What Are GEO and AEO?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) are the international names for this work.
SEO works to rank in a list of results. GEO/AEO works to get inside the answer an AI constructs — and an answer names three to five businesses, not ten. The two complement each other; neither replaces the other.
Your Customer Sees an Answer, Not a List
Searching Google returned ten links. Asking an AI returns one answer naming three to five businesses. You are either in it, or you do not exist for that customer. AI visibility is how often your brand is mentioned when your industry comes up.
Why Google Rankings Are Not Enough
Google offers a list; AI constructs an answer. Choosing those few names depends on what the sources it reads say, not on ranking. In our own 192-observation measurement, a site ranking first on Google appeared in only 21% of AI answers.
How We Measure
A single query is not measurement — answers vary between runs. Our method rests on four principles:
- A frozen question panel of 30 real industry questions.
- Repetition, with results reported as rates.
- Multiple engines — ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude measured separately.
- Source tracking — which sites the answer was built from.
Raw answers are stored and shared on request. We do not hide the methodology.
How We Improve Visibility
- Answer pages — AI cites the page that answers the question, not your services page.
- Presence in the sources that get read — the 10-15 domains the measurement surfaces.
- Machine-readable identity — structured data, consistent business information, files such as llms.txt.
- Correcting wrong information at its source.
- Re-measurement — because AI reads the live web, results show in days or weeks.