Something is quietly changing about how people find businesses online. More and more searches — especially for questions, comparisons and how-to queries — are now answered directly in the search results by Google's AI Overviews, without the user clicking through to any website. ChatGPT and Perplexity are answering business questions the same way.
This is the environment that generative engine optimisation (GEO) was coined to address. It is not a replacement for SEO. It is an extension of it — one that has become relevant for any business that relies on being found online.
What GEO actually means
Generative engine optimisation is the practice of structuring your website content so that AI-powered search tools — Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot — are likely to cite your content, reference your business or summarise your expertise when answering relevant questions.
The term was introduced in academic research in 2023 and has been widely adopted by the SEO community since Google began rolling out AI Overviews across its search results. The core idea is simple: if AI tools are now answering questions that your potential customers are asking, you want to be the source those tools draw from.
A practical example: A healthcare practice used to rely on ranking on page one for "physiotherapy near me." Now, a significant portion of those same searches show an AI-generated answer with a summary, links and business suggestions — before any organic results appear. The practice needs to be in that summary, not just on page one.
How GEO differs from traditional SEO
Traditional search engine optimisation focuses on ranking a page highly in the organic (blue link) results for a given keyword. GEO is about influencing what AI models say and cite when answering a question — which is a meaningfully different challenge.
The differences in practice:
- SEO targets keywords. GEO targets questions and topics. AI tools answer questions; they do not rank pages by keyword match.
- SEO rewards backlink authority. GEO rewards clarity and citability. A well-structured, clearly written explanation is more likely to be cited than a heavily optimised but vague page.
- SEO is about ranking position. GEO is about being referenced. There is no position one in an AI summary — either your content is used or it is not.
- SEO performance is measurable via clicks. GEO is harder to measure directly. You need brand mention tracking and AI visibility tools to understand your presence.
This does not mean SEO is becoming irrelevant. Traditional organic results still drive significant traffic, and the technical foundations of SEO — crawlability, page speed, structured data — directly support GEO performance. The two practices work together.
Why GEO matters for your business
If your customers are asking questions online — and they are — then AI tools are answering those questions with or without your input. The question is whether your business is part of that answer or invisible to it.
For certain business types, this is particularly significant:
- Service businesses that are often compared (agencies, consultancies, healthcare providers, legal firms) are frequently summarised by AI tools when someone asks "what should I look for in a web design agency" or "how do I choose a marketing partner."
- E-commerce brands may find that product comparison queries are answered by AI before a user ever visits a product page.
- SaaS companies are often compared in AI summaries when users ask "what is the best tool for X."
- Local businesses may find that "near me" queries with informational intent are handled by AI Overviews that pull from local content and review platforms.
How AI tools decide what to cite
AI language models are trained on large amounts of text from the web. When they generate a response, they draw on that training data — and for tools like Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, they also perform live retrieval from indexed web pages. Whether your content gets cited depends on several factors:
- Clarity of the answer. Content that directly answers a question, in plain language, is more likely to be used than content that buries the answer in qualifications or promotions.
- Content structure. Headings, short paragraphs, lists and definitions help AI tools parse and attribute your content accurately.
- Entity clarity. If your content clearly establishes who you are, what you do and where you operate, AI tools are more likely to mention your business by name in relevant answers.
- Trustworthiness signals. Domain authority, backlinks from credible sources and consistent brand mentions across the web all contribute to how AI tools assess your content's reliability.
- Freshness. Recent, updated content is prioritised for topics where recency matters.
What to actually do about it
You do not need a GEO strategy that is separate from your SEO strategy. What you need is content that serves both — and a few additions that specifically address how AI tools consume information.
Write content that answers questions directly
Identify the questions your potential customers are genuinely asking. Use tools like Google's "People also ask" section, your own customer FAQs and keyword research to find them. Then write content that answers those questions clearly, early in the article, in plain language.
Structure for machines as well as humans
Use clear H2 and H3 headings that describe what the following section covers. Use bullet points for lists. Define terms before using them. Avoid dense paragraphs that pack multiple ideas together — AI tools extract answers more easily from focused, scannable content.
Add or improve your FAQ pages
FAQ content with proper FAQ schema markup is one of the most reliable ways to appear in AI-generated answers. Each question and answer should be self-contained and specific. Generic answers do not get cited.
Build your entity presence
Make sure your business is clearly described on your website, in your Google Business Profile, in your llms.txt file and across relevant directories. The more consistently your business name, services and location appear together across the web, the more confidently AI tools will reference you.
Earn citations from trusted sources
Being mentioned in industry publications, professional directories like Clutch.co, and authoritative local sources increases the likelihood that AI tools treat your business as a credible source. This overlaps directly with link building for traditional SEO.
One thing not to do: do not write content that is designed to trick AI tools into citing you. Overly keyword-stuffed or artificially structured content is easy for AI models to identify as low-quality. The best GEO strategy is the same as the best content strategy: be genuinely useful and clearly organised.
The bottom line
GEO is not a separate discipline requiring a separate budget. It is a shift in how you think about content: from "rank for this keyword" to "be the best answer to this question." Businesses that make that shift — writing clearly, structuring thoughtfully and building a credible presence across the web — are better positioned for both traditional search and the AI-augmented search that is increasingly shaping how customers find them.
If your business relies on being discovered online, GEO is not optional. It is simply the updated version of doing SEO properly.