What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and how does it work in practice?

For years, optimising a brand's digital presence had just one name: SEO. But the way people look for information has changed. More and more questions are asked directly to AI assistants, which answer in a paragraph instead of returning a list of links. This shift gave rise to a new discipline: GEO.

This article explains what GEO is, how AI models decide what to cite and what that means, in practice, for your brand.

What GEO means

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It's the set of practices that increases the likelihood of your brand being referenced and cited when an AI model, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude, generates an answer to a question.

The central idea is this: instead of competing for a position on a results page, you compete for a place inside the answer the user actually reads.

How LLMs choose the sources they cite

To do GEO well, you need to understand how a model decides what to mention. Although each system has its own quirks, there are consistent patterns.

Semantic relevance. The model doesn't look for an exact keyword; it looks for meaning. Content that fully answers the intent behind the question has an advantage, even if it uses different words from the question.

Authority and reliability. Sources seen as credible, with a track record, verifiable data and a reputation on the topic, are favoured. The model tends to avoid sources it can't validate.

Structural clarity. Well-organised text, with direct statements, clear definitions and lists, is easier to interpret and extract. Muddled prose is rarely cited.

Freshness and consistency. Up-to-date information that is consistent with what other reliable sources say earns trust. Contradictions and outdated content lose weight.

Presence beyond your website. A model answers with what it learned in training and, increasingly, with what it searches on the web at the moment of the question. Some assistants search the web for every question; others only when the question calls for it. That's why sources you don't directly control also count: forums and communities such as Reddit, Wikipedia, directories and industry publications. If your brand only exists on your own website, there are few places to cite it from.

GEO in practice: an example

Imagine you run a business-software company and someone asks an AI assistant: "what's the best invoicing software for SMEs in Portugal?"

The model will build an answer from the sources it knows. If your website has a clear page explaining features, prices and use cases, with concrete data and direct language, you're far more likely to be mentioned than a competitor with a vague, outdated website.

Notice what happened: there was no click and no results page. There was an answer, and your brand was either in it or it wasn't.

The same applies to any industry. Questions like these decide who shows up:

• "What's the best CRM for small businesses in Portugal?"
• "How does VAT work when exporting services to the EU?"
• "Which companies in Portugal do industrial equipment maintenance?"

If your company should appear in an answer like this and doesn't, that's where GEO starts. The concrete steps are in how to show up on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.

Why GEO matters now

There are three reasons not to leave this for later.

First, more and more search and comparison questions that used to go to Google are now asked to AI assistants.

Second, being cited builds trust. When an AI assistant mentions your brand as the answer, the user takes it as a recommendation, not as an ad.

Third, it's still early. Whoever starts working on GEO now builds a presence before the topic becomes obvious to every competitor.

Conclusion

GEO isn't a fad or a replacement for SEO, and the two work together (see GEO vs SEO). It's the natural response to a real change in how people look for information. As more decisions start inside a conversation with AI, being the source that AI chooses to cite stops being optional.

The first step is to know where you stand today: ask the right questions to the main assistants and see whether your brand shows up. Everything else is built from there.