Generative engine optimization (GEO)
GEO is the practice of making content more likely to be surfaced and cited by AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.
Where traditional SEO optimizes for ranking in a list of links, GEO optimizes for being included in a synthesized AI answer. In practice the two overlap heavily: AI answers draw disproportionately from pages that already rank well, so strong conventional SEO remains the foundation.
Beyond ranking, the patterns associated with AI citation are clear writing that front-loads the answer, well-structured and entity-rich content, and being referenced across trusted third-party sources. Much of GEO is simply good, quotable, well-sourced content that a model can lift a clean sentence from.
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