Where the term comes from
The name comes from a 2023 research paper, “GEO: Generative Engine Optimization”. A generative engine is a tool that writes an answer instead of listing links: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews and others. You will also see “answer engine optimization” (AEO) and “AI search optimization”. They mean much the same thing.
How GEO differs from SEO
- SEO aims for a place in a list of links. GEO aims to be the source of a written answer.
- In search, a person sees your page and judges it. In an AI answer, the person may never see your page. They see what the assistant says about it.
- SEO rewards being found. GEO also needs being read correctly. A wrong price in an answer is worse than no answer.
The two overlap. A page that search engines can crawl and understand is also easier for AI tools to use. GEO does not replace SEO.
The three parts of GEO
- Access. Can AI crawlers reach your pages? Your robots.txt file decides.
- Readability. Are your facts in the HTML your server sends, in plain text and in structured data? Don’t count on a crawler running JavaScript.
- Accuracy. When an assistant answers a question about you, is the answer true? This is the part most businesses never check.
What GEO is not
- It is not a way to control what an AI assistant says. Nobody outside those companies can.
- It is not a ranking trick. Be wary of anyone who promises mentions or placements.
- It is not done once. Your hours and prices change, and so do the assistants.
What you can do this week
- Ask two or three assistants the questions your customers ask. Write down every wrong answer.
- Find the page behind each wrong answer. Fix your own pages first.
- Check that your robots.txt doesn’t block the AI crawlers you want.
- Put your key facts in the page itself, in text and in schema.org structured data.
- Ask again in a few weeks.
Where FactHound helps, and where it doesn’t
What FactHound does
- The free check covers access and readability for your homepage: crawler rules, text without JavaScript, key facts, structured data, llms.txt and page basics.
- FactHound publishes facts you have verified on your own website as schema.org structured data and gives you an llms.txt file.
- On Pro and Agency, daily monitoring asks an AI model about your business and flags answers that disagree with your verified facts.
What it doesn’t do
- FactHound doesn’t measure how often AI mentions you, and it doesn’t promise rankings.
- It can’t change pages you don’t control.
- Daily monitoring is an estimate from one AI model. It is not a recording of any assistant.