Jargon Buster / GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation).
Search & AI VisibilityImproving how often, and how accurately, AI assistants mention and cite your business in their answers.
What is GEO?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of improving how often, and how accurately, AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews mention and cite your business in their answers. The term comes from a 2023 academic paper and now covers any work aimed at visibility inside AI-generated responses, as opposed to traditional lists of ranked links.
Why it matters
Buyers increasingly ask an AI assistant for a shortlist before they search. Questions like 'Who are the best commercial solicitors in Cardiff?' or 'Which UK firms make stainless steel enclosures?' now return a written answer naming a handful of businesses. If you are missing from that answer, you are missing from the shortlist, and you will never see the enquiry that went elsewhere.
What influences it
- Search rankings Many AI tools search the web live, so pages that rank well are more likely to be read and cited.
- Mentions across the web Reviews, press coverage, directories and forum discussions shape what AI tools say about you.
- Clear, specific content Pages that state who you serve, where and at what price are easier to summarise accurately.
- Consistent facts Conflicting addresses, service lists or company names across sites lead to muddled or wrong answers.
The honest view
GEO is real as a goal and overhyped as a discipline. Google's May 2026 guidance describes optimising for generative AI search as still SEO, and the AI tools behave differently enough that nobody has a reliable formula for all of them. Be wary of guaranteed AI citations, or of special files and markup sold as the answer.
The part that genuinely matters, and is often neglected, is your reputation away from your own site. What reviewers, journalists and industry sites say about you is what AI tools repeat.
What to do about it
Ask three or four AI assistants the questions a buyer would ask when looking for what you sell in your area. Note who is named, which sources are cited, and whether anything said about you is wrong. Correct the source of any error, usually an outdated directory listing or your own website. Then work on the gaps: reviews, a trade press mention, a clearer service page. Repeat the same questions monthly and keep a simple log.
Related terms.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
Shaping your content so search engines and AI assistants choose it as the direct answer to a question.
Search & AI VisibilitySee more AAI Overviews
AI-written summaries Google shows at the top of some search results, with links to the pages it drew on.
Search & AI VisibilitySee more Lllms.txt
A proposed plain-text file that summarises a website for AI tools. Major AI services have not adopted it.
Search & AI VisibilitySee more LLarge Language Model (LLM)
An AI system trained on huge amounts of text that can write, summarise, answer questions and follow instructions.
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