The Rise of GEO: Generative Engine Optimisation Explained

A new discipline has emerged in digital marketing, and it is reshaping everything we know about search visibility. Generative Engine Optimisation — GEO — is the practice of optimising your online presence so that AI-powered search engines cite your business, your content, and your expertise in their responses. If SEO is about ranking on a list, GEO is about being woven into the answer.

This matters because the way people search is changing fundamentally. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and a growing list of AI-powered tools are becoming primary information sources for millions of consumers. When someone asks 'Who is the best personal injury solicitor in Birmingham?' or 'What CRM should a landscaping company use?', the answer increasingly comes from an AI engine rather than a traditional search results page.

The businesses that are cited in these AI-generated answers receive a disproportionate share of trust, attention, and ultimately customers. The businesses that are not cited are invisible to a growing segment of their market. This guide explains how GEO works and what you need to do about it.

What Exactly Is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimisation is the process of making your content, your brand, and your data more likely to be referenced, cited, or recommended by AI-powered search engines and language models. The term was first coined in academic research from Princeton University, Georgia Tech, and IIT Delhi in their landmark 2023 paper 'GEO: Generative Engine Optimization', and has since become an established discipline within digital marketing.

Traditional SEO focuses on ranking your web pages for specific keywords on search engine results pages (SERPs). GEO focuses on a fundamentally different outcome: being selected as a source by an AI model when it generates an answer to a user's query. The distinction is crucial. In traditional search, ten websites share the results page. In AI search, typically only two to five sources are cited in a response — and the AI engine decides which sources to reference based on a different set of signals than traditional ranking factors.

How GEO Differs from Traditional SEO

While GEO and SEO share some common ground, there are important differences in what signals matter, how content is evaluated, and what success looks like.

In traditional SEO, the primary ranking factors are backlinks, keyword relevance, page authority, technical performance, and user engagement signals. Content is evaluated primarily on whether it answers the searcher's query and matches their intent. Success is measured by rankings, organic traffic, and click-through rates.

In GEO, the primary factors are content authority, specificity, citability, and cross-platform consistency. AI models evaluate content based on whether it provides unique, verifiable information that can be confidently attributed to a credible source. Success is measured by whether your content is cited in AI-generated responses, the frequency of those citations, and the resulting brand visibility and traffic.

• SEO rewards content that matches keywords — GEO rewards content that provides unique, authoritative information AI models can cite
• SEO is about ranking position — GEO is about being selected as a source from all available content on the internet
• SEO primarily operates on your website — GEO operates across your entire online footprint (website, directories, reviews, social profiles, mentions)
• SEO success is measured by traffic — GEO success is measured by citation frequency and brand visibility in AI responses
• SEO content can be optimised for a single keyword — GEO content needs to be optimised for the broader topic and provide comprehensive, citable answers

The Signals AI Engines Use to Select Sources

Understanding which signals AI models use to select sources is the key to effective GEO. While the exact algorithms are proprietary, research and practical testing have identified several consistent patterns.

Firstly, AI models strongly prefer content with specific, quantifiable claims. A page that states 'Our average response time is 47 minutes, based on 3,200 service calls completed in 2025' is far more likely to be cited than one that says 'We respond quickly'. The specificity creates a citable data point that the AI model can reference with confidence.

Secondly, AI models assess source authority through multiple signals: domain authority and backlink profile, consistency of information across multiple platforms, the presence of structured data (schema markup), review volume and ratings, and the depth and comprehensiveness of content on the relevant topic. A business with 200 Google reviews, consistent NAP across 50 directories, comprehensive service descriptions with schema markup, and detailed content hubs sends much stronger authority signals than a business with a thin website and few external references.

Thirdly, AI models favour content that is structured for extraction. Clear headings, concise paragraphs, well-formatted lists, and direct answers to common questions make it easy for AI models to identify and extract relevant information. Wall-of-text content with no clear structure is harder for AI models to parse and is less likely to be cited.

The businesses winning in AI search are not the ones creating the most content. They are the ones creating the most citable content — specific, structured, authoritative, and verifiable across multiple sources.

Practical GEO Strategies You Can Implement Now

GEO is not abstract theory — it is a set of practical, implementable strategies. Here are the specific actions that will improve your chances of being cited by AI-powered search engines.

• Add specific, citable statistics throughout your website — response times, customer counts, years in business, project completions, review ratings, service area coverage
• Implement comprehensive schema markup on every page — LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, Article, AggregateRating, and HowTo schemas give AI engines structured data they can reference
• Create FAQ content that directly answers questions your customers ask — AI models frequently cite FAQ content because it provides clear, attributable answers
• Build topical authority through content clusters — create a pillar page for each core service and link to detailed supporting content on subtopics
• Ensure your business information is consistent across every platform — your website, Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles, and review sites should all contain identical NAP and service information
• Claim and optimise profiles on platforms that AI models reference — Google Business Profile, Yelp, Trustpilot, industry-specific directories, and Wikipedia (if notable enough) are all sources AI models consult
• Use authoritative, first-person language — 'We have completed over 5,000 installations' is more citable than 'The company provides installation services'
• Publish original research, data, and case studies — primary source content is valued significantly higher than aggregated or derivative content by AI models

Schema Markup: The Technical Foundation of GEO

If there is one technical element that underpins everything in GEO, it is schema markup. Structured data gives AI engines a machine-readable description of your business, your services, your content, and your credibility. Without it, AI models must infer this information from unstructured text — a process that is less reliable and less likely to result in a citation.

Every business website should implement, at minimum: LocalBusiness schema with complete NAP, service area, and opening hours; Service schema for each service offered with descriptions and pricing where applicable; FAQPage schema on any page with question-and-answer content; AggregateRating schema displaying your review count and average rating; and Article schema on all blog posts and content pages.

For businesses with physical locations, adding geo-coordinates, photos, and payment methods to your LocalBusiness schema provides additional structured data points that AI models can reference. For businesses that publish content regularly, implementing Article schema with author, datePublished, and publisher properties helps AI models assess the timeliness and authority of your content.

Measuring GEO Performance

Measuring GEO performance is less straightforward than measuring traditional SEO because there is no equivalent of Google Search Console for AI search engines. However, there are several approaches you can use to track your visibility in AI-generated responses.

• Manually query AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) with your target keywords and check whether your business is cited
• Monitor referral traffic from AI sources in Google Analytics — traffic from chat.openai.com, perplexity.ai, and other AI platforms indicates citation
• Track brand mention volume using tools like Brand24 or Mention — increases in unprompted brand mentions often correlate with AI citation
• Monitor your search impressions and click-through rates in Google Search Console — shifts in these metrics can indicate AI Overview influence
• Use specialised GEO monitoring tools as they become available — this is a rapidly developing space with new tools launching regularly

GEO and Local Businesses

GEO is particularly important for local businesses because AI engines are increasingly used for local discovery queries. When someone asks ChatGPT for a restaurant recommendation, a solicitor referral, or a tradesperson suggestion in a specific area, the AI engine draws from the same signals that power local SEO — but processes them differently.

For local businesses, the most impactful GEO strategies are: maintaining a fully optimised Google Business Profile with regular posts and photo updates; generating a consistent flow of reviews across multiple platforms; ensuring NAP consistency across all directories and platforms; creating locally relevant content that positions your business as the authority in your service area; and implementing local schema markup with geo-coordinates and service area definitions.

The good news for local businesses is that GEO and local SEO are highly complementary. The work you do to optimise for the Google Maps Pack — GBP management, citation building, review generation, local content — also strengthens your GEO signals. You are not doing double the work; you are doing work that delivers twice the value.

The Future of GEO

GEO is still in its early stages. The tools, techniques, and best practices are evolving rapidly as AI search technology matures and user adoption grows. What is clear, however, is that AI-powered search is not a passing trend — it is the direction in which all search is moving. The businesses that invest in GEO now will build a compounding advantage that becomes harder for competitors to overcome with each passing month.

At Prism Digital Group, GEO has been integrated into our SEO methodology since 2025. Our local SEO and GEO visibility service combines traditional local SEO tactics with AI-specific optimisations, ensuring our clients are visible wherever their customers are searching — whether that is Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or whatever comes next. If you want to stay ahead of this shift, we would welcome the conversation.