Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) are the practice of optimising your digital presence so that AI-powered search engines understand, cite, and recommend your business when synthesising answers to user queries. GEO focuses on generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, while AEO targets any engine that delivers direct answers — including voice assistants, featured snippets, and conversational search.
Unlike traditional search engines that return a list of links, AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews generate direct answers by analysing and synthesising information from across the web. They don't just rank pages — they decide which sources are authoritative enough to cite.
Traditional SEO focuses on keywords and backlinks. GEO/AEO focuses on structured knowledge, entity recognition, and authority signals that AI models use to determine trustworthiness. Your content must be comprehensible not just to humans, but to language models interpreting meaning and context.