What is GEO, and how do you get found in AI search?

What is GEO?

GEO, or generative engine optimisation, is the practice of making your website content easy for AI-powered search tools to find, understand and quote. Tools like ChatGPT search, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot and Claude no longer just list ten blue links. They read pages, write an answer and cite a few sources. GEO is about being one of those sources.

If SEO asks "will my page rank?", GEO asks "will an AI assistant pick my page as the answer and mention my brand?"

GEO vs SEO: what's the difference?

GEO is not a replacement for SEO. Most AI search tools still rely on a traditional search index to find candidate pages, so technical SEO remains the foundation. The difference is in what happens next.

• SEO optimises for ranking positions and clicks from a results page.
• GEO optimises for being quoted, summarised and cited inside an AI-generated answer.
• SEO rewards relevance and authority signals such as links. GEO also rewards clarity: short, direct answers, clear structure and facts a model can lift without misreading.
• SEO success is measured in rankings and traffic. GEO success is measured in citations, brand mentions and referral visits from AI tools.

How do AI search engines choose which websites to cite?

No AI company publishes its exact ranking rules, but the pattern is consistent. AI search tools favour pages that are crawlable, clearly structured, factually specific and trustworthy. In practice that means:

• The AI crawler is allowed to fetch the page (it isn't blocked in robots.txt or by a firewall).
• The answer to a question appears near the top of a section, in plain language.
• Headings match the questions people actually ask.
• Structured data tells the machine what the page is: an article, a product, an FAQ, an organisation.
• The page shows who wrote it and why they're credible.

How to optimise your website for AI search: a GEO checklist

1. Check robots.txt allows the AI crawlers you want, such as GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended. Many sites block them by accident through a security plugin or CDN rule. See our guide on unblocking AI crawlers.
2. Add an llms.txt file at the root of your site that summarises who you are and links to your most important pages. Our llms.txt guide walks through it.
3. Add structured data with schema.org JSON-LD: Organization, Article, Product and FAQPage are the most useful. See adding structured data.
4. Write question-led headings and answer each one in the first one or two sentences beneath it.
5. Add a short FAQ section to key pages, marked up with FAQPage schema. See adding an FAQ.
6. Use specific facts, numbers and definitions rather than vague marketing language. AI models quote concrete statements.
7. Keep the technical basics solid: fast pages, a valid sitemap, unique titles and meta descriptions, and canonical URLs.

What is llms.txt and do I need one?

llms.txt is a proposed standard: a plain Markdown file at yoursite.com/llms.txt that gives language models a curated map of your site. It's similar in spirit to a sitemap, but written for machines that read rather than crawl. It isn't an official ranking factor for any search engine yet, but it costs ten minutes to create and makes your key pages easier for AI tools to find and describe accurately.

How do I know if AI search is sending me traffic?

Look in your analytics for referrals from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com and gemini.google.com. Google AI Overview clicks are currently reported as ordinary Google organic traffic. You can also ask the assistants directly about your category and see whether your brand appears in the answer.

Where to start

Start with access, then structure, then content. If AI crawlers can't fetch your pages, nothing else matters. Once they can, structured data and clear question-and-answer sections give you the quickest wins. Run a free GEO check to see where your site stands today.

Frequently asked questions

Written by Sudharma at Pagelyt.