Get your business
into the AI answer.
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of improving how your business appears in AI-generated answers: whether it gets mentioned, cited or recommended.
Start by seeing where you stand. Use the evidence to choose what to improve, then check what changes.
Run your free check3 buyer questions · 4 AI answer engines · No signup
A closer look inside Askwords
Swipe across for all columns; scroll down for more ↓
Find the sources shaping your AI visibility.
See which pages appear in your answer evidence and where those pages leave your brand out.
Product preview · fictional business and data · paid workspace shown.
Build on the search work you already do.
Helpful content, clear business information and accessible pages support both. The difference is what you look for in the results.
Explore SEO vs. GEOSEO
Get found in search
Improve your pages' visibility in search results.
Look at rankings, impressions and clicks.
GEO
Appear in the answer
Improve how AI answers describe and recommend your business.
Look at mentions, citations and recommendations.
Google says existing SEO practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. No special AI markup is required, and inclusion is not guaranteed. Read Google’s guidance.
One question. Different answers.
An appearance in one AI answer engine does not tell you what the others say. These five are a useful starting point.
Google Search
AI Overviews
AI summaries that appear for some searches, with links to supporting pages.
Google Search
AI Mode
Conversational search for follow-up questions and more detailed comparisons.
Answer engine
ChatGPT
Check whether your business appears when buyers ask for recommendations.
Answer engine
Gemini
A separate Google experience whose answers can differ from those in Search.
Pro plan
Perplexity
Explore recommendations and the linked sources behind its answers.
The free Askwords check covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini. Perplexity is included from Pro.
Five steps from
insight to action.
A useful GEO routine ends with something you can do. Start small, improve one thing, then use the next check to learn.
You don’t need to fix everything at once.
Pick a task supported by the answers you collected.
01Choose your buyer questions
Start with questions your customers use to compare options. Keep the wording, market and location consistent.
Try: “best project management software for agencies”
02See where you stand
Save the answers, citations and competing brands. Your first check is a baseline; repeat it before drawing a trend.
Look for: who gets named, linked and recommended
03Find a gap worth investigating
Read the cited pages. Look for missing information, relevant third-party coverage or access issues you can check.
Ask: what useful evidence is missing from my site?
04Turn the evidence into action
Make a specific improvement: clarify a product page, support a claim, pursue relevant coverage or resolve a confirmed access issue.
Prioritize: a clear task you can actually complete
05Check again and learn
Revisit the same questions. Look for changes that persist, and use the new evidence to decide what to work on next.
Remember: a changed answer does not prove what caused it
Choose a tool that helps you take the next step.
You can collect a first set of answers by hand. A useful tool connects those findings to priorities, practical tasks and ongoing checks.
A practical action plan
Prioritized tasks with supporting evidence and steps you can carry out.
Answers you can inspect
Original responses, linked sources and the competitors that appeared.
Clear citation and mention data
A distinction between being named, being linked and being recommended.
Relevant answer-engine coverage
Google's AI answers alongside the other engines your buyers use.
Follow-up checks you can trust
Repeated checks to verify apparent changes before sending a notification.
GEO, explained.
The vocabulary is new. Most of the work behind it is not.
What is GEO in SEO?
GEO stands for generative engine optimization: work aimed at improving how a business appears in AI-generated answers. It builds on useful content, clear business information and technical accessibility, while measuring mentions, citations and recommendations across a defined set of questions.
What is the difference between GEO and AEO?
Both terms are used for work that helps content appear in answers. GEO focuses on generative AI responses. AEO, or answer engine optimization, is also used for direct-answer formats such as featured snippets and voice search. The labels overlap; ask which answers, evidence and outcomes a service actually covers.
How is GEO measured?
Choose a consistent set of buyer questions, then record whether each answer engine cites your site, mentions your brand, recommends it, or leaves it out. Record when no answer is returned separately. Compare repeated checks over time. Scores depend on the questions, engines and weighting used; they are not a measurement of every customer's experience.
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. Search accessibility and helpful, reliable content remain relevant. Google says its existing SEO practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no special AI markup required. GEO adds a way to examine how your business appears in generated answers alongside traditional search performance.
How long does GEO take to show results?
There is no fixed timeline or guaranteed inclusion. A change depends on when content is crawled or refreshed, which sources an engine uses, and the question being asked. Compare repeated checks over time rather than treating one improved answer as proof that a fix worked.
What does AI say about your business?
See the answers, the sources and the brands that appear alongside you. Make your first GEO decision with evidence.
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