What is GEO (generative engine optimisation)?

The term grew out of research and industry discussion in 2023 and 2024, as more people started asking AI assistants questions they once typed into Google. Traditional SEO aims for a position in a list of links. GEO aims to be one of the sources an AI reads and quotes when it composes a written answer. Closely related terms include AEO, answer engine optimisation, which historically focused on featured snippets and voice answers, and LLMO or AI SEO. In practice people use these labels loosely, and the work behind them overlaps heavily.

What GEO involves day to day is concrete. Pages are written so each section answers a specific question directly before adding detail. Business facts — name, services, areas served, contact details, founding story, who runs it — are stated identically everywhere, so an assistant reading several sources finds no contradictions. Structured data describes the business and its offerings. The business appears on the directories, reviews platforms and publications that AI tools read when asked about its field. Progress is checked by asking the assistants real buyer questions over time and recording who they name.

Two cautions keep it honest. First, GEO depends on SEO rather than replacing it; assistants that search the web lean on pages that are already indexed and trusted, so a site with technical problems will struggle in both. Second, it is young and partly opaque. AI providers do not publish how they choose sources, answers shift between users and model versions, and some tactics sold under the GEO label are guesswork. For a business in Islamabad or Rawalpindi the safe approach is the durable part: clear pages, consistent facts and real third-party evidence, which help with ordinary search too.