Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): How to Get Cited
More of your customers now ask an AI before they search. "Best emergency plumber in Austin?" "Which med spa near Scottsdale does Morpheus8?" "Personal injury lawyer in Tampa with Spanish-speaking staff?" If the answer names your competitors and not you, you've lost a customer who never saw your website.
The habit is spreading quickly. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults, 45% had used AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier (BrightLocal).
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of making your content more likely to be used and cited in AI-generated answers. The field is new. There's plenty of confident advice and very little evidence, so this guide sticks to what we can source:
- one academic study;
- the engines' own documentation;
- what follows logically from how these systems find pages.
What GEO is (and isn't)
The term was popularized by a 2023 paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal et al.), presented at KDD 2024. Bing's Webmaster Guidelines now use the term too. Bing's February 2026 revision describes GEO as making content eligible to be grounded on and cited in AI responses, and says, as with SEO, that there are no guarantees.
GEO depends on SEO. Most AI search features look up live web results before they answer, a step called "grounding". Pages that aren't crawlable, indexed and ranking reasonably well are unlikely to be found for grounding.
What the evidence says
1. The GEO paper: cite sources, add quotes and statistics
Aggarwal and colleagues rewrote web content in different ways, then measured how visible each version became in generative engine answers. In their benchmark:
- Adding citations to credible sources, quotations and statistics were among the best methods. They improved visibility by roughly 30-40% on the paper's main metric.
- Fluency and easy-to-understand rewrites also helped.
- Keyword stuffing did not. It performed slightly worse than the unmodified text.
- Lower-ranked sources gained the most, which suggests GEO can help smaller sites compete.
One caveat: it's a benchmark study, run on engines and prompts from 2023. Treat the numbers as a rough direction.
2. Google: no special tricks for AI Overviews and AI Mode
Google's documentation says there are no additional technical requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. The page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet. Google lists the usual fundamentals:
- crawlable pages and internal links;
- good page experience;
- important content available as text;
- supporting images and video;
- up-to-date Business Profile and Merchant Center information.
It also says you don't need special schema, new machine-readable files or "AI text files".
AI Overviews and AI Mode are available in the US and many other markets; AI Mode also rolled out in India in English in July 2025, with Hindi added later that year.
3. Bing / Copilot: explicit facts, clear entities, one topic per URL
Bing's February 2026 guidelines give the most concrete public advice from any engine:
- State facts explicitly, and use consistent names for entities: your business, products and places.
- Keep each URL focused on one topic.
- Put essential information near the top of the page.
- Know the snippet controls:
- NOARCHIVE keeps content out of Copilot answers and grounding;
- NOCACHE limits what can be shown;
- NOSNIPPET can reduce citation quality.
Check you aren't blocking yourself by accident.
- No manipulation. Content built to game AI citations, or text trying to inject instructions into AI systems, counts as abuse.
4. ChatGPT search relies heavily on a search index
- OpenAI says its OAI-SearchBot crawler powers ChatGPT search results. Sites that block it in robots.txt won't appear in ChatGPT's search answers, beyond plain navigational links. GPTBot is a separate crawler for model training. You can block training and still allow search.
- Seer Interactive (February 2025) found that over 87% of ChatGPT search citations in its sample matched Bing's top 20 organic results for the same question. The sample was small: about 100 questions and 500+ citations, which the authors call directional. Still, it suggests Bing visibility matters for ChatGPT.
5. Perplexity: allow PerplexityBot
Perplexity says PerplexityBot finds and links websites in its search results, and is not used to train foundation models. To appear, allow it in robots.txt.
The GEO checklist
Access (fix in an afternoon)
- [ ] robots.txt allows Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Decide separately about training crawlers such as GPTBot and Google-Extended.
- [ ] Your CDN or firewall isn't blocking these bots (Cloudflare bot settings are a common cause).
- [ ] No accidental
nosnippet,noarchiveornocacheon pages you want cited. - [ ] Site verified in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- [ ] XML sitemap submitted to both.
Clarity (how each page is written)
- [ ] One page per main service or product, each focused on one topic.
- [ ] The answer up front: what it is, who it's for, price range, area served.
- [ ] Facts stated plainly: "We repair and replace central AC and heat pumps in Mesa, Tempe and Chandler. Same-day visits Mon-Sat." Avoid vague claims like "best service".
- [ ] Consistent business name, address and phone across your site, Google Business Profile and directories.
- [ ] Statistics and claims backed by a cited source.
- [ ] A short FAQ answering the questions customers actually ask.
Evidence and reputation (what AI engines draw on)
- [ ] Google reviews that are recent, plentiful and answered. See Google review reply templates.
- [ ] Mentions on relevant third-party sites: local news, industry associations, directories that rank, honest comparison articles.
- [ ] Original data or expertise others will cite. For example: "We serviced 1,200 AC units this summer; here are the 5 most common faults."
Hygiene
- [ ] No duplicate pages competing for the same topic. See keyword cannibalization.
- [ ] Old posts updated when facts change. See content refresh using Search Console.
About llms.txt
llms.txt is a proposed file that gives AI systems a summary of your site. Google says it doesn't need special AI text files for AI Overviews. No major engine has publicly committed to using llms.txt for ranking or citations. It costs little to add. Just don't expect it to move results on its own.
How to measure AI visibility
There's no "Search Console for ChatGPT" yet, so for now you track it by hand:
- Write 20-30 prompts customers would really ask, including location and buying intent:
- "Best commercial HVAC maintenance company in Phoenix"
- "Dentist open Saturday near Plano"
- "Best Italian restaurant for a private party in Chicago"
- Run them regularly in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features. Record whether you're mentioned, whether you're cited with a link, and which competitors and sources show up.
- Look at the cited sources. If AI answers keep citing one directory or listicle, getting listed there accurately may matter more than another blog post.
- Track the trend, not single answers. AI answers vary from run to run and by user, so measure the share of runs where you appear.
API-based monitoring tools (ours included) see answers similar to what consumers see in the apps, but not identical. Treat the numbers as a proxy.
Illustrative example: an HVAC contractor in Phoenix finds that AI answers to "ductless mini-split installer Phoenix" cite two directories and one competitor's project page. The contractor:
- creates a dedicated mini-split installation page, with project types, brands serviced and areas covered;
- corrects their listing on both directories;
- asks recent commercial clients for Google reviews.
Nobody knows yet whether this will work, the contractor included. It's a plan to test.
FAQ
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of making content more likely to be used and cited in AI-generated answers from tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot. Bing's guidelines describe it as making content eligible for grounding and citation, without guarantees.
How do I get my website cited by ChatGPT?
Allow OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt. Make sure your site is indexed (Bing visibility appears to matter). Write focused pages that state facts clearly and cite sources. Earn mentions on sites that AI answers already cite.
Do I need special schema or llms.txt for Google AI Overviews?
No. Google says there are no additional technical requirements, and no special schema or AI text files are needed. Pages must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet.
Does keyword stuffing help GEO?
No. In the GEO paper's benchmark, keyword stuffing performed slightly worse than unmodified content. Bing now treats content engineered to game AI citations as abuse.
Is GEO different from SEO?
They overlap heavily. AI search features usually ground answers in indexed web results, so SEO fundamentals come first. GEO adds a focus on clarity, explicit facts, citations and third-party mentions.
Where BeeCMO fits. BeeCMO Scout Bee runs your customer prompts each week through ChatGPT (with web search), Gemini (with Google Search grounding) and Perplexity. It tracks your share of voice against competitors and shows which sources the engines cite. It also checks robots.txt and snippet settings for accidental blocks. Track your AI search visibility →
Sources
Checked 12 October 2026.
- Aggarwal et al., "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization" (arXiv 2311.09735; KDD 2024): https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.09735 (full text: https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/2311.09735)
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features
- Search Engine Journal, Bing adds GEO to official guidelines (Feb 2026): https://www.searchenginejournal.com/bing-adds-geo-to-official-guidelines-expands-ai-abuse-definitions/568442
- OpenAI, overview of OpenAI crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot): https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots
- Perplexity, PerplexityBot documentation: https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots
- Seer Interactive, 87% of SearchGPT citations match Bing's top results (Feb 2025): https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/87-percent-of-searchgpt-citations-match-bings-top-results
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, AI and trust (45% use AI for local recommendations): https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/ (checked Oct 2026)
- PPC Land, Google launches AI Mode in India (July 2025): https://ppc.land/google-launches-ai-mode-search-in-india/
- Search Engine Land, Google expands AI Mode beyond English: https://searchengineland.com/google-expands-ai-mode-beyond-english-461680