Generative engine optimisation (GEO)
DefinitionContent & Social
Generative engine optimisation (GEO)
Optimising to be cited by AI answers - Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity - rather than merely ranked in blue links. The levers shift from keywords to being a quotable, well-structured, authoritative source: clear claims, real data, consistent entity signals. Also called AEO (answer engine optimisation).
Evidence from the library
Chase links-to-page for Google AI Overviews and traffic-to-page for ChatGPT and PerplexityPrincipleEach AI assistant has its own source diet, so one visibility strategy cannot serve all threePrinciple97.7% vs 74.2% informationalAlmost every AI Overview appears on an informational query, not a commercial or transactional oneStat14% sharedOnly one in seven of the most-cited sources is shared across all three AI assistantsStatLong-tail is now a retrieval mechanism rather than a coverage tacticPrinciple
Source
Marketing Definitions
emerging search practice, 2024 onward; term from Aggarwal et al., GEO paper (2023)
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