GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. In short: You no longer optimize your website just to be in Google's list, but to show up in an AI's answer.
The difference sounds small, but it's big. With classic SEO you want to rank on page one. With GEO you want to be the source that ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews cite when someone asks a question.
SEO gets you into the list, GEO into the answer
The two are connected, but they're not the same thing. An AI builds its answer from sources it trusts. And it prefers content that is clear, factual and cleanly structured.
Where the AI gets its sources varies: ChatGPT and Copilot pull a lot from the Bing index, Perplexity crawls on its own, Google AI Overviews use the Google index. So if you want to appear in these answers, you first have to get into the right index at all.
What helps the AI
- Clear structure: headings, short paragraphs, one idea per paragraph.
- Answer format: a question, with a short, direct answer below it.
- Facts instead of fluff: concrete statements, no marketing padding.
- A clear entity: Who you are, what you do, where you're based. An AI has to recognize you as a distinct entity.
- Mentions elsewhere: If you're named elsewhere on the web, it works like a recommendation.
- Technical foundations like structured data and an llms.txt.
How do you check it?
The easiest way is to try it. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini about your industry in your region and see whether you show up. If not, you know where you stand.
An honest assessment
GEO is new and in flux. There are no guaranteed levers, and the AI providers change their systems all the time. But what already holds true: A clean, understandable, honest website helps with SEO and GEO at the same time. Double the benefit for the same work.
The big picture is in SEO is no longer enough: Now GEO counts too. And if you want to know where your site stands, take a look at my SEO and GEO analysis. For a first impression in seconds, try the free AI check.