The founder’s guide to GEO/AEO: getting your brand cited by ChatGPT and Perplexity
AI assistants are the new front page. This is the practical, no-hype playbook for becoming the brand the machines recommend.
Search has split into three surfaces
Ranking in blue links (SEO), being extracted as the direct answer (AEO), and being cited inside generative answers (GEO). They share one foundation — but the last two are where discovery is moving.
The 5 levers that actually move AI citations
- Answer-first structure. State the answer in the first two sentences of every section. AI engines skip preamble.
- Independently citable chunks. Every H2 section should make sense out of context.
- Entity consistency. Describe your brand and category with the same language everywhere online.
- Third-party validation. Perplexity and ChatGPT lean heavily on what others say about you — reviews, communities, press.
- Technical access. Allow AI crawlers in robots.txt, publish llms.txt, ship valid schema.
What to measure
Track your AI share of voice monthly: run your 10 money queries through the major assistants and record whether you are mentioned, cited, or recommended. Trend it like you once trended rankings.
Frequently asked questions
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
GEO is the practice of optimizing content and brand signals so generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews cite and recommend your brand in their answers.
How do I get my brand mentioned in ChatGPT answers?
Use answer-first content structure, make each section independently citable, keep entity language consistent across the web, earn third-party mentions, and allow AI crawlers via robots.txt and llms.txt.