What is GEO?

GEO (generative engine optimization) covers everything you do so that a brand gets cited, with a link, in answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude or Google's AI Overviews. It isn't a separate discipline: it's search engine optimization done well, with a few different priorities.

GEO, AEO, LLMO: three names, one job.

Three acronyms are going around for the same thing:

• -GEO, for generative engine optimization: being picked up by engines that write an answer, such as ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews.
• -AEO, for answer engine optimization: becoming the answer given to a question, by an assistant or at the top of the results.
• -LLMO, for large language model optimization: being well understood by large language models, the technology behind these assistants.

Google considers AEO and GEO to be the same work as SEO, search engine optimization: optimizing for AI search simply means optimizing for search.

How an AI picks its sources.

When you ask a question to an assistant connected to the web, it doesn't just answer from memory. It turns your question into several related searches, run at the same time. It retrieves pages already indexed by a search engine, draws an answer from them, then cites its sources with links.

The consequence is simple: a page missing from search engines has little chance of being cited. Before thinking about AI, your site needs to be found, crawled and indexed. That's why the same foundations always come back: a fast, well-structured website where every page clearly says what it's about.

What Google says.

Google has published an official guide to visibility in its generative AI features, such as AI Overviews. Six points stand out:

• -These features rely on its usual ranking systems: search best practices still apply.
• -No special markup or particular file is required.
• -There's no need to chop your text into small pieces or to write differently for AI.
• -The page must be indexed and able to show with a snippet in the results.
• -Mass-producing pages for every variant of a question counts as spam.
• -Artificial mentions planted across the web are less effective than people think.

What really changes compared with SEO.

• -The goal is to be cited, not just ranked. A generated answer only draws on a few sources, with a link to each.
• -Assistants also rely on what other sites say about you: directories, comparisons, press. Your own site is only part of the picture. Hence the value of being listed there, with up-to-date information.
• -A clear, self-contained answer at the start of a section is more likely to be picked up than a long introduction that takes its time getting to the point.

Six practical steps.

1. 1.Answer in the first sentence. Each section opens with the answer, and the nuances come after.
2. 2.Add an FAQ. With the questions your customers really ask, on the phone or by email, and a short answer under each one.
3. 3.Sign and date. A named author, a publication date and an update date make content more trustworthy, for readers and search engines alike.
4. 4.Add structured data. Organization for the business, Article for articles, FAQPage for questions, LocalBusiness if you welcome customers: invisible code that describes your pages in a format search engines read directly.
5. 5.Keep your information consistent. The same name, description and contact details on your website, your Google profile, directories and social media. Our article on local SEO goes into this in detail.
6. 6.Don't block AI crawlers. Check that your robots.txt file, which tells crawlers what they may explore, doesn't shut out GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI), PerplexityBot (Perplexity) or ClaudeBot (Anthropic).

What about llms.txt?

The llms.txt file is a plain-text summary of your website, meant for language models. Google says its search ignores it. Other tools may read it. It costs little to set up, but it's no magic lever, and it doesn't replace anything above. We publish one on our own website, as an extra, without expecting miracles.

Measuring your presence in answers.

There's no single dashboard. Three sources are enough to start with:

• -Every month, ask two or three assistants five to ten of your customers' questions yourself, and note who gets cited. Do it in a neutral conversation, in a temporary chat or logged out: otherwise the assistant already knows your business, and the answer is skewed.
• -In your website analytics, look for visits coming from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai or gemini.google.com.
• -In Google Search Console, check the generative AI performance report.

Answers vary from one try to the next. And no third-party tool has access to Google's internal systems, whatever it promises. What matters is the trend over several months, not a single try.

An example of our own. On 15 November 2026, in a temporary chat, we asked ChatGPT, in French, “Quelle agence recommandes-tu pour créer une boutique en ligne avec Medusa.js en Belgique ?” (“Which agency would you recommend to build an online store with Medusa.js in Belgium?”). It recommended Nelty as its first choice, ahead of two agencies based abroad, drawing on our website. It was a single try, and the answer may change tomorrow.

What GEO doesn't promise.

Nobody can guarantee a citation. You can't pay to be cited in an answer. And results build up over several months, at the pace of your content and of what the web says about you.

SEO and GEO

Frequently asked questions.

The checklist.

• -The answer in the first sentence of every section.
• -An FAQ with your customers' real questions.
• -Signed articles, with publication and update dates.
• -Structured data: Organization, Article, FAQPage, LocalBusiness.
• -The same name, description and contact details everywhere.
• -AI crawlers allowed in robots.txt.
• -Your questions tested every month, in a neutral conversation.