GEO tools: measure and grow your AI search visibility

What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?

GEO is the practice of getting your brand cited and recommended inside AI-generated answers — in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Claude and Copilot — rather than ranking as a blue link. A GEO tool measures that visibility and shows you what to change. You will also see it called answer engine optimization (AEO), LLM optimization (LLMO), AI SEO or GAIO; the category has not settled on one name, and they all describe roughly the same work.

What is the difference between GEO and SEO?

SEO optimizes for a ranked list of links. GEO optimizes for being named inside a synthesized answer. The rankings do not transfer: a page sitting at position one on Google can be completely absent from ChatGPT's answer to the same question, because the model is choosing which sources to trust and summarize, not which page to link. That is why AI visibility has to be measured separately from your search rankings.

GEO, AEO, LLMO, AI SEO — are they different things?

In practice, no. GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization) are the two most common terms; LLMO (LLM optimization) is the term most used in Switzerland, while GEO dominates in Germany. AI SEO and GAIO also appear. They all mean: make sure AI systems know about you, trust you, and recommend you.

How do you measure AI visibility?

Ask the AI assistants the questions your buyers actually ask, repeatedly and at scale, then record whether you are mentioned, how you are described, which competitors appear alongside you, and which sources the model cites. That gives you a visibility score and a share of voice you can track over time. Aurora runs this across every major engine and traces each result back to the prompt that produced it.

Why doesn't ChatGPT mention my brand?

Usually because the sources the model trusts for your category do not mention you — review sites, comparison articles, directories, forums and press coverage — or because what they say about you is thin, outdated or inconsistent. AI answers are assembled from those sources, so the fix is rarely on your own homepage. Aurora shows which sources are being cited for your category, which is where the work actually has to happen.

How long does it take to become visible in AI search?

It depends on how often the engines refresh what they know about your category and how quickly you can influence the sources they cite. Expect weeks rather than days. Measuring first matters: without a baseline you cannot tell whether a change moved anything.

Is there a free GEO check?

Yes. Aurora's free AI visibility check tells you in about ten seconds whether AI assistants currently mention your brand, without an account. It is a snapshot, not a substitute for tracking — visibility moves, and a single reading cannot show you a trend.

Which AI search engines does Aurora track?

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, Claude and Microsoft Copilot — side by side in one campaign, because buyers do not all use the same assistant.

What is ChatGPT SEO, and how is it different from GEO?

"ChatGPT SEO" is the common name for optimizing so ChatGPT recommends and cites your brand — the same work as generative engine optimization (GEO), just named after the most-used assistant. The difference from classic SEO is that there is no ranked list: ChatGPT synthesizes one answer and names a few sources, so the goal is to be one of those sources rather than to hold a position. Aurora measures your ChatGPT visibility and shows which sources it cites, in English, German and French.

What is AI share of voice and how do you track it?

AI share of voice is how often AI assistants recommend your brand for the prompts that matter to you, relative to competitors. Because a single answer only names a handful of brands, share of voice is a sharper signal than a ranking: either you are in the answer or you are not. Aurora runs your prompts on a schedule across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Copilot and tracks your share of voice and how it trends against competitors over time.

Do I need a separate AEO tool for answer engines?

No. Answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) describe the same goal — being the brand and source that AI answer engines cite — and in practice the terms are used interchangeably, along with LLMO and AI SEO. A single GEO tool like Aurora already covers the answer engines that matter (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini and Copilot), so you do not need a separate AEO tool on top.

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