How to Build a Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) Strategy

GEO helps brands get found, understood and represented in AI-generated answers. This guide covers how GEO relates to SEO and how to build and measure a strategy. 

No one can guarantee a mention or citation. The goal is to improve the odds and track what happens. 

Contents 

• Key GEO terms 
• What is GEO? 
• Does my business need GEO? 
• What the GEO research shows 
• Step-by-step GEO strategy 
• Does digital PR help GEO? 
• How to measure GEO performance 
• FAQ 

Key GEO terms 

Large language model (LLM): An AI model trained on large volumes of text. It generates answers in tools such as ChatGPT and sits behind many generative search experiences. 

Entity: A distinct thing a search system can identify, such as a brand, person, product or location, plus the facts linked to it. Clear entity information shows what a business does and where it operates. 

Structured data: Standardised markup, usually based on schema.org, that describes a page’s visible content in a machine-readable form. It helps search engines interpret content. 

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO): A related term for making content useful and eligible for direct answers. Definitions vary, and AEO overlaps with both GEO and SEO. 

A full range of LLM definitions can be found in Peak Ace’s AI Glossary – constantly updated to reflect the most recent changes in the field. 

What is GEO? 

GEO improves how a brand appears in generative search experiences, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. It asks three questions: 

• Does the brand appear in the answer? 
• Is the brand’s expertise or website cited? 
• Is the brand described accurately? 

GEO extends SEO and digital PR. Crawlable pages, useful content and clear evidence support visibility in both traditional and generative results. 

Google states that its established SEO best practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. It doesn’t require special GEO markup. 

Each platform uses its own selection process, and the details aren’t fully disclosed. Treat platform-specific advice as a hypothesis to test rather than a universal rule. 

Does my business need GEO? 

GEO suits any business wishing to show up in AI search results. Considering the ever-increasing prevalence of AI search in customers’ buying journeys, a brand’s presence in AI is becoming an essential part of getting discovered. 

Check three things first: 

• Audience behaviour: Do customers ask AI tools about this category? 
• Market relevance: Does the topic matter in the markets served? 
• Customer questions: Do sales and support teams hear these questions? 

What the GEO research shows 

There are a large number of case studies exemplifying the need for businesses to invest in GEO.  

For example, Aggarwal et al.’s research paper, GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, demonstrates how effective GEO is at increasing brands’ visibility in AI answers. 

The authors built GEO-bench, a public benchmark of 10,000 queries. They split it into 8,000 for training, 1,000 for validation and 1,000 for testing. About 80% of the queries are informational. 

Three GEO methods stood out: 

• Cite sources: Add references to credible sources. 
• Add quotations: Include relevant quotes from named experts. 
• Add statistics: Include specific, sourced figures. 

The authors reported that within the study, content that followed these tactics witnessed gains of up to 40% in visibility. 

Note: The authors measured visibility by how much of a source appears in the answer, weighted by position, plus a score for subjective impression. Results varied by domain. Additionally, the experiments ran in a controlled setup, rather than on live consumer platforms.The visibility metrics are the authors’ own. 

What Peak Ace’s Own LLM Industry Benchmark Shows  

Peak Ace’s 2026 LLM Industry Benchmark measured how often 100 German brands across 10 industries appear in AI answers (ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews) for 1,000 purchase-intent prompts, using Peec AI data collected in August 2026. It reports visibility, share of voice, sentiment and market concentration per industry, and shows which source types, such as comparison pages and listicles, AI engines retrieve most often for each type of buying question. 

While the intents behind the paper and Peak Ace’s own LLM Industry Benchmark differ, the key findings intersect with Aggarwal et al.’s peer-reviewed paper mentioned above: 

• Credible third-party sources matter. Citable authority on independent sites (comparisons, listicles, Digital PR) can drive visibility. 
• Visibility is not evenly spread. Peak Ace’s Benchmark concentration figures show that presence in LLMs varies strongly by industry: the HHI is 1,462 in Telecom and 548 in SaaS, and the top three brands hold 63% of share of voice in Telecom versus 24% in SaaS (page 15–16). 

Want to find out which content types work best for your industry? Download Peak Ace’s LLM Industry Benchmark now! 

Step-by-step GEO strategy 

These findings translate into an eight-step process. Work through the steps in order. Each one sets up the next. 

Step 1: Confirm the business case 

Define three things: 

• The audience 
• The markets and languages in scope 
• One measurable objective 

Example (illustrative): A B2B accounting firm targets UK small businesses. Its objective is 20 qualified enquiries a quarter from a tax topic cluster. 

If the objective is unclear, pause before investing further. 

Step 2: Set priority topics and competitors 

Choose the topics, markets, languages and competitors that matter most. Keep the scope narrow for the first cycle. A focused test is easier to read. 

Step 3: Build a fixed prompt set 

Write realistic questions that customers ask AI tools. Check each one against: 

• Customer language 
• Search Console queries 
• Sales questions 
• Market priorities 

Cluster overlapping questions by intent. Focus on topics the business can answer credibly. 

Example prompts (illustrative, for a small accounting firm): 

• “What’s the best accounting software for a five-person agency?” 
• “How much should a freelancer set aside for tax?” 

Step 4: Check the SEO foundation 

The foundations of GEO overlap with the core fundamentals of any good SEO strategy. Review priority pages for: 

• Crawlability and indexability: Search engines can access and index the page. 
• Rendering: Key content appears after the page renders, including on JavaScript-led sites. 
• Canonicalisation: Each page has one preferred version, with no conflicting duplicates. 
• Internal linking: Related service pages, expert content, case studies and resources link to each other. 

Expert tip: Search Console’s indexing reports are a practical starting point. 

Step 5: Strengthen priority pages 

Apply the methods that performed best in the research. For each priority page: 

Evidence 

• Cite credible sources for key claims, and link to them. 
• Add relevant statistics, with their source and date. 
• Add quotations from named experts where they support the point. 

Clarity and structure 

• Use descriptive headings. Answer the main question early. 
• Use plain language. Explain specialist terms. 
• Use descriptive anchor text for internal links. 

Trust and consistency 

• State what the business offers, who it serves, where it operates and who wrote the content. 
• Show publication and update dates. 
• Keep brand details consistent across own pages and third-party references. 

Expert tip: Avoid keyword stuffing, fabricated mentions and thin pages produced at scale. They weaken trust and add no verifiable value. 

Step 6: Add structured data where it fits 

Use structured data only where it matches visible page content. Don’t use it to describe content users can’t see. 

Step 7: Record a baseline 

Test every prompt on each platform the audience uses. Log the results in a table like this: 

Run each prompt at least three times per platform. Answers vary, so compare like with like. Three runs is a practical starting point, not a platform standard. 

Step 8: Review and iterate 

Set a review cadence, monthly or quarterly. Compare results with the baseline. 

If a page’s visibility stays weak after an update: 

• Review its sources.
• Check its evidence and structure.
• Change the scope only after that.

Track third-party citations separately. Use digital PR to earn the credible references that support them. 

Does digital PR help GEO? 

AI engines often draw on independent sources, such as comparison pages, listicles and expert roundups, when they build an answer. Digital PR helps you earn those mentions the right way. 

Focus on three things: 

• Share original insight: A survey, benchmark or clear data point gives journalists and editors a reason to cite you. 
• Pitch relevant publications: Target sites that already cover your priority topics and rank for the questions your prompt set tests. 
• Keep brand details consistent: Use the same name, description and contact details everywhere, so AI engines recognise who you are. 

Track these citations separately from your own pages, and check whether they lift your citation rate over time. Stick to genuine coverage. Paid placements that pass as editorial and mentions you can’t verify add risk without adding value. 

As Gordon Herenz, Peak Ace’s Team Lead Content Strategy & Digital PR informed us: 

Read more on Digital PR and AI in Peak Ace’s comprehensive guide. 

How to measure GEO performance 

Use this internal KPI set: 

Example (illustrative): A team runs 12 prompts three times on one platform, giving 36 responses. The brand appears in 9. The brand mention rate is 9 ÷ 36 = 25%. 

Referral data is incomplete, so treat it as a partial view. Keep test conditions consistent, and read results as directional rather than definitive. 

Google recommends using Search Console alongside Analytics. The two tools show different views of search performance and on-site behaviour. 

These GEO measures are an internal framework, not standardised platform metrics. 

How Peak Ace can help with GEO

For teams that would rather not build this in-house, Peak Ace offers a practical starting point. Peak Ace offers LLMO & GEO services. A good starting point is a baseline. Peak Ace can set up the prompt set, run the first measurement cycle and plan updates to priority pages. 

GEO works best alongside existing SEO, content and Digital PR. Consider approaching AI visibility as a holistic project, rather than simply a GEO box to tick. 

FAQ: How to Build a Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) Strategy 

How do ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews choose sources? 

Each platform uses its own process, and the details aren’t fully disclosed. Improve clarity, accessibility and sourcing. Then test visibility on the platforms the audience uses. 

How can a business measure its visibility in AI search? 

Use a repeatable prompt set. Log mentions and cited URLs. Assess how accurately the brand is represented. Connect identifiable referral traffic to analytics outcomes. 

What is the difference between GEO and AEO? 

The terms overlap. AEO usually refers to optimising content for direct answers. GEO focuses on brand and source visibility in generative responses. Neither replaces SEO, and neither has one agreed definition.