GEO glossaryGEO
Foundations
What is GEO?
Quick answer
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is optimizing your brand to be named and recommended by AI engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) when buyers ask. Unlike SEO, the AI doesn't rank ten links. It reads a few trusted sources and writes them into one answer.
Search used to hand you a list. You climbed it, and buyers clicked. AI answers differently. When someone asks "the best boutique hotel near District 1," the engine pulls two to seven sources it trusts, then composes a single reply, often naming a few brands and skipping the rest. GEO is the work of becoming one of the brands it names.
That shifts what you optimize for. Those trusted sources are frequently third-party (a listicle, a review site, a knowledge base) not your own website. Ranking first on Google no longer guarantees you appear in the answer at all. And "being mentioned" is only the start: the AI can name you third, quote the wrong price, or mention you while linking a competitor.
Because the game changed, so did the scoreboard. You don't measure GEO by rank. You measure it by Share of Model, how often the AI names you versus everyone else across the questions your buyers actually ask. GEO builds the two things that move that number: a clean identity the AI can trust, and enough credible sources naming you that it reaches for you by default.
Frequently asked
How is GEO different from SEO?
SEO wins you a spot in a list of links. GEO wins you a spot inside the AI's written answer, a different mechanism, measured differently.
How do you measure GEO?
By Share of Model: run the real questions buyers ask across AI engines and count how often you're named versus competitors, not where you rank.
Who needs GEO?
Any brand whose buyers now ask AI before they search, and skip whoever the AI doesn't mention.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. GEO builds on solid SEO; a weak foundation gets fixed first, then AEO and GEO layer on top.
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