What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the evolution of SEO designed to ensure that your content is selected and cited by AI (AI Overview, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity), thanks to well-organized, verifiable texts rich in signs of authority.
Why now: users are increasingly asking instead of searching; generative models synthesize answers by drawing on sources deemed reliable. The goal is not just to “be in SERP,” but to become a cited source in AI responses.
What is GEO: a brief definition and why it is important
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization and refers to the optimization of content so that it is selected and cited by AI (AI Overview, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity), thanks to extractable formats, robust signals, and brand authority.
- Does GEO replace SEO? No. It extends it: SEO remains the foundation; GEO adds formats and signals useful to generative models.
- How do I get into Google’s AI Overview? Cover the main question and sub-questions, use short passages and sourced data, structure with FAQs, build thematic authority, and get qualified mentions.
- How do I measure GEO? By monitoring citations/quotes in AI Overviews, extracted text, question coverage, and reputation signals (brand mentions, backlinks, sentiment).
What does it mean to do GEO?
It involves working on your content so that it can be understood, selected, and mentioned by generative models. In concrete terms, this means creating orderly and verifiable texts with extractable passages and qualified references so that ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overview consider them useful for building responses.
In practice, GEO helps you transform exposure into mentions within artificial intelligence outputs, a new competitive space that becomes an integral part of your organic strategy.
If SEO is the art of seducing the algorithms of traditional search engines, GEO is the science of dialoguing with generative artificial intelligence: today, when users no longer search but ask, GEO responds with content designed to be understood and used by AI.
How to optimize for GEO (on-site and off-site)
Generative Engine Optimization stems from the need to oversee spaces where answers do not come from a list of links, but from large language models (LLMs) that select and rework content for AI engine responses.
And to be visible here, you need to convince an algorithm that your information is the most reliable and useful, which is why you need to focus your optimization on the “understanding” and “synthesis” of language models, as well as classic crawlers.
To do this, the work focuses on specific actions that strengthen the brand’s authority signal on multiple fronts, both on-site and off-site. Text structure, use of FAQs, verifiable data, and external citations strengthen the possibility of being included, and digital reputation becomes decisive: the more a brand appears in third-party sources, the more likely AI is to choose it as a reference.
GEO: the operational plan
Your operational plan for GEO starts with an audit to understand how the brand appears in AI results today, and then builds an implementation with specific tactics.
On-site tactics
- Start with content. Make sure it is effective, clear, well-researched, and structured with defined H1, H2, and H3 headings. Freshness and semantic coverage affect selectability; paragraph chunking and the conscious use of formats (text, tables, infographics, videos) also improve citability.
- Build your thematic authority. Focus on creating clusters of related content, covering your niche comprehensively. The goal is to position your brand as the reference source that artificial intelligence should draw on.
Off-site tactics
- Work on digital PR and brand mentions. AI also relies on external sources. Getting mentions and citations in recognized publications, review sites, and forums increases your brand’s credibility in the eyes of language models.
- Maintain brand consistency. AI models reward consistency and authority across multiple channels. A strong identity and clear semantic relevance will give you an advantage.
Want to learn more about strategies for SEO for AI? Download Ivano Di Biasi‘s book for free from this link: written in May 2024, it describes a future where AI would also enter search engines and the practical consequences for positioning our websites in AI search engines. Sound familiar? Yes, that’s what we’re experiencing today! And the techniques predicted to emerge in LLM and AI Overview are absolutely valid and relevant today!
Practical tips for GEO
Want to write a GEO-friendly article? Remember that your audience is not only made up of people, but also algorithms, and a few small tips are all it takes to make your content AI’s best friend.
- Start with a question
For example, “What is Generative Engine Optimization?” This is because AI looks for clear questions as a starting point. Need I remind you that SEOZoom also allows you to search by question?
- Give short answers right away
For example, “GEO refers to the set of strategies aimed at optimizing content for AI.” This type of sentence can be directly inserted into a response generated by a virtual assistant.
- Use bulleted lists
Lists help AI quickly understand the structure and key concepts of your text. They are perfect for breaking down information and increasing the likelihood that it will be reused in the generated results.
- Distribute your content across multiple platforms
Don’t limit yourself to your blog; think in terms of content everywhere. AI gets its information from Wikipedia, Google, Bing, but also Reddit and Quora. The more you are present in different places, the more you increase the chances of your content being picked up by AI.
GEO vs SEO: differences, similarities, and when to use both
GEO does not replace SEO, but extends it to a new competitive space where what counts is understanding, synthesis, and authority as perceived by the models.
Don’t think in terms of opposition: GEO allows you to bring SEO into generative engines. It is the new metamorphosis of traditional search engine optimization, which adapts to the scenario renewed by generative AI.
Imagine SEO as water: essential, but in a form we know. GEO, on the other hand, is steam: the same substance, but transformed to adapt to new needs. A new playing field where content is read and chosen by AI.
The disorientation is understandable: for years, you have worked and learned to navigate a field with defined rules—Google’s Search Essentials and, in parallel, the Search Quality Rater Guidelines—and to measure results with tools such as Search Console. Today, GEO takes you into new territory, without official regulations or native dashboards.
Here, visibility is earned through authority, strategic consistency, and the relevance of your content. As a result, your operational focus also changes. The work shifts from keyword optimization, crawlability, and backlinks to a broader view, where what counts is the context, semantic richness, and authority that your brand has built over time.
However, the fundamentals remain the same. Many of the most effective tactics for GEO, such as optimization for conversational searches, multi-channel strategy, and digital PR, are activities that you as an SEO professional have been doing for years. That’s why you already have the right skills to manage this transition.
GEO as a specific extension of SEO
For you, this means continuing to work as you always have, starting by creating quality content that responds to user intent and makes a brand easily accessible. However, you need to be aware that the objective, context, and some key metrics are changing. Traditional SEO aims to achieve high rankings in search results to generate click-throughs; GEO, on the other hand, aims to ensure that the brand is included, mentioned, or cited in AI-generated responses. You gain visibility through contextual relevance and brand authority, rather than through positioning.
This means that SEO is far from obsolete; on the contrary, it becomes the fundamental prerequisite of the new branch. Traditional signals and SEO best practices form the foundation on which GEO builds its effectiveness—and Google’s EEAT framework also carries weight here. After all, AI models often use traditional organic search results to retrieve up-to-date information to provide in their responses. The latest data confirms that Google still handles a vastly greater volume of searches than AI platforms: in September 2025, an estimated 14 billion searches were performed on Google daily, compared to 66 million “search-like” prompts on ChatGPT.
How to appear in Google AI Overview: editorial criteria and workflow
Google’s AI Overviews are different from chatbot responses. While tools such as ChatGPT generate conversational text, AI Overviews are a distillation of the web resources that Google considers most reliable for a given query, presented directly in SERPs with clear links to sources. Their function is to provide a summary, not a conversation. This difference is crucial: to be visible here, you must be one of the sources Google chooses to build that summary.
The good news? Again, the path to success refers to the basics of a solid SEO strategy: high-quality, well-structured materials, supported by signals of authority such as relevant links and a strong association between your brand and specific topics.
The real competitive advantage, however, comes from the ability to measure and optimize this new form of visibility. And this is where most tools stop—telling you that you appeared in an AI Overview for a keyword is superficial information—but at SEOZoom, we have managed to develop an analysis tool that goes much deeper. Our AI Overview feature allows you to understand the real weight of your presence, your performance over time, and the actions you need to take to improve, by analyzing which paragraphs of the AI summary reflect your texts, giving you a concrete value of their weight.
In addition, you can find out where your competitors appear in the answers and your domain remains out of the picture thanks to the Content Gap AI Overview, which highlights strategic queries to fill. The workflow becomes linear: you select the keywords that activate the box, open the analysis to read the text and sources, compare your metrics with the pages present, identify coverage gaps, and update the content.
What are the benefits of GEO?
At this point, another question arises: why should you invest time and resources in GEO when Google still handles 210 times more search volume than ChatGPT? The answer lies in changing user habits.
The adoption of AI tools continues to increase, rising from 8% in 2023 to 38% in 2025, with more than one in five Americans now using them regularly. This means that an increasingly large portion of your audience is turning to conversational engines, especially for complex searches that require explanations and detailed answers.
And there are also strategic advantages to be gained:
- You intercept users at their new starting point. You are present on the channel where the most complex and high-value searches originate, those that often precede a purchase decision. You become the answer when the user is looking for understanding and context, not just a link.
- You build authority and guide brand perception. Being the source chosen by an AI is a powerful form of validation. In this way, you not only answer a question, but actively influence the market’s perception of your company, consolidating its authority.
- Win zero-click searches. In a scenario where direct answers in SERPs are increasingly common, GEO allows you to win even without getting a click. Your brand and your message reach the user, and that is the strategic goal.
- Gain a lasting competitive advantage. AI models “learn” to trust sources over time. Being among the first to build a solid and credible presence in this area creates a consolidated advantage, making it more difficult for competitors to catch up in the future.
In short, investing in GEO brings benefits that strengthen your entire digital strategy. Inclusions in AI responses fuel brand authority because they reinforce the perception of reliability in the eyes of users. Presence in AI systems opens up a discovery channel parallel to Google, which is especially useful in the exploration phases. Metrics change: mentions, sentiment, and source quality are added to visits and positions.
SEOZoom tools for methodical GEO
In the new version of SEOZoom, you already have a unique workflow at your fingertips—discovery, writing, simulation, measurement—to optimize your GEO, always based on concrete data and clear priorities.
To find what to write with a GEO-first approach, start with Question Explorer and intercept real questions, such as those that activate the “People also ask” boxes. Identify conversational queries and long-tail variants, see which cluster they fall into, and understand which sub-questions to include in your article to increase the citability of key passages. At the same time, Opportunity Finder helps you build topic clusters with real potential, avoiding areas dominated by large sites and focusing on intents where competitors have a reduced share of traffic. This gives you a solid foundation for dense content that is easily extractable from models.
If you are in the writing or revision phase, AI Engine allows you to perform a stress test to discover the potential “likability” of your work by AI engines, comparing it with the pages of competitors who are already achieving results. You can relaunch the analysis, check the impact of the changes, and report everything in the dashboard with trends and visibility shares, thus moving from a hope-based approach to a data-driven one. In addition, for realistic measurement, you have the AI Overview feature in SEOZoom, which allows you to check the actual performance of your pages.
Off-site work remains central even from a GEO perspective: with backlink analysis, Domain List Evaluation, and Link Monitor, you can see who is mentioning you, the quality of the sources, and the status of strategic links. Strengthen your reliability and brand signals, increase the likelihood of being chosen in AI responses, and protect your investments in Digital PR with alerts on changes, removals, or attributes.
And don’t forget to take your brand everywhere: SEOZoom’s social tools help you decide when to focus on formats that enter SERPs and feed useful signals to generative models. With Social Opportunities, you can identify keywords where videos and posts occupy organic spaces, with Monitor Social Profiles you can measure the impact and growth of channels, and with dedicated AI functions you can create messages tailored to the platform, maintaining consistency with your strategy.
To sum up, your trump cards for GEO are:
- Question Explorer. Find real questions and long-tail variations to enrich FAQs and sub-sections.
- Opportunity Finder. Build clusters with real potential, avoiding areas dominated by big sites.
- AI Engine. Simulate content suitability in AI responses and AI Overview, with editorial suggestions and competitor comparisons.
- Backlink & PR suite. Evaluate the quality of sources that cite you and monitor changes or removals.
- Social tools. Identify keywords where social media enters SERPs and maintain brand consistency.
KPIs and dashboards for measuring GEO
Is organic traffic still the right metric? Does it still make sense to have a website today? And if an AI responds to the user, have you won or lost? These are common questions, and the answer varies. If the AI ignores you, you’ve lost. It’s simple: a competitor has been deemed more reliable. But if you find a link to your content in the box, you’ve achieved a potential victory: complete if the user visits you, but even without the click, you’ve gained authority and influenced a person.
In short, it may be trivial, but GEO changes many of our certainties. And your dashboards must also evolve, going beyond traditional metrics, which alone are no longer sufficient in the zero-click scenario. You need to analyze the new brand KPIs, capable of measuring the influence and quality of your presence, such as
- AI Overview share of voice: the percentage of your brand’s appearance as a source in responses and, above all, the weight that the text extracted from your pages has in relation to the total.
- Mentions and co-citations: the quantity and quality of the sources that mention you, analyzing the semantic context to understand if you are associated with the right concepts.
- Topical coverage: the number of sub-questions you can cover for each topic cluster, a key indicator of your informational completeness in the eyes of AI.
- Zero-click impact: the correlation between your GEO visibility and business metrics. Keep track of the increase in brand searches, contact requests, branded CTR, and assisted conversions.
- Reputation signals: the sentiment associated with your brand and the narrative consistency you maintain across different channels, signals that AI uses to assess your reliability.
- Backlinks & entity graph: the variety and relevance of the domains that link to you and the strength of your connections with other authoritative entities.
Your ultimate goal is to understand how much you are included in responses, how you are cited, where coverage is lacking, and what impact you have on the user’s journey.
Ready-to-use checklist
To move from theory to practice, here is a (final) operational checklist to follow for every piece of content you develop with GEO in mind, with an indication of the SEOZoom tool that can simplify (and improve) your work.
Divide the activity into two phases: before and after publication.
A) Before publishing
- H1/H2/H3 aligned with keywords and real questions → Editorial Assistant + Question Explorer
- Clear and concise definition (maximum one line) at the beginning, immediately below H1 → Editorial Assistant + AI Writer
- Text formatting: short paragraphs (3–5 lines), lists, and tables to make passages extractable → Editorial Assistant + AI Writer
- Final FAQs (4–6) in PAA style, each with a short answer → Editorial Assistant + FAQ list
- Sources and citations: always report data with clear sources and external citations
- Internal linking to parent page and thematic cluster
- Content optimization: stress testing, sub-question coverage, editorial suggestions → AI Engine
- GEO review: “chunk” blocks, initial micro-summary, examples, and tables where needed → AI Engine + AI Writer
- Brand identity: author signature/role, tone consistency, institutional references
B) After publication
- AI Overview: does the keyword activate the box? Are you among the sources? Which text is extracted and where? → AI Overview
- Check for missing sub-questions, update parent page and support resources → Question Explorer
- Trends and shares: AI share of voice per keyword/page/domain + separate estimated traffic → AI Overview + AI Search Engine Traffic
- Zero-click impact: uplift in branded searches, CTR on branded, assisted queries and conversions
- Mentions and backlinks: new links from relevant sources, co-citations with leaders. If necessary, plan new PR activities in relevant publications → Link Building dashboard
- Entity & consistency: aligned profiles, consistent messaging across channels
- Editorial refresh: add additional tables/FAQs, updated data, concrete examples → relaunch test with AI Engine
- Monthly report: GEO dashboard with key KPIs (AI Overview SOV, coverage cluster, reputation, links, zero-click impact) → Project + AI Search Engine Traffic
