AI search terminology
Generative Engine Optimisation
Also written as GEO.
What is Generative Engine Optimisation?
Generative Engine Optimisation is the practice of influencing whether and how a source is cited within the text that a generative AI system produces.
Who uses the term Generative Engine Optimisation?
Generative Engine Optimisation is used in full by researchers, in published papers, and by agencies distinguishing their offer from conventional SEO. The full form avoids the geographic ambiguity that the abbreviation GEO carries.
The term is most common in written material and least common in conversation, where practitioners default to the abbreviation.
How does Generative Engine Optimisation differ from related terms?
Generative Engine Optimisation targets inclusion in generated prose. Answer Engine Optimisation targets selection as a direct answer. AI visibility describes the measurable outcome that both are pursuing.
Neither term describes work that is fundamentally separate from search engine optimisation as it has long been practised.
What does AEO GEO LLM Seeding AI SEO - Or Whatever The F$ck You Want to Call It say about Generative Engine Optimisation?
Generative Engine Optimisation appears in the book as one of the names in the land grab rather than as a separate practice. The position is stated up front so a reader can get a refund early if they disagree: the label does not matter, the work matters, and the work is one discipline whatever it is filed under.