GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the work of making sure AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, and Google AI Overviews, know and name your business when someone asks a question. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is part of that: pages that give the answer directly. GEO works alongside SEO, not instead of it.
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. A generative engine is a search engine or assistant that writes its own answer, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. GEO is the work of making sure such an AI knows, understands and names or recommends your business when someone asks a question. We call the result AI visibility.
SEO gets your page high in the list of search results. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) makes your page give the direct answer to a question, so a search engine or AI can take it over. GEO is the broader approach around that: besides answer-focused content also a consistent business identity, structured data and mentions on other sites. SEO remains the foundation; AEO and GEO build on it.
That differs per tool and nobody can fully see inside. What we observe: AI assistants rely on what they have learned and, for many questions, on web pages they look up at that moment. It counts whether your information is clear and consistent, whether other trustworthy sites write about you and whether your pages answer a question directly. That is why GEO works on those three layers at once.
More and more often people get their answer straight from an AI, without clicking a search result. That is called zero-click search. Such an answer contains a handful of names. If yours is not among them, the enquiry goes to a competitor without you noticing, because it does not happen in Google and so not in your reporting either.
Five things. One: give every service on your site a page that answers a customer’s question directly. Two: use the same business name, address and description everywhere. Three: add structured data (schema.org) so machines read your details unambiguously. Four: get named on other trustworthy sites, such as trade platforms and industry overviews. Five: ask ChatGPT or Gemini a few customer questions yourself and note whether you are named. That is your first baseline.
We ask AI tools a fixed set of realistic customer questions and track whether, how often and in which position your business is named. Because AI answers differ every time, we measure repeatedly and over a longer period. That gives you a trend instead of a snapshot.
For Worldwide Properties, an estate agent on the Costa del Sol, the number of mentions in ChatGPT answers grew from 32 to 73 per month in six months, with almost 89 percent visibility in the final measurement week. Read the full case study on our news page.
Almost. AEO is the part that focuses on pages that answer a question directly. GEO includes that and adds business identity, structured data and mentions on other sites. We do both in one project.
No. A technically clean site and good content remain the foundation, for AI too. GEO adds layers that classic SEO does not measure.
Weeks to months, because AI tools need time to pick up new signals. And nobody can guarantee that an AI will name your business; you can demonstrably increase the chance and measure it.
Partly: you can take the five steps above yourself. A full project with measurement across several AI tools and targeted optimisation takes more time and experience. You can come to us for that.
Projects at SiteBoosting start from €485 per month (excl. VAT): first a baseline with a complete website scan and a measurement in Google, ChatGPT and Claude, then monthly optimisation for your keywords.