What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
Also called GEO.
Definition
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is improving content so generative AI systems, like ChatGPT and Google's AI features, use and cite it in their answers.
The term was coined in a November 2023 research paper, "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization" by Pranjal Aggarwal and colleagues, which tested how content changes affect visibility in generative engine responses. Its best-performing methods, citing sources, adding quotations, and adding statistics, achieved a relative improvement of 30 to 40 percent in its tests, while keyword stuffing offered little to no improvement.
In practice GEO asks the same questions as good SEO and AEO: is the content accurate, well sourced, clearly structured, and attributable? The added emphasis is on being quotable and trustworthy enough to be chosen when an AI system composes an answer, and on the mentions and profiles elsewhere on the web that those systems use to decide whom to trust.
Why does it matter to your business?
AI systems increasingly answer the questions your customers ask. GEO is about making sure your business is among the sources those answers draw on and name.
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Sources, verified September 11, 2026
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