Generative engine optimisation (GEO)
Short definition
GEO is the work of making sure a brand's information appears correctly in the answers given by AI-powered search tools such as ChatGPT and AI Overviews.
Some searchers now ask a question directly to an AI assistant and get a single summarised answer instead of ten blue links. GEO aims to get a brand into that answer with the right information, kept current, and ideally cited as a source.
Much of it overlaps with classic SEO, clear structure, trustworthy sourcing, plain definition sentences, but GEO also considers how an AI model summarises text, which sentence it lifts directly, and newer signals such as llms.txt.
A common mistake is treating GEO as a single technical add-on, dropping in an llms.txt file and assuming the job is done. AI models still crawl a site and read its actual content, so it is the clarity and trustworthiness of that content, not the presence of one file, that determines whether a sentence gets lifted into an answer.
Why it matters
If an AI tool mentions a brand with outdated or wrong information, a visitor can form a decision without ever reaching the site. GEO tries to guarantee the brand shows up correctly and current in those answers.
Illustrative example
A workwear manufacturer added plain definition sentences to its product pages, and its brand started appearing directly in an AI assistant's answer to 'where to buy bulk workwear'.
