What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?
Friday 30th May 2025
GEO refers to the practice of tailoring content so that it appears in AI-generated responses, rather than just traditional search engine results. As more users turn to AI chatbots and assistants for answers, businesses need to think beyond classic SEO strategies.
How Is GEO Different from SEO?
While Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) focuses on improving visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs), GEO is about optimising for AI outputs like the summaries, recommendations and citations that tools like ChatGPT or Gemini produce in response to user queries.
How to Optimise for GEO
There are already several practical steps marketers can take to improve their visibility in AI-generated responses.
Clear and well-structured content
Generative AI tools rely on high-quality input to generate accurate and meaningful outputs. Content that is logically organised, concise and free from ambiguity is far more likely to be summarised or referenced correctly by AI models.
Provide clear schema markup
By providing metadata in a structured format, you help AI tools interpret your content more precisely, which increases the chances of being included in AI-generated answers.
Establish topical authority
Consistently publish in-depth, high-quality content on specific subjects. This will signal to AI systems (and search engines) that your website is a trusted source in a particular field.
Backlinks
Similarly to SEO strategies, being cited or linked to by reputable sources reinforces your credibility. This is especially important since many AI models are trained on trusted datasets and domains.
Stay relevant
Generative AI technologies are evolving rapidly, so understanding how they gather, interpret, and present information will help you adapt your content strategies to keep pace with the changing landscape.
Final Thought
GEO isn’t a replacement for traditional marketing strategies like SEO or PPC, it’s an extension of them. Its purpose is to broaden the range of places where users can discover your business.