GEO (generative engine optimization)
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of improving how often and how prominently a source is cited in answers written by generative AI engines, a term introduced in a 2023 research paper of the same name.
Also called generative engine optimization
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What it means
The paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, by Pranjal Aggarwal and colleagues, was posted in November 2023. It treated generative engines as a new kind of search, tested ways of changing source content, and reported that its methods raised visibility in generated answers by up to 40 percent in the authors' benchmark, with results that varied by domain.
In marketing use, GEO and AEO are close to synonyms. GEO tends to mean the whole effort to be cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, including the outside sources those engines draw on; AEO tends to mean the on-page writing.
Results from a research benchmark do not transfer one to one to a live engine, and engines change often. Measure your own AI visibility before and after any change.
Why it matters for your website
AI engines lean on sources they already trust: directories, government listings, accreditor lookups, news and well-cited pages. Make the facts about your center identical in each of them, then make your own pages the clearest statement of those facts.
For a treatment center, the content worth adding is the kind other sites cannot copy: named clinicians, published schedules and prices where you can, and claims backed by primary sources.
Sources
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See how your own site handles it
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