What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?

What is GEO?

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It means structuring your content so AI-driven answer engines can find, understand, and cite it. The goal is simple to state: your company should show up when someone asks a generative search engine like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, or Google AI Overviews a question.

The term was coined in November 2023 in a research paper led by Princeton (Aggarwal et al.), later published at the KDD 2024 research conference. The researchers tested six different ways of processing content and measured how well it showed up in AI answers. Since then, GEO has grown from an academic term into a discipline of its own within digital marketing.

There are clear differences between GEO and SEO (search engine optimization), but they also go hand in hand. SEO is about ranking higher in traditional search results, while GEO is about becoming one of the few sources a language model chooses to cite in its answer. A generative engine rarely lists ten alternatives; it builds a combined answer and pulls in the sources it judges to be clearest and most credible, often just two to seven of them.

Read more about the differences between GEO and SEO.

How does a generative search engine work?

To understand GEO you need to know what happens when someone asks a question in an AI search engine. A language model (Large Language Model) doesn't paste the whole query into a search engine. It breaks the question down into smaller sub-queries and searches on each one separately.

The information behind the answer comes from two sources. First, the model's own trained knowledge, meaning what's in its training data. Second, information retrieved in real time from the web, a technique usually called RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). That's where your content can come in, if it's written so the model both finds it and trusts it.

This is the explanation for why GEO and classic SEO have different priorities. A generative engine doesn't reward volume or keyword density. It rewards content that's clearly written, has substance, and is easy to lift out of context as a citable answer.

Why GEO matters right now

The reach of AI search has become too large to ignore. Google AI Overviews reaches about 1.5 billion users a month, Google's AI Mode has passed one billion monthly active users, and ChatGPT is used by around 810 million people a day. Analyst firm Gartner expects traditional search volume to decline by roughly 25 percent as more people turn to AI answers.

Traffic coming through AI also behaves differently. Visitors who click through from an AI answer have already received a recommendation, and they tend to convert significantly better than regular organic traffic. Whoever shows up in the answer gains a head start in the buying journey.

For you as a decision-maker, this mainly means two things: customers are looking for answers in new places, and those cited there build credibility before competitors even enter the conversation. Starting with GEO early is a way to stay ahead while competition is still low in the Swedish market.

How to optimize for GEO

All the work you have put into SEO pays off in GEO too. The difference lies in how well the content can be read and cited by a language model. The Princeton study mentioned earlier in this article showed that content citing authoritative sources, presenting statistics, and including clear quotes could increase visibility in AI answers by up to 40 percent.

These steps will get you a good part of the way there:

• Answer the question directly. Open sections and pages with a clear, complete answer before going deeper. Language models tend to lift out the sentence that answers the question most cleanly.

• Back it up with data and quotes. Numbers, source references, and concrete examples make content more citable and credible in the model's eyes.

• Structure for extraction. Use clear headings, short paragraphs, lists, and tables so answers are easy to pull out.

• Show real expertise. First-hand knowledge, concrete experience, and named authors strengthen what's usually called E-E-A-T and weigh heavily when the model chooses a source.

• Keep content fresh. Update regularly with current figures and years; fresh material gets cited more often.

• Review the technology. Make sure your content is indexable and machine-readable, and watch new standards like llms.txt that tell models what to prioritize.

A final piece of the puzzle is measurement. Since GEO is about mentions rather than clicks, you need to track how often your brand appears and gets cited across different AI engines over time. That requires different tools than your usual traffic report, but it gives you a picture of how well the work is performing.

Getting started with GEO

GEO is still in an early stage, which favors those who get started now. Build on the SEO work you're already doing, write content that answers directly and credibly, and start measuring your visibility in AI answers. If you want help getting started, at BBO we work on optimization for AI answers (GEO) together with SEO, paid advertising, tracking, and well-written copy. The goal is the same as always: helping you do better online.

FAQ about GEO