Your customers no longer just search on Google. Some ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity directly which business to choose. GEO aims to put you in those answers. The topic attracts a lot of promises, so here is what official sources and research actually say.
In short
GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization, helps your business get understood, cited and recommended in AI assistant answers. It rests first on good SEO: accessible pages, clear information, useful content and a reputation that can be checked. Nobody can guarantee a citation. You can improve your chances and measure your progress.
What is the difference between SEO, GEO and AEO?
| Goal | Where it shows | |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | Move your pages up the results | Google and other search engine results |
| GEO | Get cited or recommended in an answer written by AI | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews |
| AEO | Give direct answers that are easy to reuse | Answer engines and assistants |
In practice, these three approaches overlap heavily. An agency that sets SEO against GEO is making your life harder: the core work is largely the same.
What Google and OpenAI say
Google. Its documentation on AI features is clear: the usual SEO best practices apply, and "there are no additional technical requirements". To be a source in AI Overviews or AI Mode, a page must be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet.
OpenAI. To appear in ChatGPT search answers, OpenAI recommends allowing its OAI-SearchBot crawler. That setting is independent of GPTBot, which relates to training its models. So you can stay visible in search while refusing training.
What the research says
The term GEO comes from a study presented at KDD 2024. Its authors tested different content changes on a benchmark of 10,000 queries. Pages that added source citations, quotations from relevant sources and statistics gained the most visibility. Keyword stuffing brought little, or even hurt.
Keep these results in proportion: the reported gains, up to 40%, come from controlled tests and vary by sector. They show a direction, not a guaranteed result for your business.
Six actions that improve your chances
- Let the right crawlers in. Check that your robots.txt file, firewall and host do not block Google or the AI search crawlers you want to allow.
- Say clearly who you are. Name, activity, city, service area and contact details should match across your site, Google Business Profile, social accounts and directories.
- Give each service a page. A precise page on your service and market is easier to understand and cite than a general page about everything.
- Answer directly. Start with the answer, then go into detail. Use clear headings, lists, tables and real customer questions.
- Bring proof. Verifiable figures, sources, real results, named authors and an update date. Never invent a statistic.
- Get mentioned elsewhere. Customer reviews, press, serious directories and partners. Your business has to exist beyond its own site.
What does not help much
- Keyword stuffing. The study above finds little effect, sometimes a negative one.
- Relying on llms.txt. Google representatives have said Google does not use it for search. The file may serve other tools, but it replaces nothing.
- Mass-publishing generated text without review. Content with no experience, proof or point of view has little reason to be cited.
- Buying a promise of first place. Nobody controls an assistant's answers. Also be wary of impressive statistics that cite no source.
How to measure progress
Assistant answers change from one person and one day to the next, so a single test proves nothing. Follow a trend instead:
- List 10 to 20 questions your customers might ask, by service and by city.
- Ask them every month in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, in a new conversation.
- Note the result: is your business cited, with a link, and which sources appear instead?
- Check the traffic. In your analytics, follow visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and other assistants. In Search Console, AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted in "Web" traffic.
- Ask your prospects how they found you. An AI recommendation does not always leave a trace in your analytics.
The sources cited instead of your site are often the most useful information: they show you where you should be present.
Common questions
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. GEO rests on SEO. A page that engines cannot find or understand has little chance of being used as a source.
Can you pay to appear in ChatGPT's natural answers?
No, be wary of any offer that promises this. If an assistant offers advertising, treat it as a separate channel, not as an earned citation.
How long does it take to see results?
There is no reliable timeline. Like SEO, it is work over several months, and it depends on your site, reputation and competition.
Is GEO useful for a small business?
Yes, if your customers compare before buying. Start with consistent information, good service pages and real customer reviews. That work also helps your rankings on Google.
Our view
Do not treat GEO as a technical trick. Be a clear, verifiable and useful business, then make sure machines can see it. This work pays off even if the tools change, because it also helps your customers and your rankings.
See our SEO and GEO services, or let's talk about your visibility.
Sources
Checked on November 5, 2026. This field moves fast.
- Google: AI features and your website
- OpenAI: overview of its crawlers
- Aggarwal et al.: GEO, Generative Engine Optimization (KDD 2024)
- Search Engine Land: Google, normal SEO and llms.txt
Does your business appear in AI answers?
Talk about your visibility
