GEO (generative engine optimisation)
GEO, generative engine optimisation, is the work of getting your business named and cited in the answers ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok write. A "generative engine" is any AI that writes one answer instead of showing a list of links.
Much of the work overlaps with good SEO. The place you check is different. A Google rank does not show whether ChatGPT names you.
Example
A buyer asks ChatGPT for the "best interior design company in Dubai". One written answer comes back. It names three companies.
GEO is what a fourth company does to become one of the three. It gets listed on the pages ChatGPT reads for that question. It publishes a page that answers the question plainly. It keeps its facts the same on every site.
On 7 October 2026, in the answers of the five platforms, pages with "best" in their web address, such as "best tools" lists, were cited 828 times. The full counts are in our research on 150 questions to 5 AI platforms.
Those lists are often not on the brand's own website. In one study, 81% of cited lists sat on other people's sites (AirOps and Digital Applied, 2026).
How it is measured
GEO is measured by counting AI answers, not by checking rankings. A written answer has no second page of results. It names a few businesses, or none. Three things are counted: the share of answers that name the brand (AI visibility), its position in each answer, and the pages the AI cited.
Answers change from day to day. So the count is taken across many answers and checked again over time.
Related terms
Goes deeper: What is GEO? The full guide