Definition
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is an emerging practice of adjusting and organizing content so that generative engines are more likely to retrieve, cite and surface it in AI-generated answers. The concept spread from the research paper “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”, published in November 2023.
How it works
Generative engines retrieve external content and synthesize answers. The paper’s experiments found that writing adjustments such as adding citations, authoritative phrasing and statistics were associated with a higher chance of content being included in answers; which tactics work in which products is still being studied and tested in practice.
Usage
GEO comes up in content operations and AI product discussions — for example, making product docs or review articles easier for AI assistants to cite, or analyzing how one’s content appears in AI answers.
Related and confusable terms
GEO shares goals with search engine optimization (SEO) but targets a different surface: SEO competes for rankings on search results pages, while GEO competes to become a cited source in AI-generated answers.