GEO vs SEO: what changes, what does not

GEO is being named and cited in AI answers. SEO is ranking in web results. You still need the crawl, the index and the same pages. You optimise how your pages answer questions and where your brand appears on third party lists.

Assistants and Search both fetch from a web index. The assistants cite a few sources. The results page lists many. There is no position to track in GEO. You track citations and clicks by referrer instead.

Your site must be crawlable and indexed. The same technical work applies: a clean robots.txt, an XML sitemap, fast pages and stable layouts. If Googlebot or Bingbot cannot fetch it, no assistant can cite it.

• Keep titles under about 60 characters. Example: “Email API pricing | YourProduct”.
• Use one h1 that matches the topic. Example page: /guides/getting-started with “Getting started with YourProduct”.
• Make LCP under 2.5 seconds, CLS under 0.1, INP under 200 ms.
• Link related pages. For /pricing, link back to /features and /compare/yourproduct-vs-rival.
• Use canonical tags on variants. Avoid duplicate content.

SEO content still matters. A good /compare/yourproduct-vs-rival page can rank and also be cited. So can a clear “alternatives to YourProduct” page you host if it is fair and well structured.

Assistants answer questions. They pick sources that state the answer early, with headings that mirror the question, and with lists and tables to quote. They show a handful of links as citations. There is no ten blue links model to page two.

• A citation instead of a rank. Your name and link appear inline or in a sources panel.
• Questions instead of head terms. “How to migrate from Mailchimp to YourProduct” beats “email marketing”.
• Lists and comparisons weigh more. A side by side table on /compare catches more citations than prose alone.
• Consistency of names. Use the same product and person names everywhere: “YourProduct Core”, not “Core” in one place and “Starter” in another.
• No position to track. You check if you are named for target questions, not where you rank.

A fixed page looks like this: the title matches the question, the first paragraph answers it in one or two sentences, a list follows, then a table with figures. The page has a visible date and an author line. The URL is clean, like /guides/migrate-from-mailchimp.

Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, came from the featured snippet and voice years. It aimed to be the answer, not just a result. GEO is the same aim for AI systems that write answers and cite sources.

GEO names and cites you in ChatGPT with search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. The term was popularised by a 2023 paper by Aggarwal and colleagues. As of 2026, assistants retrieve from web indexes, cite sources and cannot be paid for a citation.

1. 1

   Map buyer questions to pages you own

   List ten to twenty buyer questions. Example: “Stripe vs YourProduct fees”, “How to import 5,000 contacts”, “YourProduct GDPR”. Map each to one page. If no page exists, plan one. Avoid duplicates that split authority.

2. 2

   Fix structure so assistants can quote you

   Edit each page so the first two sentences answer the question. Add h2s that mirror sub-questions. Add one list and one table with concrete figures. Add a visible date and an author line. Example: /pricing adds a feature-by-plan table with numbers.

3. 3

   Get on the lists assistants already cite

   Make a target list: “best x tools”, “alternatives to x”, “x vs y”. Find the top five pages assistants cite for your topic. Pitch to be included with a clear sentence on what your product does, consistent naming and one differentiator. Create your own fair comparison and alternatives pages too.

4. 4

   Open the right crawlers and keep JavaScript optional

   Allow Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Keep content server rendered or hydrated fast. If a key paragraph only appears after scripts run, move it into HTML.

5. 5

   Change measurement from positions to citations

   Set a weekly schedule. Ask each assistant the same set of buyer questions. Log if your brand is named and which URL is linked. In analytics, build referrer segments for chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com and gemini.google.com. In Search Console, track clicks where AI Overviews and AI Mode also send traffic, which arrive as google.com.

• State the answer in the first 2 sentences. Example on /guides/export-csv: “You can export all contacts from YourProduct as a CSV in three clicks. Here is how.”
• Mirror the question in the h1 and h2s. Example h2: “Steps to export a CSV from YourProduct”.
• Add a list and a table. Example: a 5 step list and a table of limits or fees with figures.
• Use consistent names for products and people. Example: “YourProduct Pro” everywhere, not “Pro plan” in some places and “Professional” in others.
• Add a visible date and author. Assistants prefer recent and attributable pages.
• Write comparison pages. Example: /compare/yourproduct-vs-mailchimp with a clear table of differences and who each is for.
• Use clean URLs. Example: /alternatives/yourproduct-alternatives, not /blog/1234.

A fixed /compare page shows the verdict at the top, then the table, then short sections by use case. It links to each rival’s docs where fair. It uses your product name the same way throughout.

Assistants name products they see on the lists they retrieve. If the “best email APIs” page includes you, you are more likely to be cited. If not, you are invisible, even if your own pages are good.

• Find five roundup pages that assistants cite for your topic. Search for “site:perplexity.ai your topic” and read the linked sources. Do the same in ChatGPT search and Copilot.
• Pitch an update. Offer a one line description, your differentiator and a link to your best page. Example: ask to add YourProduct to “Top transactional email APIs in 2026”.
• Host your own fair list. Example: /alternatives/yourproduct-alternatives lists genuine rivals with criteria and a comparison table.
• List on buyer directories. Example: follow our guide to get listed on G2 and Capterra. Assistants often cite them for “best” queries.
• Keep names and figures aligned. Your plan names and prices must match across your site and any listings.

A fixed “alternatives” page reads like a buyer’s note, not a pitch. It sets criteria, shows a side by side table, and says who your product is for and who it is not for. That page can rank and be cited.

Allow the answering and search crawlers. That is the precondition. Blocking training crawlers is separate and does not remove what they already collected. Vendors honour robots.txt voluntarily as of 2026.

• OpenAI: allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in ChatGPT search results. GPTBot is for model training. ChatGPT-User fetches on demand.
• Anthropic: allow Claude-SearchBot to be in Claude search. Claude-User fetches on demand. ClaudeBot is for training. Older tokens anthropic-ai and Claude-Web may appear.
• Google: allow Googlebot for Search and AI Overviews. Google-Extended controls Gemini training and grounding, not Search or Overviews.
• Perplexity: allow PerplexityBot to be in the index. Perplexity-User fetches on demand.
• Microsoft: allow Bingbot for Bing and Copilot.
• Apple: Applebot is for Siri and Spotlight. Applebot-Extended controls Apple Intelligence training.
• Common crawl and others: CCBot, Bytespider, meta-externalagent, meta-externalfetcher, Amazonbot, cohere-ai, DuckAssistBot.

A safe default for GEO is: allow Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Decide on GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended and Applebot-Extended based on your training policy. Blocking the answering and search crawlers makes you invisible to assistants.

Test with a robots.txt tester, then fetch a key URL with each vendor’s “open” preview where available. Check server logs for these user agents after you ship changes. Keep a short allow-list comment in robots.txt so you remember why it is there.

You measure GEO by asking questions and reading who is named. As of 2026, no assistant publishes a citations report. You build your own list and check it on a schedule.

• Build a canonical list of buyer questions. Example: 30 questions across /pricing, /guides and /compare topics.
• Ask each assistant the same set. ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, Gemini. Log which brand is named and which URL is linked.
• Segment analytics by referrer. chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com, gemini.google.com. Compare landing pages and conversion rate.
• Use tracking products to automate. Options include Profound, Peec AI, Otterly, Scrunch, the AI toolkits of Semrush and Ahrefs, and DataForSEO’s LLM mentions data.
• In Google Search Console, read clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode with the rest of Search. They appear as google.com. You cannot split them out.

A fixed report shows a table of questions by assistant with a simple yes or no for citation and the linked URL. Add a weekly note on what you shipped and who added you to a list. Treat it like a sales pipeline for mentions.

• /pricing: add a compact table with plan names and figures. Put the plan names you use across the site. Add an FAQ that mirrors buyer questions, like “Is annual billing cheaper?”, “What counts as a contact?”.
• /compare/yourproduct-vs-rival: add a verdict in the first paragraph. Include a side by side table with features and caps. Link to both docs. Make it fair.
• /alternatives/yourproduct-alternatives: define criteria, list five to ten genuine options, and add a simple picker by use case. Use dated update notes.
• /guides/how-to-x: put the steps at the top in a numbered list. Add a short video only if the steps are also in text. Assistants cannot read videos.
• /blog/roundups: if you run a “best X tools” page, include clear criteria and a numbered list with one line per tool and a consistent name format.

An example fix: “How to migrate from Mailchimp to YourProduct” at /guides/migrate-from-mailchimp. H1 matches the query. First paragraph covers the path in one sentence. Steps 1 to 5 follow. Then a table of limits and time estimates. Date and author visible. That page can be cited and can rank.

Assistants answer many questions directly. The click is optional. In Google Search, AI Overviews and AI Mode can satisfy intent without a visit. You may see more impressions in Search Console, flat clicks and a new flow of assistant referrers in analytics. That does not mean your work failed. It means some answers did their job on the results page.