{"id":11689,"date":"2026-10-28T16:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T15:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bernard.digital\/?p=11689"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:14:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T09:14:39","slug":"what-is-geo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bernard.digital\/en\/what-is-geo\/","title":{"rendered":"What is GEO? Generative Engine Optimization explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It covers every measure that makes ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google&#8217;s AI Overviews mention your brand and link your pages as a source. The term is an attempt to sum up what used to be called SEO, now applied to LLMs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here you get the definition, where the term comes from, an overview of the related terms AEO, AI SEO and LLMO, and the five levers GEO works with in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group bz-callout-yellow has-text-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-7ff68f20 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"border-radius:15px;color:#161514;background-color:#ffff9e;padding-top:28px;padding-right:32px;padding-bottom:20px;padding-left:32px\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Definition:<\/strong> GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) optimizes content and brands so they get mentioned and cited in AI-generated answers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Origin:<\/strong> The term comes from a study by Aggarwal et al. (Princeton, Georgia Tech, Allen Institute for AI, IIT Delhi), first published in 2023.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Related terms:<\/strong> AEO, AI SEO and LLMO describe essentially the same field, each with a slightly different focus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Relation to SEO:<\/strong> Google itself calls optimizing for AI search &#8220;still SEO&#8221;. GEO builds on SEO and does not replace it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Five levers:<\/strong> Technical, content, entities, reputation and measurement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Watch out, ambiguity:<\/strong> &#8220;GEO&#8221; also stands for geotargeting and geomarketing. Here it only means optimization for AI search.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>On this page:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list bz-toc\">\n<li><a href=\"#definition\">What is GEO?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#herkunft\">Where does the term GEO come from?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#begriffe\">GEO, AEO, AI SEO, LLMO: what is the difference?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#funktion\">How is an AI answer created?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#hebel\">Which levers does GEO work with?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#faq\">FAQ<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"definition\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is GEO?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Classic search engines show a list of links. Generative search systems write an answer and base it on sources. GEO aims to appear in that answer: as a named brand (Mention), as a linked source (Citation) and with a positive portrayal (Sentiment).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why this matters is shown by a study from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2025\/07\/22\/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pew Research<\/a>: when an AI summary appears, users click a regular search result in only 8% of cases, compared with 15% without one. If you are missing from the answer, you are seen less often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"bz-tx\"><figcaption>\/\/ Clicks on regular results (Pew, 2025)<\/figcaption><pre><span class=\"l\">no AI Overview     \u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588  15 %<\/span><span class=\"l y\">with AI Overview   \u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588          8 %<\/span><\/pre><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In AI search, the winner is not the first link but the brand that gets named.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#c3e6ff\">In short: SEO gets you into the list of results. GEO gets you into the answer that sits above that list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"herkunft\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where does the term GEO come from?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The term was coined by a research team led by Pranjal Aggarwal. The study <a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2311.09735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GEO: Generative Engine Optimization<\/a> appeared as a preprint in 2023 and was presented in 2024 at KDD, one of the leading data mining conferences. The team tested <a href=\"#\" id=\"hypotext-anchor-bz-geo-studie\" class=\"hypotext closed\" rel=\"hypotext-content-bz-geo-studie\">10,000 search queries<\/a> and showed that targeted changes to a text can increase visibility in generated answers by up to 40%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><div class=\"hypotext-content hypotext-content-bz-geo-studie\" rel=\"hypotext-anchor-bz-geo-studie\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"hypotext closed close\" rel=\"hypotext-content-bz-geo-studie\"><\/a>Researchers from Princeton, Georgia Tech, the Allen Institute for AI and IIT Delhi were involved. Quotes, statistics and source citations in the text had the strongest effect. Keyword stuffing, by contrast, reduced visibility. The numbers per method are in the article on GEO optimization.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since then, the term has caught on in marketing and SEO. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Generative_engine_optimization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a> now has its own entry for GEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"bz-tx\"><figcaption>\/\/ Where the term comes from<\/figcaption><pre><span class=\"l k\">2023<\/span><span class=\"l\">  Preprint \"GEO: Generative Engine<\/span><span class=\"l\">  Optimization\", Aggarwal et al.<\/span><span class=\"l k\">2024<\/span><span class=\"l\">  presented at KDD<\/span><span class=\"l k\">TODAY<\/span><span class=\"l\">  standard term in marketing<\/span><span class=\"l\">  and SEO, own Wikipedia entry<\/span><\/pre><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"begriffe\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">GEO, AEO, AI SEO, LLMO: what is the difference?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several names circulate for the same field. The differences lie in the perspective, not in the measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"bz-tx\"><figcaption>\/\/ One field, four names<\/figcaption><pre><span class=\"l k\">    VISIBILITY IN AI ANSWERS<\/span><span class=\"l c\">               \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510<\/span><span class=\"l y\"> GEO     AEO    AI SEO    LLMO<\/span><\/pre><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Term<\/th><th>Meaning and perspective<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>GEO<\/td><td><strong>Generative Engine Optimization<\/strong><br>Visibility in generated answers, the term from research<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AEO<\/td><td><strong>Answer Engine Optimization<\/strong><br>Answers instead of links, often with a view to featured snippets and voice assistants<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AI SEO<\/td><td><strong>SEO for AI search<\/strong><br>SEO, extended to AI features such as AI Overviews<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>LLMO<\/td><td><strong>Large Language Model Optimization<\/strong><br>Focus on language models such as ChatGPT and Claude<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google places the field clearly in its <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/ai-optimization-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">guide to AI features<\/a>: optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience and therefore &#8220;still SEO&#8221;. Google advises putting effective SEO strategies ahead of &#8220;AEO\/GEO hacks&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#c3e6ff\">My recommendation: let&#8217;s not spend long debating terms. What matters is whether your brand shows up in the answers, and that can be measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"funktion\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How is an AI answer created?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To understand GEO, you need to know where the answer comes from. For questions with a search component, the LLM splits the question into sub-queries (Query Fan-Out), retrieves matching pages (RAG) and grounds the answer in those sources (Grounding).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"bz-tx\"><figcaption>\/\/ From prompt to answer, simplified<\/figcaption><pre><span class=\"l k\">PROMPT<\/span><span class=\"l\">  \"Which SEO consultant in Berlin?\"<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u25bc<\/span><span class=\"l k\">QUERY FAN-OUT<\/span><span class=\"l\">  seo consultant berlin<\/span><span class=\"l\">  seo consultant reviews<\/span><span class=\"l\">  seo agency comparison<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u25bc<\/span><span class=\"l k\">RETRIEVAL<\/span><span class=\"l\">  Website \u00b7 best-of lists<\/span><span class=\"l\">  Reviews \u00b7 forums<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">  \u25bc<\/span><span class=\"l k\">ANSWER<\/span><span class=\"l y\">  Mention \u00b7 Citation \u00b7 Sentiment<\/span><\/pre><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This leads to the most important sentence about GEO: only what was retrieved beforehand makes it into the answer. And what gets retrieved is mainly what is easy to find in search and what others write about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The data supports this. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seerinteractive.com\/insights\/what-drives-brand-mentions-in-ai-answers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Seer Interactive<\/a> found the strongest link between mentions in ChatGPT answers and Google rankings on page 1. More on how search is changing in <a href=\"https:\/\/bernard.digital\/en\/introduction-to-geo-in-2026\/\">How AI search builds answers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"hebel\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which levers does GEO work with?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five levers build on each other. Each one has its own chapter in the GEO Handbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"bz-tx\"><figcaption>\/\/ Five levers that build on each other<\/figcaption><pre><span class=\"l c\">            \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510<\/span><span class=\"l y\">            \u2502  Measure  \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">        \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510<\/span><span class=\"l\">        \u2502    Reputation     \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">    \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510<\/span><span class=\"l\">    \u2502         Entities          \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">\u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510<\/span><span class=\"l\">\u2502              Content              \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">\u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2524<\/span><span class=\"l\">\u2502             Technical             \u2502<\/span><span class=\"l c\">\u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2518<\/span><\/pre><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Lever<\/th><th>Question<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Technical<\/td><td><strong>Can AI systems retrieve your pages?<\/strong><br>Read more: AI crawlers<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Content<\/td><td><strong>Do your pages deliver citable answers with evidence?<\/strong><br>Read more: GEO optimization<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Entities<\/td><td><strong>Does AI recognize your brand unambiguously?<\/strong><br>Read more: Entity<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Reputation<\/td><td><strong>What do others write about you?<\/strong><br>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/bernard.digital\/en\/services\/reputation-management\/\">Reputation management<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Measurement<\/td><td><strong>How often, and how, are you mentioned?<\/strong><br>Read more: <a href=\"\/en\/?p=11698\">Measuring AI visibility<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\">Watch out: many GEO guides recommend llms.txt files, special schema or chopping texts into pieces. Google states explicitly in its guide that Google Search needs none of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"faq\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What does GEO mean in marketing?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In online marketing, GEO usually stands for Generative Engine Optimization, i.e. optimization for AI answers. There is also geomarketing, the analysis of markets by location. These are two different disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is GEO the same as SEO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No, but it builds on it. The basics are the same: findable and helpful content. Goal and measurement differ: instead of clicks and positions, it is about mentions and citations. More in <a href=\"\/en\/?p=11693\">GEO vs. SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does every company need GEO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every company whose customers start their buying decision with research should at least measure how it shows up in AI answers. Only that measurement shows whether more is worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which tools are there for GEO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For measurement there are prompt tracking tools such as Peec AI, Profound or Otterly, plus the AI report in Google Search Console. How the metrics work is explained in <a href=\"\/en\/?p=11698\">Measuring AI visibility<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who invented GEO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The term comes from the study <a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2311.09735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GEO: Generative Engine Optimization<\/a> by Aggarwal et al., first published in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"bz-bridge wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Next in the handbook:<\/strong> How big is AI search really today, and how much stays with Google? The numbers in the next chapter answer that: <a href=\"\/en\/?p=11691\">The search market in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:48px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"quellen\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aggarwal et al.: <a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2311.09735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GEO: Generative Engine Optimization<\/a>, 2023, KDD 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Google Search Central: <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/ai-optimization-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI features and your website<\/a>, July 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wikipedia: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Generative_engine_optimization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Generative engine optimization<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pew Research Center: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2025\/07\/22\/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears<\/a>, July 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seer Interactive: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seerinteractive.com\/insights\/what-drives-brand-mentions-in-ai-answers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What drives brand mentions in AI answers<\/a>, January 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means, where the term comes from, how it differs from AEO, AI SEO and LLMO, and the five levers GEO works with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-geo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is GEO? 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