GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)
GEO, short for Generative Engine Optimization, is making your website fit to be mentioned and cited in answers from AI systems such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot. Where SEO steers towards a position in a list of links, GEO steers towards a mention in a written answer. The term comes from research from around 2023, when it became clear that AI answers select sources differently from a classic search engine.
- 2 min read
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
With SEO you win a place. With GEO you win a sentence. A search engine shows ten blue links and the user chooses; an AI reads dozens of sources, summarises and mentions a few. So you are not competing for position 1, but for whether your wording is usable enough to be picked up.
Practical difference: SEO rewards a page that is complete. GEO rewards a page that gives a short, factual, quotable answer in one place. A paragraph that starts with filler gets skipped, however good the rest is.
Why GEO is becoming important now
Because the click disappears for questions where an AI can simply give the answer. On our own knowledge base pages we see top-three positions with a click-through rate below 1 percent, where 10 to 28 percent would normally be expected. The visibility is there, the visitor is not.
That does not mean that content becomes worthless. It means the value shifts from visitors to mentions. Being named as a source in the answer to “welk marketingbureau in Arnhem” is worth something different from a visitor who scans your page and clicks away.
How do you make your site fit for AI answers?
1. Put the answer first
Start every page with a definition or conclusion of two to three sentences that stands on its own, without the rest of the page. That is the part that gets picked up.
2. Use headings that are questions
“Wat kost een dakkapel?” works better than “Prijzen”. An AI matches questions to questions.
3. Be concrete and verifiable
Numbers, years, place names and sources make a passage usable. Vague claims are ignored because they add nothing to an answer.
4. Keep your facts consistent
Name, address, phone number, service area and services must be the same everywhere: on your site, in your Knowledge base, in your schema markup and in your Google Business Profile. An AI that finds contradictory data would rather not mention you.
5. Put your details in structured data
Schema.org markup with your organisation, address, services and frequently asked questions gives machines a structured version of what is on the page. That is part of technical SEO.
6. Let AI crawlers in
Check your robots.txt for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and Anthropic’s crawler. A crawl delay or a block that was put in at some point unintentionally keeps you out of the answers.
What GEO is not
GEO is not a trick and not a separate channel you buy in on its own. It is largely good SEO, applied more strictly: clear structure, factual language, correct technology and consistent data. Anyone who does not have their SEO foundation in order will not get into AI answers either.
What is new: you measure your success differently. Positions and clicks no longer tell the whole story. You want to know whether you are mentioned, in what context, and whether that brings traffic or enquiries by other routes.
Want to know whether your site is currently included in AI answers? That starts with a foundation that is right, and that is search engine optimisation. Also read about AI Overviews and llms.txt, or ask for a free growth scan .
Frequently asked questions
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Hoe meet je of je bedrijf in AI-antwoorden wordt genoemd?
Stel de vragen die je klanten stellen zelf aan ChatGPT, Perplexity en Google, en noteer of en hoe je bedrijf genoemd wordt. In Google Analytics zie je bezoek uit AI-assistenten terug als verwijzend verkeer, bijvoorbeeld van chatgpt.com of perplexity.ai. Herhaal dit periodiek met dezelfde vragen, zodat je de ontwikkeling ziet.
Is GEO hetzelfde als AEO?
Grotendeels. AEO staat voor answer engine optimization en richt zich op directe antwoorden in zoekmachines en spraakassistenten. GEO legt de nadruk op AI-systemen die zelf een antwoord schrijven. In de praktijk werkt voor beide dezelfde aanpak: korte antwoorden vooraan, vragen als koppen en kloppende gegevens.
Heeft een lokaal vakbedrijf iets aan GEO?
Ja, omdat mensen AI-assistenten ook gebruiken om advies te vragen over een vakman in de buurt. Zorg dat je naam, adres, werkgebied en diensten overal gelijk zijn en dat je site duidelijke antwoorden geeft op vragen over je werk. Dat bouwt voort op SEO, want zonder goed fundament kom je ook niet in AI-antwoorden.
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