What is GEO? Getting cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means making a website readable and citable by engines that answer with text: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews. It isn't a secret technique: it starts with solid SEO, plus a way of writing that gives AI clear, sourced answers.
Nobody controls what an AI answers. What you can do is make sure your site is accessible, understandable and worth citing.
Where does the term GEO come from?
The term comes from an academic study (Aggarwal et al.), published in 2023 and presented at the KDD 2024 research conference. It found that some content changes boost a source's visibility in generated answers by up to 40%.
- What worked best. Citing sources, adding quotations and adding statistics: these three methods improved visibility by 30 to 40% on the study's main metric.
- What doesn't work. Keyword stuffing, inherited from old-school SEO, brought little to no improvement in the same study.
- Who gains the most. Gains were largest for lower-ranked sites: the study notes GEO especially helps sources that aren't already at the top.
How do ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity find a website?
Each assistant uses its own crawlers, and your robots.txt file decides which ones may read your site. To appear in search-powered answers, the search crawler is the one to allow, not necessarily the one used to train models.
| Assistant | Search crawler (allow it to be cited) | Training crawler (your choice) |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | OAI-SearchBot: sites that block it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers (apart from navigational links) | GPTBot: blocking it keeps your content out of training, with no effect on search |
| Claude (Anthropic) | Claude-SearchBot: blocking it may reduce your visibility in Claude's search results | ClaudeBot: blocking it excludes your future content from training |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot: Perplexity recommends allowing it to appear in its results | None: Perplexity says PerplexityBot is not used to train models |
| Google (AI Overviews, AI Mode) | Googlebot, the regular Search crawler: AI Overviews draw on Google's index | Google-Extended (a robots.txt token, not a crawler): controls Gemini training and grounding, with no effect on Google Search |
Do Google's AI Overviews need special optimization?
No. Google says there are “no additional requirements” to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode: the page must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet in regular Search.
Google also says you don't need new “AI text files” or any special structured data. In other words, a technically sound, well-indexed site is the baseline, for Google and for everyone else.
What makes a page citable by an AI?
A page is citable when each paragraph answers one specific question on its own, with verifiable facts. That is what an AI can reuse without risk of getting it wrong.
- Headings as questions. “How much does a redesign cost?” rather than “Pricing”. These are the questions your customers type or ask out loud.
- The answer up front. The first two sentences under each heading answer it. Details come after.
- Numbers and sources. A price, a deadline, a measurement, with where it comes from. That is exactly what the GEO study found to work.
- A clear identity. Who you are, where, since when, what you sell and at what price, worded the same way everywhere: website, LinkedIn, directories.
- Structured data. It helps Google understand the page. Google warns it does not guarantee that any feature will show.
Is an llms.txt file useful?
Google says no “AI text files” are needed to appear in its AI features, and its documentation on those features doesn't mention llms.txt. So it is an optional extra, not a lever.
We publish one on lionuxe.com because it takes a few minutes and sums up the offer in one place. But we don't sell it as a solution.
How much does GEO cost at LionuXE?
GEO isn't a paid add-on: it is included in every plan. The Visibility Audit at $240 checks AI crawler access, readability and structured data on your current site.
- Visibility Audit: $240. Audit scored out of 100, AI visibility included, and an action plan of at least 10 fixes. In 5 business days.
- Visible Website: $1,190. New or redesigned 5-page website, AI crawlers allowed, structured data, pages written to be cited, 2 fact-checked articles.
- Website + Content: $1,590. Everything in Visible Website, plus 4 more articles delivered within 4 weeks and 1 month of monitoring with a report.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO aims to appear in Google's list of links. GEO aims to be quoted in the answer an AI writes. The basics are the same (an accessible, fast, well-indexed site); GEO adds writing in short, specific, sourced answers.
Can you guarantee ChatGPT will cite my website?
No. Nobody controls an AI's answers, and they change from day to day and user to user. We commit to what depends on us: a site crawlers can read, fact-checked content, a deadline met.
How can I tell if an AI already cites my website?
Ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google the questions your customers would ask, in a fresh session with no history. Note who gets cited and which sources appear. Repeat monthly with the same questions.
Should I block GPTBot to protect my content?
It's your call. OpenAI says GPTBot (training) and OAI-SearchBot (search) are controlled separately: you can opt out of training and still be visible in ChatGPT search.
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Sources: GEO study (arXiv, KDD 2024) · Google, AI features · Google, crawlers · OpenAI, bots · Anthropic, crawlers · Perplexity, bots · Google, structured data