Getting found by AI, explained simply.

Generative Engine Optimization — making a business findable inside answers written by AI assistants rather than inside a list of links. The term comes from a 2024 KDD paper that was the first controlled study showing content can be deliberately optimised for AI-generated answers.

SEO optimises to be ranked in a list of links, and assumes the person will choose from that list. GEO deals with systems that read several sources and write a new answer from them, so the goal shifts from holding a position to being the material the answer is built from.

No. Search indexes are still how much of the web is discovered, including by assistants that search before answering, so being crawlable and accurate now does double duty. What changed is that ranking and traffic have come apart — ranking is necessary but no longer sufficient.

No, and treat anyone who promises it accordingly. Assistants are run by other companies that decide what to retrieve and what to write, and their behaviour changes without notice. What can be done is to make sure accurate, well-structured information about the business exists where those systems look.

By asking. Put the questions a customer would ask to the assistants on a regular schedule and record what comes back — whether you are named, what is said, and who is named instead. Assistants send no analytics and typically no referral traffic, so measurement is the only feedback loop available.