Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of shaping content so generative search experiences build their answers from it. Surfaces like Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and Search Generative Experience write responses rather than list links, and GEO is the work of being part of what they write from.
What it is
A generative engine retrieves sources, then composes a new answer in its own words. GEO targets that composition step. Where AEO is about earning a visible citation, GEO is about being the substrate the answer is built on, so your facts, framing, and terminology end up inside the generated text even when no single sentence is quoted.
Why it matters
When an engine synthesizes rather than quotes, influence can be invisible in the old sense and still real. A page that supplies the engine’s understanding of a topic shapes the answer millions of users read. Optimizing only for ranked links misses this layer entirely, because the generated paragraph sits above and ahead of the links it cites.
How to apply it
Write content that is unambiguous and densely factual, define entities clearly so the model associates them with you, and structure pages so each section maps to a distinct question. For deeper coverage, see our GEO guide.