What is GEO? The Marketer's Guide to Generative Engine Optimization
GEO (generative engine optimization) is how brands get recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. Learn what it is and how to start.
A year ago, your customers Googled their questions. Today, they ask ChatGPT.
This shift changes everything about how brands get discovered. When someone asks an AI assistant "what's the best project management tool for small teams?" there are no ten blue links. There's one answer. Maybe two. And if your brand isn't in that answer, you don't exist.
This is where GEO comes in.
What is GEO?
GEO stands for generative engine optimization. It's the practice of improving your brand's visibility in AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini and Perplexity and Claude.
Think of it as SEO's younger sibling. SEO helps you rank on Google's results page. GEO helps you get recommended when someone asks an AI for advice.
The core question GEO answers is simple: when an AI assistant responds to a question in your industry, does it mention your brand?
Why GEO matters now
AI search isn't a future trend. It's already eating into traditional search traffic.
ChatGPT has over 800 million weekly active users and is approaching 900 million. Perplexity processes millions of queries daily. Google is rolling AI Overviews into more searches every month. Your potential customers are using these tools to make buying decisions right now.
The problem? Most brands have no idea whether they show up in these results. They're optimizing for Google while ignoring the channel that's growing fastest.
AI models form opinions about brands based on their training data. If your competitors have stronger content and more mentions and better structured information, the AI will recommend them instead of you. And unlike Google rankings, you can't see where you stand without actively testing it.
How GEO differs from SEO
SEO and GEO share DNA, but they work differently in practice.
SEO is about ranking. You optimize pages to appear higher in a list of ten results. Users see all ten options and choose one.
GEO is about being chosen. The AI picks one or two brands to recommend. There's no list. The user trusts the AI's judgment and often goes with its suggestion.
This means GEO is higher stakes. In SEO, ranking #5 still gets you clicks. In GEO, being the second choice might mean getting zero traffic.
The ranking factors are different too. Google looks at backlinks and page speed and keyword optimization. AI models care more about brand authority and sentiment across the web and how clearly your content answers specific questions.
What influences AI recommendations
AI models don't reveal their exact ranking criteria. But based on testing thousands of prompts, patterns emerge.
Brand mentions across authoritative sources. If your brand appears frequently on respected sites in your industry, AI models notice. Reviews and press coverage and guest posts and industry reports all contribute.
Clear, structured content. AI models pull information from content that directly answers questions. If your website has a page that clearly explains what you do and who you serve and what makes you different, that content is more likely to be referenced.
Sentiment and reputation. AI models don't just count mentions. They weigh sentiment. A brand with hundreds of positive reviews and testimonials will outrank a competitor with mixed feedback.
Recency and relevance. AI models are trained on data up to a certain point, but many now use real-time search to supplement their knowledge. Fresh, relevant content can influence recommendations.
How to start with GEO
You don't need to overhaul your marketing strategy. Start with these fundamentals.
Audit your current visibility. Ask ChatGPT and Gemini and Perplexity questions your customers would ask. See if your brand appears. Note which competitors show up instead. This gives you a baseline. We wrote a full walkthrough on how to audit your brand across AI agents in one day.
Strengthen your content foundations. Make sure your website clearly answers the questions buyers ask before purchasing. Don't bury this information in walls of text. Make it scannable and direct.
Build mentions on authoritative sites. Guest posts and podcast appearances and industry roundups and press coverage all help AI models understand your brand's credibility. Focus on quality over quantity.
Monitor and iterate. AI visibility isn't static. Models update, competitors improve, and the landscape shifts. Check your visibility regularly and adjust your strategy based on what's working.
The relationship between SEO and GEO
Good news: SEO and GEO aren't competing strategies. They reinforce each other.
Content that ranks well on Google tends to influence AI recommendations. Backlinks that boost your SEO also signal authority to AI models. A strong brand presence on review sites helps both channels.
The main adjustment is mindset. SEO focuses on individual pages ranking for keywords. GEO focuses on your overall brand being recognized as a trusted solution in your category.
If you're already doing SEO well, you're not starting from zero. You're building on a foundation.
Measuring GEO success
Unlike SEO, there's no built-in dashboard for AI visibility. Google Search Console won't tell you if ChatGPT mentioned your brand today.
Manual testing works for a baseline. Ask AI tools common questions in your industry and track whether you appear. But this gets tedious fast, especially if you want to monitor competitors or track changes over time.
This is why tools like SearchSeal exist. We run hundreds of prompts daily across ChatGPT and Gemini and other AI platforms, tracking which brands appear and how often and in what context. Instead of guessing, you get data.
The bottom line
GEO isn't optional for brands that want to stay visible. AI search is growing fast, and the brands that figure this out early will have a significant advantage.
Start by understanding where you stand today. Then build a strategy that gets your brand into the conversation.
Want to see how your brand performs in AI search? SearchSeal tracks your visibility across ChatGPT and Gemini automatically.
