Why it matters?
It matters because users' attention is moving from traditional search to AI-based search.
To back it up, approximately 80% of consumers now utilize AI-generated summaries for at least 40% of their queries, contributing to a 15% to 25% drop in organic traffic following Bain & Company (Sommerfeld 2025).
In turn, users are significantly less likely to click on links when reading an AI summary as the search result. Research from the Pew Research Center highlights this shift, noting that users click on traditional links in only 8% of visits when an AI summary is provided, as the summary often fulfills the user's intent immediately.
To sum up, GEO matters because the user's attention is moving towards AI-generated summaries with large implications for website visits and visibility.
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of optimizing your content, website, and brand presence to appear in AI-generated responses from tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Perplexity etc.
There exist many similar terms such as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), LLM Optimization (LLMO). Each one has slightly different nuances, however, they up to now not yet set in stone.
What do GEO and SEO have in common and where do they diverge?
The roots of SEO and GEO are the same because to have a well-structured, accessible website with clear writing and high authority remains essential.
However, the goals of both differ: SEO strives to achieve visibility by getting a webpage higher up in the ranking of the results of traditional search. GEO aims to earn presence inside the AI-generated answer the consumer sees.
SEO tracks impressions and click-through rates. In GEO you track citations, answer share and mentions within the AI-generated answers.
The unit of analysis for GEO is the AI-generated answer, for SEO it is a webpage. This has many implications - to learn more see the following articles:
- What is ChatGPT actually used for?
- AI-based Search Engines: The Change of User Behaviour
- The New Metrics of AI-based Search
Leading AI-based Search Engines
If you wonder where to start and which search engines I actually refer to when I say "across AI-based search engines", have a look at the most used engines according to traffic data by Similarweb (January 2026):
The leading platforms by traffic share are OpenAI (ChatGPT), Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, Deepseek, Gemini, Hugging Face, and Meta AI.
Originally published on the Aurora Intelligence Substack.
