Term

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

In short

Generative Engine Optimization. Everything you do so that your business appears accurately and positively in the answers of engines that generate replies, such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

GEO doesn't aim to climb a list of search results; it aims to be inside a written answer. A generative engine is the common name for systems that reply to a question with a paragraph rather than a list of links; GEO is the work done to be mentioned in that paragraph and, ideally, recommended.

How it differs from SEO

SEO's measure is position and clicks. In GEO there is no position: you're either in the answer or you're not. So the measure changes too; which engine, on which question, mentions you in which state (recommends, recognizes, doesn't mention), and in what percentage of answers you appear.

Components

Access: AI crawlers being able to enter the site (robots.txt, readability without JavaScript).
Description: the business describing itself in a way machines can understand (llms.txt, Schema.org, a clear first paragraph).
Matching: pages that directly answer the questions customers ask.
Consistency: name, address, phone and description being the same in every source.
Verification: being mentioned in third-party sources (directories, news, reviews).