What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

Much of GEO happens off your website. In Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands (updated August 2026), YouTube mentions (about 0.74) and branded web mentions (0.66–0.71) correlated far more strongly with visibility in ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews than backlinks did (roughly 0.25–0.30). What others say about you counts alongside what you say about yourself. GEO overlaps heavily with answer engine optimisation (AEO); it puts more weight on how your brand is represented across many AI tools.

Where does the term come from?

The term was introduced in a 2023 paper, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, by researchers from Princeton University, IIT Delhi and elsewhere, and published at KDD 2024. In its benchmark, adding relevant quotations, statistics and citations to sources raised a page’s visibility in generated answers by up to 40%, while keyword stuffing barely helped. It tested earlier systems, so treat it as a direction, not a formula.

Why does GEO matter in 2026?

• Engines disagree. Orbit Media tracked 13,184 citations and found ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity cited the same domain for the same question only 1.7% of the time. Visibility in one tells you little about the others.
• Unexpected platforms get cited. Semrush found LinkedIn was the second most-cited domain in ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Perplexity in its March 2026 dataset.
• Manipulation is now spam. Google’s spam policies cover “attempting to manipulate generative AI responses”.

How do generative engines decide what to say about you?

They draw on two things. Training data is what a model learned before its cut-off; it changes slowly and is gathered by training crawlers such as GPTBot and ClaudeBot. Live retrieval is the search a tool runs while answering: ChatGPT search uses OpenAI’s OAI-SearchBot, Claude’s web search draws on Brave Search and Anthropic’s Claude-SearchBot, Perplexity uses PerplexityBot, and Microsoft Copilot sends generated queries to Bing. Retrieval is where you have the most influence, because it reads the web as it is today.

How to get it right

1. Let the right bots in. Allow retrieval crawlers if you want to appear in answers, and decide separately about training crawlers. OpenAI says the settings are independent: you can allow OAI-SearchBot while disallowing GPTBot (AI crawlers).
2. State checkable facts. Who you are, where you operate, what you offer, prices or ranges, credentials and dates — in plain text on your site, and identical on your Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories (entity SEO).
3. Earn genuine mentions where AI looks. Trade press, industry associations, YouTube explainers, your team’s LinkedIn posts and reputable directories (brand mentions).
4. Add evidence. Cite sources, show first-hand data and name the expert behind the advice. Real numbers only.
5. Check what engines say, not just whether they mention you. When an answer is wrong — an old address, a service you dropped — fix the pages feeding it.
6. Track monthly, across engines (AI share of voice).

Common mistakes

• Blocking the wrong bot. Blocking OAI-SearchBot when you only meant to opt out of training keeps you out of ChatGPT search answers. And in robots.txt, a group for a named crawler replaces your * rules; Google’s parser does not combine them.
• Manufacturing mentions. Google says seeking inauthentic mentions “isn’t as helpful as it might seem”. Fake reviews and self-ranked “best of” lists are a risk, not a strategy.
• Inventing statistics. Evidence helps only when it is true.
• Watching one engine and assuming the rest agree.
• Expecting a guarantee. GEO improves the odds that engines find, trust and describe you correctly; no one can promise a citation or a recommendation.

In practice: a Morbi tile exporter

A buyer in Dubai asks ChatGPT for vitrified tile manufacturers in Morbi that can ship a mixed container to the UAE. The manufacturers it can name with confidence are those whose product pages state sizes, finishes, certifications, minimum orders and export markets in page text — not only in a PDF catalogue — and whose names recur in trade directories, exhibitor lists and industry coverage. Our GEO guide covers the wider playbook.