Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is the process of improving a company’s odds of being recommended by generative AI chatbots through a series of changes both on and off its website. In this guide, we provide background on this emerging field, summarize GEO strategy, break down the algorithm of each major generative AI chatbot, and describe the current state of GEO.
GEO: How It Began
The field originated in early 2023 after the debut of ChatGPT. It began as a series of forum posts on Reddit and Warrior Forum, and gained further visibility after an academic study was published by engineers at Princeton in early 2024. The first comprehensive research study of each of the major generative AI chatbots’ algorithms was published in by First Page Sage.
GEO Strategy, Summarized
The latest research tells us that generative AI chatbots make commercial recommendations based on an amalgamation of factors including:
- Presence on lists that rank highly on Google
- Appearance in traditional databases and directories
- Awards, accreditations, and customer data cited by authoritative third-party sources
- Online reviews
The ideal GEO strategy could be summarized as:
Have a strong presence in organic search results; seek inclusion in well-known directories and databases; and publicize your company’s awards, accreditation, and affiliations – in other words, a mix of SEO and online PR.
Generative AI Chatbot Algorithms
GEO strategy varies depending on the generative AI chatbot being used, although ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity have very similar recommendation algorithms. Here is a breakdown of each of their algorithms from First Page Sage’s study:
ClaudeAI is the outlier in its low reliance on the Internet. You can see a breakdown of its algorithm here:
With these algorithms in mind, GEO strategy can be broken down into a series of actions that satisfy each factor, with greater effort going toward factors with higher algorithmic weights. While chatbots produce a wide range of results depending on the words used in the query, the strategy laid out in the next section creates the highest likelihood of a company being recommended for a relevant commercial query.
GEO Strategy Recommendations
As of July 2024, most of the sources we consulted in our research agreed that the following strategies optimize a company’s likelihood of being recommended by generative AI chatbots.
- Secure placement in highly-ranked list articles. Nearly every source we consulted found that appearing in lists that rank highly in Google or Bing’s organic search results made the biggest difference in earning a chatbot’s recommendation. In many cases, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity responded to the question being asked with an almost-verbatim copy of the #1-ranked list. Other times, the chatbot’s response was an amalgam of several high-ranking lists.
Unsurprisingly, ChatGPT sources its lists from Bing, and Gemini sources its lists from Google. Perplexity uses Google as well.
The lists that appear at the top of search engine results are not listicles—in which lists are the entire body of the article—but rather “comparison table” articles that pit companies or products against each other by features, pricing, and review scores, and often subdivide by use case. For example, a list might be entitled “The Top Electric Scooters of 2024” and then contain multiple sub-lists such as “The Top Budget Electric Scooters” and “The Top Commuter Electric Scooters.”
Securing placement on a list can be accomplished by either publishing the list on your own website and including your own company or products, or paying an online review site for placement.
- Seek inclusion in well-known directories and databases. Most LLMs are pre-trained on established, trustworthy repositories of knowledge like Encyclopedia Britannica and the literary canon. Afterwards, a substantial amount of training is done on less authoritative but still widely accepted sources such as Wikipedia, Hoovers, and Bloomberg. Getting listed in these types of directories increases your likelihood of recommendation by ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. For Claude AI, it is among the most important factors.
- Publicize your company’s achievements. In early 2024, our researchers began to notice that when generative AI chatbots recommend a group of companies—for example, in response to a query like “Who are the top software development agencies?”—they order their recommendations partly based on reputational characteristics like a company’s size, customer base, and usage statistics. While list articles and directories remained the primary source for the initial group of recommendations, the order was based on the chatbot’s sense of which companies had the best reputation.
Thus, when submitting your companies to lists, directories, databases, or press outlets, it is helpful to cite your company’s achievements in the description.
- Seek out positive online reviews. While there is not yet a consensus among those studying GEO that positive reviews increase the likelihood of a chatbot recommendation, we do know that having less-than-average reviews (< 3.5 of 5 stars) makes a recommendation unlikely. In other words, positive online reviews are akin to a prerequisite.
The best practice for obtaining a high number of positive reviews (besides having a great product) is putting a system in place for requesting reviews from satisfied customers.
- Monitor social sentiment. Social sentiment—the aggregate impression customers have of a brand—is measured by locating all the instances where a company is mentioned on social platforms and evaluating the language customers are using. There are a number of sentiment analysis tools on the market. Currently only ChatGPT utilizes social sentiment when making recommendations, and only to a small degree. However, experts agree it is likely that social sentiment will be taken into account more as generative AI gets more advanced and deals are struck to provide access to the major social media platforms’ data.
Improving social sentiment is a complex job that is typically handled by a customer success department.
- Increase Google website authority. Google calculates an authority score for every website and web page. Authority scores are what determine the order in which web results are generated when a user queries Google Search. A high authority score is achieved through a combination of regular content production and the attraction of backlinks from other authoritative domains. Because highly-ranked list articles make up the majority of the chatbot recommendation algorithm, it is well worth investing in increasing your website’s Google authority score and then producing list articles that feature your company.
The most efficient way to increase authority score is through publishing weekly original content that alternates between original, high quality list articles and “metrics pieces”—articles that feature original metrics, statistics or other quantitative research. The research can be an aggregate of existing data or the results of commissioned surveys.
GEO Strategy Debate & Disagreement
As of July 2024, most posters in GEO discussion forums agree that appearing in list articles that are highly-ranked on Google is the essence of GEO. The Princeton paper introduced some ideas about GEO that were entirely new, specifically that a web page could increase its likelihood of being recommended by generative AI by (a) citing trusted sources; (b) using technical terms; (c) adding quotations from experts; and (d) adding statistics.
Our own study, which is the most exhaustive to date with over 11,000 gen AI queries made, found strong common ground with today’s forum posters and limited common ground with the Princeton researchers. We agree that inclusion in list articles is the most efficient route to chatbot recommendation; but found that awards / honors and online reviews had a bigger impact on recommendation than was previously known.
As for the strategies described in the Princeton paper, we see them as helpful practices if a business’s only goal is to be quoted by a gen-AI chatbot; but found no evidence that they increase the likelihood of being recommended by one in response to a commercial query.
Recommended Time Allocation For a GEO Strategy
Below is a recommended time allocation for a marketer handling a company’s GEO strategy based on a 10 hour sample schedule.
| Activity | Time Allocation | Notes |
| Secure placement in highly-ranked list articles | 1-4 hours | Securing placement in highly-ranked lists involves two separate activities: |
| Seek inclusion in well-known directories and databases | 0-1 hours | Most directories will either add companies as a matter of course without need for direct outreach, or not accept requests for inclusion. The main exception is Wikipedia, but company pages must meet their notability and neutrality standards, or risk deletion. |
| Publicize your company’s achievements | 1-2 hours | The company website should include logos of prominent customers or clients, case studies, awards, and accreditations. It should also maintain an up-to-date LinkedIn profile, and share awards on social pages. |
| Seek out positive online reviews through systemic requesting | 0.5–1 hour | Satisfied customers or clients should be prompted at regular intervals to leave reviews on Google My Business profiles and aforementioned directories such as Clutch. Their testimonials can also be shared on the company’s own website. |
| Monitor social sentiment and get involved to improve brand sentiment | 0.5–1 hour | Marketers can use social monitoring tools like Hootsuite to monitor mentions on social media, and work with the customer success team to address negative customer experiences quickly. |
| Increase Google website authority through content and links | 3–5 hours | Creating content to increase Google website authority will take up the bulk of the marketer’s time. The three most effective types of content for doing so are:
This subject is covered in more detail in our guide to SEO campaign strategy. |
Implementing A GEO Strategy For Your Company
GEO requires marketers to engage in a broad range of activities, including content creation, social media management, and systematic outreach. Increasing Google website authority, in particular, can be difficult for in-house marketing teams if they lack the necessary SEO and content marketing experience.
Many companies choose to partner with an agency to assist in executing the more complex parts of a GEO strategy. If you’d like to learn about how we can help you implement GEO, reach out here.
