Understanding Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

Many people are now searching the web using AI. The measurement of how your website will be ranked in AI search results is called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), or AI Engine Optimization (AEO).

In some ways, your GEO strategy can build on your SEO strategy, because some of the techniques are the same; but there are also some differences: SEO focuses on keywords, titles, and accessibility, whereas GEO looks at how connected your page is to other similar sources of information.

According to Foundation, Inc., the main areas to focus on are:

• Quotation Additions
• Statistic Additions
• Fluency Optimization
• Cited Sources
• Technical Terms
• Authoritative Comms

~ Ross Simmonds, What’s Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) & How To Do It

Adding a quotation and citing your sources makes writing more authoritative because it shows that you have done your research.

Optimizing the fluency of your writing is also important in traditional SEO. It makes your website more accessible and improves the user experience for everyone.

I would say that the use of technical terms is a double-edged sword. If you use them without explaining what they mean, your website may be confusing for people who are not familiar with the technical terms in your field of expertise; but if you don’t use them, other experts in your field may assume that you do not know what you’re talking about.

Adding statistics to back up your assertions is always good, but remember to use them without being misleading. My school mathematics textbook had two excellent quotations in it; the first one was:

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses a lamp-post: for support rather than illumination.

~ Andrew Lang

The second one was even more blunt:

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

~ Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli

When using statistics, it is important to remember that correlation is not causation. Just because two statistical trends look similar, that does not mean that the one is driving the other. There may be another factor that is causing both trends, or they may be completely unrelated.

Authoritative communication is providing comparative data (listicles like “The ten best content management systems”) and linking to sources of information which are considered reliable.

It is a good idea to structure the information on your pages and posts in a way that will respond to the kind of queries that people type into AI. This is especially true for titles, so using “What is…” as part of your title will help to make it visible to AI searches.

I am concerned about the ethical implications of generative AI, such as how much electricity it uses; how much drinking water is needed to cool AI data centres; the way it amplifies biases such as racism and homophobia; the use of generative AI to plagiarize books and visual art; the erosion of creativity and critical thinking that it is likely to contribute to.

However, making the changes suggested here will improve your website anyway, because they reflect how people think and what they are looking for.