What you’ll learn
- Where the name comes from
- GEO builds on SEO
- What the research actually found
- What you don’t need to buy
- What does help
- How to measure it on a small budget
GEO, short for generative engine optimization, is the work of getting your business cited or recommended inside the answers AI tools give: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Most of what’s written about it comes from agencies selling it. This guide sticks to two sources that aren’t selling anything, Google’s own documentation and the research paper that named GEO, then covers how to measure it and how to choose an agency.
Where the name comes from
The term comes from a 2023 research paper by Pranjal Aggarwal and colleagues, later accepted at the KDD 2024 conference. It described GEO as a way “to aid content creators in improving their content visibility in generative engine responses”.
Most agencies now use GEO for any work aimed at AI answers. AEO, answer engine optimisation, has no agreed meaning: some use it for featured snippets and voice search, others as another name for GEO.
GEO builds on SEO
Almost every page that ranks for GEO agrees it builds on SEO rather than replacing it. Google goes further. Its guide to AI features says: “The best practices for SEO remain relevant for AI features in Google Search (such as AI Overviews and AI Mode). There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.”
To appear as a link in an AI Overview, Google says a page “must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet”. That’s the same requirement as normal search.
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Free strategy call ›What the research actually found
The paper’s headline is that GEO “can boost visibility by up to 40% in generative engine responses”. Three changes did best: citing sources, adding quotations and adding statistics. Making text more fluent and easier to read added 15 to 30%.
Keyword stuffing, a common SEO habit, offered “little to no improvement”. And lower-ranked pages gained the most: citing sources lifted the site ranked fifth in search by 115%, while the top-ranked site’s visibility fell 30% on average.
The limits matter as much as the results. The tests ran on a benchmark of 10,000 queries, some of them generated synthetically, plus Perplexity, where visibility rose up to 37%. They didn’t test ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews. They measured how much of an answer quoted a page, not enquiries or sales. And the authors found the results varied by topic. Pages that quote “up to 40%” as a promise are quoting a best case from a lab.
What you don’t need to buy
Some Singapore agencies sell llms.txt files and “AI schema” as core GEO work. Google says: “You don’t need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features. There’s also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add.”
Structured data still helps normal search when it matches what’s on the page. There’s just no special version for AI.
What does help
Google’s list is the plain SEO list: let search engines crawl the site, link your pages to each other, keep the important content in text rather than images, make any structured data match the visible text, and keep your Google Business Profile up to date.
The research adds three changes you can make to a page this week: cite your sources, quote people who know the subject, and put real numbers in. Most GEO pages also recommend reviews and mentions on other sites, such as directories, press and forums. That’s common practice, but it hasn’t been tested the way the three page changes were.
How to measure it on a small budget
Paid tools track AI answers at scale, but a small business can start without one.
Write down ten questions your buyers ask, such as “best kitchen renovation in Tampines”. Once a month, ask them in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google, and note who gets named. Treat it as a sample, not a score: AI answers change from one ask to the next.
Google doesn’t report AI traffic separately. It says sites appearing in AI features “are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console”, inside the Web total. Visits from ChatGPT and similar tools often show up as direct traffic, so ask new enquiries how they found you.
How to choose a GEO agency
Ask them to run a few of your buyers’ questions live in the meeting and show you who gets named today. Ask what they’ll measure, how often, and how they connect a mention to an enquiry. Ask what they’ll change on your site and what they’ll do off it, such as reviews and directory listings. Ask what you keep if you stop.
Walk away from a guarantee. Google’s own page says “Indexing and serving isn’t guaranteed”, and no agency controls what an AI tool says. Be wary, too, of an SEO package renamed GEO at a higher price, and of reports full of visibility scores with no enquiries in them.
PSG no longer applies
Some GEO agencies still advertise the Productivity Solutions Grant. Enterprise Singapore stopped taking new PSG applications on 29 September 2026: “EDG, MRA and PSG will cease on 29 September 2026. From 30 September onwards, apply for business grant support under the EDGE Grant.”
How we do it
We include GEO in our SEO plans rather than selling it as a second retainer. Each month we check your buyers’ questions across the AI tools and show you where you appear. We don’t guarantee a mention. If an agency does, ask for its evidence.
Frequently asked questions
What is GEO in SEO?
GEO is the part of SEO aimed at AI answers: getting your business cited or recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews. Google says the same SEO best practices apply.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews beyond normal search, and almost every GEO guide calls it an extension of SEO.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
Not for Google. Google says you don’t need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special structured data to appear in its AI features.
Can an agency guarantee ChatGPT will mention us?
No. Google says indexing and serving isn’t guaranteed, and no agency controls what an AI tool answers. Treat a guarantee as a red flag.
How do I know if AI tools mention my business?
Ask the questions your buyers ask in each AI tool once a month and note who gets named. Google counts AI Overview traffic inside the Web total in Search Console.
Check where you stand
See how our AI SEO works, and book a free check where we run your buyers’ questions through the AI tools with you.
Sources, read on 27 September 2026
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website: developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
- Aggarwal and others, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (KDD 2024): arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735
- Enterprise Singapore, Productivity Solutions Grant: enterprisesg.gov.sg/financial-support/productivity-solutions-grant
