AI Search
Optimization
AI search optimization, often sold as GEO, is what SEO has become. Most of the agency market has not adapted. This page explains how AI search engines such as Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity decide which pages to cite, and what an agency doing this work should be able to show you.
Also called
GEO
Generative engine optimization, answer engine optimization, AI SEO: different labels for the same work of getting a business cited and recommended by AI search engines.
What is GEO?
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the name many agencies use for making a business visible in AI search engines: Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude. These systems answer a question by retrieving pages, then citing and summarizing the ones they trust.
A traditional search result is a ranked list. An AI search result is an answer with a handful of cited sources, and sometimes a business recommended by name. Ranking, being cited, and being recommended are three different outcomes, and the work behind all three is the same work SEO has always been about: pages that answer real questions, and a brand described consistently everywhere it appears. An agency that is not doing this work is practicing legacy SEO.
Passage-level retrieval
AI search engines pull individual passages, not whole pages. A page is cited when one of its passages answers the specific sub-question the engine ran.
Mentions on sources AI already cites
Directories, listicles, review sites, and discussion threads that AI answers already draw from matter more for AI visibility than a backlink count.
What an AI search agency should be doing
Tracking prompts on AI search engines
An agency doing AI search work can show which prompts it tracks for a business, on which AI search engines, and how often that business appears in the answers. One conversation with ChatGPT proves nothing either way. Useful measurement covers a set of prompts, on more than one engine, over time.
Publishing pages that answer the questions buyers ask
Content is the main lever for most businesses. AI search engines retrieve passages that answer a specific question, so the work is publishing pages for the questions buyers and AI systems actually ask, with the brand's facts stated plainly inside them. Technical fixes and links support that work. They do not replace it.
Getting the brand named on the sources AI already cites
AI answers draw on directories, listicles, review sites, and discussion threads. Getting a business named accurately on the sources that already appear in its category's answers does more for AI visibility than a backlink count. Which sources matter depends on the industry and the query, so the agency should be checking against real prompts in the business's own category rather than working from a universal list.
Reporting citations, recommendations, and leads separately
Rankings, citations, and recommendations are three different results, and a report should show each on its own. It should also connect them to inquiries or sales, because traffic without leads is vanity. An agency that reports only rankings and traffic has not shown any AI search work, whatever else it is doing well.
AI Guides
What is GEO? A Complete Guide to AI Search Optimization
GEO stands for generative engine optimization. Learn what it is, how AI search engines pick their sources, and whether the SEO you already pay for covers it.
How to Choose an SEO Agency for AI Search: 10 Questions to Ask Before You Sign
How to choose an SEO agency for AI search: the 10 questions to ask, the red flags to watch for, and how to check an agency's AI visibility claims yourself.
What to ask an agency
The blog covers the questions to ask an SEO agency before signing, and how AI search engines choose which pages to cite.
Read the blog