google today, ready to be cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity tomorrow, without sacrificing one for the other
Why trust this approach
I use AI every day in my own workflow — to automate content QA, internal linking and reporting. This isn’t a trend bolted onto a service list; it’s the same tool I work with, now applied to your content too. The logic holds for both practices: whether you operate in iGaming or you’re a business that wants to be found, the goal is to get cited, not just ranked.
Frequently asked questions
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of making content easy for AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — to find, understand and cite. Where SEO aims for a ranking in a list of results, GEO aims for a citation inside the answer itself.
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No. AI answer engines find pages largely through search indexes, so the technical and authority work of SEO is still the entry ticket. GEO adds a layer on top: structuring content to be quoted, and building the reputation that makes engines trust it.
What is the difference between GEO and AEO?
AEO started with featured snippets and voice search: one direct answer lifted from one page. GEO addresses engines that compose an answer from several sources. The techniques overlap heavily, and the two terms are often used interchangeably.
How do I know if ChatGPT cites my website?
Two ways: referral traffic from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and similar domains in your analytics, and a fixed set of prompts — the questions your customers actually ask — checked regularly to see whether your brand appears and how it is described.
Does llms.txt help?
It is a proposed standard: a plain-text index of your key pages for language models. It is cheap to add — this site has one — but there is no confirmation yet that the major AI engines use it, so it shouldn’t be the core of a strategy.
How much does a GEO audit cost?
It depends on the size of the site and how many topics need checking. My hourly rate for consulting and audits is on the homepage; the first audit is free, and ongoing work is quoted after it.
Talk about your GEO strategy
A free first audit to work out where to start, no commitment.