GEO optimisation: how to get mentioned in AI answers and how to measure it
GEO optimisation, also known as generative engine optimisation, is about whether ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity mention your organisation when someone asks a question in your field. Here you can read what it is, what demonstrably works and how to measure whether it works.
Mentioned in the answers of four AI models54%
192 answers to 16 questions about medical examinations, measured on 9 September 2026
In this article
- What is GEO optimisation and what worked in the research?
- Isn’t GEO optimisation just SEO?
- How did generative engine optimisation become an industry term?
- What do we know from research and official sources?
- Does llms.txt or a special schema help?
- How do you measure if AI mentions you?
- Frequently asked questions
The answer
What is GEO optimisation and what worked in the research?
GEOGEO Ensuring that AI assistants like ChatGPT recognise, mention, and recommend your business when someone asks them for advice. optimisation, or generative engine optimisation, is the process of improving your chances of being mentioned and cited in answers from AI assistantsAI Assistant A chat program such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity that you can ask questions in natural language. such as ChatGPTChatGPT OpenAI's AI assistant, which allows you to ask questions and receive answers in natural language., GeminiGemini Google's AI assistant and language model. and PerplexityPerplexity An AI search engine that provides answers with numbered citations., and in Google’s AI OverviewsAI Overviews The summary that Google places at the top of search results using AI, above the standard links. and AI ModeAI Mode A Google search mode where you engage in a conversation with AI instead of receiving a list of links.. In the research where the term originated, which ran on gpt-3.5-turbo, quotationsCiting An AI assistant that uses your page as a source and typically includes a link to it., statistics and source attribution made a page most visible in the answer. KeywordKeyword The word or phrase that someone types into a search engine. stuffing performed worse than doing nothing. You will only know if it works for your organisation after a measurement. You repeatedly ask your customers’ questions to multiple AI assistants, count how often you are mentioned and which sources are included, make adjustments and then measure again using the same questions. That is the whole idea: measure first, then improve, then measure again, instead of a promise upfront. The source for each point is listed below.
From question to answer
Scope
Isn’t GEO optimisation just SEO?
Google itself states that optimising for generative AIAI Computer programs that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as writing text or answering questions. search functions is still SEO, and recognises GEO and AEO as names for this work. You can read how both fields work alongside each other on the SEO and GEO page, under the heading “SEO and GEO side by side”.
According to Google: one field
Google, guide on optimising for generative AI search functions
Origin
How did generative engine optimisation become an industry term?
The term was introduced in a paper from November 2023. Google and OpenAI then set out their own guidance.
- 16 November 2023. First version of the paper “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”.
- 2024. The paper is accepted for KDD 2024.
- 10 December 2025. Google updates its page on AI features: no additional requirements for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- 10 July 2026. Google updates its guide on optimising for generative AI search functions.
- Week of 24 August 2026. Ads in ChatGPT also become visible in the Netherlands. This is separate from GEO; read more about it on ChatGPT Ads.
From paper to rules, on a timeline
Evidence
What do we know from research and official sources?
Two types of sources are useful for this question: one measured study and what Google and OpenAI have documented themselves.
The paper (KDD 2024); Google, 10 December 2025 and 10 July 2026; OpenAI, as of 12 October 2026
What did the research measure?
The researchers evaluated 9 proposed GEO methods on a test set of 1,000 questions, from a collection of 10,000 questions. The generative engine in the test was gpt-3.5-turbo, with the first five Google results as sources. As a metric, they used position-adjusted word count: how much of the answer relies on your source, weighted by its position in the answer. According to the main text of the paper, the three best methods scored 30 to 40% higher than doing nothing, in relative terms. These included adding quotations, adding statistics and citing sources. Keyword stuffing scored 17.8 against 19.5 for doing nothing, thus performing worse. Read this as a direction: it concerns a relative increase in one test setup, the effect varies by domain and it is not a promise for your site. The research is accepted for KDD 2024, a scientific conference on data mining. The main text and the appendices of the paper differ slightly in detail.
9 proposed GEO methods
What does Google say officially?
Google defines what it expects from you in two documents. On the page about AI features, updated on 10 December 2025, it states that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or in AI Mode. Your page must be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. Traffic from these features is included in the total traffic in Search Console. In the guide on optimising for generative AI search functions, updated on 10 July 2026, Google writes that it is not necessary to break your content into small pieces. That guide also mentions GEO and AEO as terms. This is therefore not a list of tricks: the official line is that nothing special is needed beyond good search optimisation. For other assistants, such as ChatGPT, those documents do not apply; the next block covers those.
What does OpenAI say officially?
OpenAI primarily describes access. ChatGPT search uses its own crawler, OAI-SearchBot. If you want your site to be able to appear in ChatGPT’s search functions, that crawler must not be blocked in your robots.txt. GPTBot serves to train models; if you block GPTBot, your site will not be used for that purpose. It can take about 24 hours before OpenAI applies a change in your robots.txt. As of 12 October 2026, we have not found any OpenAI documentation on which content factors determine which source ChatGPT cites. That is not proof that those factors do not exist. It means that we found no source at OpenAI for statements about what ChatGPT wants to see, and that you can only test them by measuring. Allowing access is a prerequisite: it does not guarantee that you will be mentioned. So first check that the crawler can reach your site, before you look at the content.
Two official lines side by side
Measures
Does llms.txt or a special schema help?
According to Google, neither helps. Google writes in the guide on generative AI search functions, updated on 10 July 2026, that an llms.txt or other AI text files do not help and do not harm. On the page about AI features, updated on 10 December 2025, it states that you do not need special schema.org structured data to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. For OpenAI, we have found no comparable statement about llms.txt, as of 12 October 2026. Anyone promoting either as the definitive GEO measure has no support for that from Google. If you already have an llms.txt, you do not need to remove it, as Google says it does no harm. You also do not need to invest any more time in it. What you can do is stated in the blocks above: ensure your pages are indexed, that crawlers have access, and test the rest with a measurement.
What the sources say
Measuring
How do you measure if AI mentions you?
How do you set up the measurement?
A measurement in AI answers follows a fixed sequence. First, you determine the questions your customers ask an AI. Choose questions as a customer would ask them, without your own brand name, so you test whether you are mentioned and not whether the AI knows you. You use the same questions for the baseline measurement and for each repetition, otherwise you are comparing apples with oranges. Then you repeatedly ask each question to multiple AI assistants. The banking sector measurement covered 216 answers to 18 customer questions, spread across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Such a setup does not yield a single figure, like position 3, but it does show a trend. The SEO and GEO page explains that every month we check, per AI system, whether you are mentioned. The entire measurement can be found at Which bank does the AI mention.
Banking sector measurement: 216 answers to 18 customer questions
The measurement cycle
How do you know if it works?
For each answer, you count which organisations are mentioned and which pages are listed as sources. In the banking measurement, almost every answer mentioned a bank: only 14 of the 216 answers mentioned none at all. On the homepage of eqwise.nl, there is an example of a customer measurement: 54% mentioned in the answers of four AI models, 192 answers to 16 questions about medical examinations, measured on 9 September 2026. That is the outcome of a measurement, not a promise for your site. After a change, you ask the same questions again and compare the outcome with the baseline measurement. If the share of answers in which you are mentioned increases after an adjustment, that is an indication but not yet proof, as AI answers vary. With multiple measurements in succession, this becomes a trend. You can read how SEO and GEO work together as a service, and what that costs, on SEO and GEO.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you buy mentions in AI responses?
Not within the response itself. OpenAI states that advertisements in ChatGPTChatGPT OpenAI's AI assistant, which allows you to ask questions and receive answers in natural language. run on separate systems and that advertisers cannot direct, rank, or modify the responses. Advertisements are always separate and identifiable as such. Google writes that pursuing fake mentionsMention A place where your business name is mentioned, with or without a link. on the web is less helpful than it seems. You can read more about paid advertising in ChatGPT at ChatGPT Ads.
How long until you see a difference?
It’s impossible to predict this within a few weeks, and anyone who claims otherwise is promising more than they can deliver. What is possible: conduct a baseline measurementBaseline Measurement The measurement of the initial situation before any changes are implemented., implement a change, and re-evaluate the same metrics. A shift only becomes apparent when you measure again.
Is GEO optimisation the same as AEO?
These are terms that are often used interchangeably. Google refers to both GEOGEO Ensuring that AI assistants like ChatGPT recognise, mention, and recommend your business when someone asks them for advice. and AEO as terms in its guide, updated on 10 July 2026, and states that optimising for generative AIAI Computer programs that perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as writing text or answering questions. search functions is still SEOSEO Everything you do to improve your visibility in Google without paying for advertisements..
What does a measurement cost?
The price of a measurement is part of the service and is not listed on this page. You can find the current prices under Pricing and SEO and GEO. If you would first like to see what a measurement provides, you can do so via the free scan.
What exactly do you measure in an AI response?
Two things: whether your organisation is mentioned and which sources are included. You count that across multiple responses and per AI assistantAI Assistant A chat program such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity that you can ask questions in natural language., so that you get a share and not just a single screenshot.
Start with a measurement instead of a promise
Do you want to know if ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity mention your organisation, and what the next step is? In the free scan, you will receive a plan that also includes the measurement in AI answers.
