What is GEO? Generative Engine Optimization, in plain English
When someone asks ChatGPT what tool to use, an answer comes back with two or three names in it. GEO is the discipline of making sure one of those names is yours. It is the AI-era sibling of SEO: same goal, being found, different judge.
How AI engines pick what to recommend
Generative engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude) answer buyer questions by drawing on what they can read and verify: your site, and everything the web says about you. In practice that means they favour sites that are readable (real HTML content, since their crawlers generally do not execute JavaScript), legible (a clear, consistent statement of what you are, who you serve and what you cost), and corroborated (mentioned in directories, reviews, comparisons and community discussions the engine also reads).
Notice what is missing from that list: tricks. There is no keyword density to game. The engines reward being clearly, verifiably what you claim to be.
GEO vs SEO: what actually changes
The overlap is large, and that is good news: crawlable HTML, honest metadata, structured data and authority help both. The differences that matter:
- Rendering is stricter. Google eventually executes JavaScript; AI crawlers mostly never do. JS-only content is invisible to them, full stop
- Answers replace rankings. There is no page two of a ChatGPT answer. You are cited or you are absent
- Quotability matters. Engines lift clear, factual sentences. A page of vague copy gives them nothing safe to repeat
- Third-party evidence weighs more. Being described consistently across the wider web is how engines gain confidence in you
- llms.txt and structured data are your machine-facing surface. They state canonical facts in formats built for machines
Getting started, in order
First make your site readable without JavaScript and give every page honest metadata, that is shared SEO/GEO groundwork. Then state your facts for machines: llms.txt and JSON-LD structured data. Then measure: ask the engines your buyers' questions and see whether you appear. Drazen automates the whole loop, including an AI visibility check that shows whether ChatGPT and Perplexity currently mention your site for the questions your niche asks, then writes and ships the fixes for everything in your control.
Questions
Is GEO replacing SEO?
No, it stacks on top. Google is still where most discovery happens today; AI answers are the fastest-growing slice. The technical groundwork overlaps heavily, so doing it once serves both.
Can I pay to appear in AI answers?
Not organically. Engines cite what they trust and can read. The work is readability, clarity and reputation, which is why starting early compounds: citations beget citations.
How do I know if any of this is working?
Track whether AI engines mention you for your niche's buyer questions, and re-check on a schedule. Drazen runs exactly this check, free, alongside its technical scan.
See what your site scores
Drazen scans your site the way Google and ChatGPT see it, shows you everything that is hurting you, and writes the fixes itself. Free, about 30 seconds.
Run the free scan →