What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?

GEO — generative engine optimization — is optimizing your web presence to be cited and recommended by AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews, rather than just ranked in a list of blue links.

It overlaps with SEO but rewards different things: direct answers over keyword density, verifiable facts and structured data over link volume, and content formatted the way models quote — short, declarative, self-contained passages.

As more buying journeys start with a question to an assistant instead of a search box, GEO is becoming the visibility layer sitting on top of traditional search work — not a replacement for it.