Cartoon image depicting GEO - generated by Gemini

WTF is GEO? A guide to staying visible in AI search

Feeling overwhelmed by all the new acronyms flying around in search and content marketing? You’re not alone. From GEO to AIO and AEO to SXO, it’s hard to know what’s what – and what you actually need to focus on.

Shayna Burns

31 July 2025

10 minute read

This guide breaks down what generative engine optimisation (GEO) really means, how it’s different from traditional SEO and related acronyms, and why SEO fundamentals still matter more than ever.

Whether you’re a head of digital, a content specialist or an evolving SEO specialist, this guide will help you stay visible in a world of AI-generated answers.

Table of contents

  1. What is generative engine optimisation (GEO)?
  2. GEO vs SEO: what’s the difference?
  3. GEO vs AIO, AEO and SXO explained
  4. Why SEO is still the foundation of GEO
  5. What GEO looks like in practice
  6. What to avoid when optimising for generative engines
  7. GEO best practices for 2025 and beyond 
  8. Frequently asked questions about GEO
  9. Glossary: GEO, SEO, AIO, AEO and SXO
 

What is generative engine optimisation (GEO)?

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the process of improving your content's visibility and usefulness in generative AI search engines and assistants. These include platforms like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode (coming soon to Australia), Perplexity, Claude and others, including GPTs specific to certain sector verticals.

Unlike traditional search engines that return a list of clickable links, generative engines synthesise answers using content from across the web. GEO focuses on helping your content get surfaced, cited and used in these AI-generated responses.

In short: GEO is about making your content AI-friendly, answer-ready and easy to summarise.

 

GEO vs SEO: what’s the difference?

Let’s be clear: GEO is not a replacement for SEO. Where people conduct their searches may be expanding, but the foundations of how we ‘get found’ remain the same. 

GEO builds upon strong SEO fundamentals – things like crawlability, structured content and clear hierarchy – but goes a step further to ensure your content works in zero-click environments.

SEO

GEO

Optimises for rankings in Google

Optimises for citations and summaries in AI-generated answers

Focuses on keywords and SERP intent

Focuses on entity clarity, promptability, and helpfulness

Measures rankings, impressions, clicks

Measures visibility in LLMs, AI citations, user engagement

Relies on search engine crawlers

Relies on AI crawlers and answer generation models


Key takeaway: good SEO gives you a head start, but GEO demands a new layer of optimisation that’s focused on how content is read and reassembled by machines, not just humans.

 

GEO vs AIO, AEO and SXO explained

In this rapidly evolving space, there are a lot of new names and acronyms flying around. Let’s quickly demystify some of the other acronyms you might be seeing.

AEO (Answer engine optimisation)

AEO focuses on helping your content appear as direct answers in tools like Google’s featured snippets, Siri or Alexa. It’s about brevity, factual accuracy and structured data – great for short answers, but limited when long-form synthesis is needed.

AIO (AI optimisation)

This one can mean different things, so be aware. AIO can refer to the process of optimising content for AI consumption, and sometimes it refers to content written with the help of AI tools like Gemini. Use this one with caution.

SXO (Search experience optimisation)

SXO combines SEO with UX and conversion optimisation. It’s about making sure visitors don’t just land – that they stay, engage and convert. While not focused on AI, it complements GEO by improving on-site value and user satisfaction. SXO is a term I saw for the first time this year on a webinar, but it’s not an acronym we use at Luminary; instead, we think of the user journey more holistically, with search engines and AI-powered chat being two possible starting points.

 

Why SEO is still the foundation of GEO

Here’s the reality: you can’t win at GEO without a solid SEO foundation. 

This is nicely summarised by a meme (of course) shared by Mark Williams-Cook, SEO and owner of Candour, that made me snort-laugh:

GEO v SEO meme

Generative AI models rely on content that is:

  • Crawlable and indexable
  • Organised with clear headings and structure
  • Trusted, consistent, and topically rich
  • Updated and well-maintained
  • Written in natural, clear language.

Sound familiar? All the SEO, content and accessibility best practices you’ve been taught still hold true in the world of AI-powered search. Phew.

Conversely, the issues you may have faced in SEO can also limit your visibility in LLMs. If your website is a mess technically or your content is thin and outdated, you’ll struggle to appear in generative answers, regardless of how clever your prompts or tactics are.

(If your SEO fundamentals need a refresh – things like crawlability, internal linking and structured content – our SEO services cover exactly that.)

Emerging technical tactics specific to GEO

It’s worth noting that GEO has introduced a few new tactics that build on your SEO foundation, but there are specific use cases when these may be necessary.

Two you may have heard about:

  1. llms.txt and llms-full.txt
    These optional files can be added to your site to guide large language model crawlers to the best content for LLMs to access and summarise. They’re especially useful if your site has complex architecture, rendering issues or high compliance requirements, or if you're seeing issues with how AI tools are interpreting your pages.
  2. Advanced schema markup for entity signalling
    Schema.org markup is more valuable than ever. Using types like Organization, Person, FAQPage and HowTo, and linking them to known entities via sameAs, helps LLMs understand and correctly attribute your content. It’s a relatively low-effort way to reinforce your brand, authors and content topics across the generative web.
 

What GEO looks like in day-to-day practice

Optimising for generative engines means rethinking how you structure, write and monitor content, with some tweaks to what you’ve (hopefully) been doing to date.

1. Write with promptability in mind

Use clear, question-based headers and direct answers that LLMs can easily extract. Think FAQ-style content, crisp summaries and structured sections. This can mean dialling back your marketing language and leaning more into straightforward, easily readable content. (Good copywriting can help you retain your brand tone of voice.)

2. Prioritise entity clarity

Make it easy for AI systems to understand who you are, what you do, who you service, and what you’re known for – these are known as your 'entities'. Use consistent, specific naming conventions. Link to authoritative sources where relevant.

You’ll notice that on Luminary’s website, we talk about our agency, our people, our services, the technologies we specialise in, the industries and clients we support, our case studies, topics of authority (our Insights), etc. Although we did this long before GEO came along, having this context is good for GEO because it helps AI make sense of who we are and how we fit into the world. 

3. Build topical authority

Generative engines favour trusted sources with deep, consistent coverage on a topic. That means building hubs of content that go beyond one-off blog posts – both on your own site and on trusted publications that LLMs are likely to cite.

Tip: LLMs also have a bias toward recency, so ensure your content governance includes both producing new content and keeping older content up to date.

4. Optimise for zero-click search experiences

Since AI Overviews launched, websites have seen a drop in clicks (at Luminary, we’ve seen a range of anywhere from 10-30 percent fewer clicks). This is supported by a July 2025 report from the Pew Research Center, which found that 'Google users are more likely to end their browsing session entirely after visiting a search page with an AI summary than on pages without a summary'.

As part of your GEO tactics, assume users won’t visit your site. Write helpful, well-structured content to increase the chance of being cited or summarised. Not sure what questions to be answering? Answer The Public remains a great tool for identifying common questions about different topics.

3. Structure your content well 

Generative engines segment and interpret content differently than humans. The clearer your structure, the easier it is for LLMs to extract and summarise the right information. Best practices:

  • Use semantic HTML and a clear heading hierarchy (from H1 to H4, in the right order)
  • Keep paragraphs short (ideally 1–3 sentences)
  • Break up dense text with bullet points or numbered lists
  • Include a concise intro and summary on each page
  • Use tables or comparison blocks for clarity where relevant
  • Link logically to related content, especially within defined topic clusters.

5. Monitor AI visibility

Check your server logs for AI bot visits and review your website analytics tools for human traffic from AI-powered search. You may also want to invest in one of the new AI visibility analytics tools that have emerged, like Scrunch or Profound, or upgrade to an AI package in your existing SEO tool like Ahrefs and SEMrush. These typically give you cool metrics like your share of visibility in LLMs vs. competitors and the sentiment surrounding your brand in AI-generated responses.

 

What to avoid when optimising for generative engines

  • At the risk of sounding repetitive: don’t abandon SEO. Skipping technical hygiene, structured data or keyword research can hurt both traditional and AI visibility. But don’t take my word for it – explore Google’s top ways to ensure your content performs well in AI experiences.
  • Don’t game the prompt. Stuffing pages with artificial prompt phrases is short-sighted and likely to backfire (keyword stuffing 2.0).
  • Don’t publish thin content. Generative engines value depth, not filler. Avoid surface-level fluff or AI-generated spam. Think about what your customers need and what pain points they have. In conversational search, users tend to add considerably more detail than a traditional Google search, so use your biggest asset – your deep industry knowledge – to answer nuanced questions.
 

GEO best practices for 2025 and beyond

  1. Conduct regular SEO/GEO audits and improve your site’s technical health
  2. Use headers, summaries and FAQs to make content prompt-friendly
  3. Prioritise clarity over cleverness – write for machines and humans (shoutout to copywriters: what you do is an artform!)
  4. Update and expand top-performing pages regularly
  5. Align content with how people ask questions, not just how they search
  6. Build authority around defined topic clusters
  7. Track LLM citations and AI bot visits over time.
 

FAQs about generative engine optimisation

Is GEO just SEO with expensive AI tools?

No. GEO is about making your content perform better within generative engines. Tools can help, but you can go far with what you already have access to today.

Do I need to change all my old content?

No. Start by updating high-performing and high-priority pages with better structure, answers and topical depth. Do what’s manageable.

Will Google penalise me for optimising for AI?

There’s no penalty for making your content easier to understand, summarise and cite. In fact, it has the potential to improve your E-E-A-T signals.

Can I track GEO performance in Google Analytics?

Not directly. GEO benchmarking and reporting often involves analysing citations and using prompt-based visibility checks across AI platforms. 

 

Glossary: decoding the GEO alphabet soup

  • GEO: Generative engine optimisation
  • SEO: Search engine optimisation
  • AEO: Answer engine optimisation
  • AIO: AI optimisation (vague term, often misused)
  • SXO: Search experience optimisation
  • LLM: Large language model (used in generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude)
  • E-E-A-T: Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness (Google’s quality framework)

Final thoughts

Generative engine optimisation is not a trend; it’s a logical response to how search is evolving. As people turn to AI assistants and chat-based tools for answers, the old SEO playbook needs an update.

The good news is we don’t need to start over. In fact, if you’ve been investing in good SEO (high-quality content, user experience and technical foundations), you’re already halfway there.

Now it’s time to go further: think beyond rankings and start optimising for how content is assembled, summarised and cited in a world of zero-click search.

Interested in exploring how GEO can work for your business? Get in touch to discuss a GEO benchmark report or GEO audit and strategy, or learn more about our GEO services.

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