What is generative engine optimization?
Generative engine optimization is the practice of getting your brand named in answers produced by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI overviews — where the outcome is being cited in a generated answer rather than ranked in a list of links.
It differs from SEO in what success looks like. SEO competes for a position in a list of ten links and is measured by rank and clicks. GEO competes to be one of a handful of sources a model synthesises into a single answer, and is measured by whether you are mentioned at all, in what position, and in what company.
The tactics overlap more than the marketing around GEO suggests. Being clearly written, factually specific, well structured and widely cited elsewhere helps in both. What is genuinely different is the value of unambiguous, self-contained statements: a model quoting you needs a passage that survives being lifted out of its page, and comparative or definitional content is disproportionately quoted.
The honest measurement approach is unaided recall. Asking an assistant "what is the best tool for X" and recording whether you are named — and who is named ahead of you — is meaningful. Asking it about your brand by name tells you nothing about whether a buyer who has never heard of you would ever encounter it.
See also
Twin-Marketing is the selfnode twin that works on this. See what it does →