SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the work of getting your brand cited in the answers that ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews generate. Headcore runs it together with SEO, as part of the same predictable acquisition asset.
Talk to a specialist →What GEO is and how it differs from SEO
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the work of getting an answer engine to use your content as a source and name your brand when someone asks about your category. The term comes from a 2023 paper by researchers at Princeton, Georgia Tech, the Allen Institute for AI and IIT Delhi, presented at KDD 2024. They tested nine text changes across thousands of queries; citing sources, adding statistics and adding quotations raised a source’s visibility in generated answers by up to 40%.
| SEO | GEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it shows up | Google and Bing results list | Answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and AI Overviews |
| What you win | The click to the page | A brand mention or a source link, often with no click |
| Unit of work | Page and keyword | Entity (company, services, authors) and question |
| What weighs most | Relevance, links and page experience | Clear definitions, sourced data and one consistent description of the entity across the web |
| How it is measured | Position, impressions and clicks in Search Console | AI bot visits, traffic from assistants and presence across a fixed set of questions |
The technical base is shared. AI Overviews draw on Google’s index and ChatGPT search combines its own crawler with third-party results such as Bing. A page that is not indexed is left out of both. That is why we run SEO and GEO as one project.
SEO has changed. Repeating keywords no longer carries it.
Meaning, intent and algorithmic authority do. We don’t treat SEO as one-off optimization, but as a strategic asset for predictable acquisition.
SEO today is continuous relevance — and relevance has become infrastructure.
Talk to a specialist →The growth breaking point
Many companies do show up on Google, but:
The result is growth that’s expensive, unstable and hard to scale.
What changed in search logic
Search engines have moved from words to meaning. Today, Google, Bing and AI systems evaluate:
Semantic clarity
Authority by entity and topic
Relationships between content
The ability to answer real intent
SEO that ignores this loses traction fast.
How GEO is measured
Search Console does not report AI citations. Measurement comes from four sources:
Server logs
Visits from ChatGPT-User, OAI-SearchBot, Perplexity-User and Claude-User to each URL. ChatGPT-User only shows up when a person asked a question and the assistant went to read your page.
Referral traffic
Sessions arriving from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com, split from organic. ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to many of the links it cites.
Question panel
A fixed set of industry questions, rerun every month in each assistant, to record whether the brand appears, in what order and with which source.
Google and Bing index
Coverage in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools is the first check: no index, no AI Overview and no Copilot answer.
SEO as a semantic growth system
Before scaling content, we organize:
- 01
The company’s authority territory
- 02
The business’s strategic entities
- 03
The intents that actually create value
- 04
The structure that connects search, content and conversion
The practical impact
When SEO is structured this way, the effect is direct:
- Unlocking non-branded traffic
- Progressive CAC reduction
- Predictable organic growth
- Lower operational risk in paid channels
- Building a durable digital asset
SEO keeps working even when campaigns stop.
Frequently asked questions
What is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization: the set of changes that make a brand appear and get cited in AI-generated answers, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google’s AI Overviews. It is also called AI search optimization or LLM SEO. The term was proposed in 2023 by researchers from Princeton, Georgia Tech and the Allen Institute for AI, in a paper that measured which text changes made a source more likely to be cited in those answers.
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO works to get the page ranked in the list of results and earn the click. GEO works to get the content used as a source when the AI writes an answer, which people often read without clicking anything. Both rest on the same base: clear content, a well-defined entity and authority on the topic. What changes is the measurement: SEO counts position and clicks; GEO counts how often the brand is cited and for which questions.
Is GEO related to local or geographic SEO?
No. Here GEO means Generative Engine Optimization. The acronym overlaps with “geo” as in geolocation, but local SEO, which deals with searches like “agency near me” and the Google Business Profile, is a separate discipline.
How do I know if ChatGPT or Gemini cite my brand?
Three signals can be checked today: ChatGPT-User and Perplexity-User visits in the server logs, sessions from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai in analytics, and a fixed set of industry questions rerun monthly in each assistant. Search Console does not separate AI Overview impressions, so it cannot do this job.
Does an llms.txt file help with GEO?
llms.txt is a proposal by Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI, published in September 2024: a file at the site root that summarizes in Markdown which pages matter. No major answer engine has confirmed using it to choose sources. It is cheap to maintain, which is why we keep one, but it does not replace indexing or content with data and sources.
Talk to a specialist
If your organic growth feels inconsistent or too dependent on paid media, our SEO and GEO work reorganizes the structure, restores relevance and creates predictable organic growth.
Fill in the form and let’s build the foundation of your organic growth together. Talk to our team.