Home / Glossary / G / Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Work that shapes what AI systems say about a brand by influencing the sources they cite, most of which sit outside the brand’s own website.
We work on this: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Why the distinction matters
The two are often sold as one service. They are not, because the work happens in different places and is measured differently. Answer Engine Optimization is something a team can execute on a Monday morning. Generative Engine Optimization depends on other people publishing things.
What the source split looks like
When we measured every source cited across our own tracked question set, our own domain accounted for a small fraction of them. Each square below is one percent of the citations.
5.7% our own website94.3% everywhere else
Professional networks, forums, and video accounted for roughly ten times our own share between them. That ratio moves by industry and by engine, so it should be measured per business rather than assumed. But it sets a ceiling on what any amount of on-site work can achieve, which is why a program that only touches your website is not a generative engine optimization program.
A worked example
A distributor we worked with was publishing consistently and ranking well, and was still absent from AI answers in its category. The citations were going to a trade publication and two forum threads. No amount of further on-site content would have changed that, because the engines were not reading the site to answer the question.
How it is measured
Citation share
What proportion of the sources cited on a question are yours. The clearest single number, and the one that moves first.
Brand mentions
Whether the answer names you at all. Being the source of an answer and being named in it are different things.
Share of voice
Your presence against named competitors on the same question set, tracked over time.
Not rankings, and not clicks. A brand can gain visibility in AI answers while its traffic stays flat, which is why the reporting has to be agreed before the work starts.
Related: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Citation Share, Grounding Query, Google AI Overviews. Back to the glossary.