GEO

Where does the term GEO come from?

GEO came into wide use from "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization," a paper published in 2023 by researchers at US universities. The paper tested ways to increase how often specific web content appears in AI answers, and it was accepted at KDD, a data science conference, in 2024.

Here, a "generative engine" means a search that reads multiple web pages and writes its own sentences to answer. ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Naver AI Briefing all work this way.

The industry hasn't settled on a single name yet. Some call it AI search optimization or LLMO, but these refer to pretty much the same work.

How do SEO and GEO results look different?

An SEO result is a line for your page in a list of links; a GEO result is your business name inside a sentence the AI wrote. The biggest difference is that customers can call or visit just from reading the answer, without ever clicking a link.

So with GEO, instead of just "how many clicks," you also need to look at "which questions mentioned your business, and was it described correctly." If a wrong price or old hours get quoted, it can actually hurt you.

For example, if someone asks AI for "a Korean BBQ place in Euljiro for a big group dinner" and your restaurant is described accurately, like "group seating for up to 20, no parking," the customer might call you directly without clicking any link. Visits like this don't show up in search tool click numbers, so it helps to ask "Where did you hear about us?" when people call or book.

Does Google say you need special optimization to appear in AI answers?

No. Google says there are no separate requirements or special optimizations for appearing in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Any page that's indexed in regular search and eligible to appear in search results with a description (snippet) can be included.

What Google recommends is the same as the usual SEO basics: don't block crawling, link your pages to each other, put important content in text, keep structured data consistent with the text on the page, and keep your Business Profile information up to date.

Visits that come from AI features are also counted under the "Web" search type in Search Console's Performance report. Google explains there's no need to create separate AI-only files or special markup.

Where do ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Naver AI Briefing get their information?

Most of them read web pages through a search index or crawler run by each company, then build their answers from that content. So the common starting point is "a website search engines can read"; what differs by service is which robot does the reading and how you allow or block it.

OpenAI says it uses OAI-SearchBot to show websites in ChatGPT search, and sites that block this robot in robots.txt won't appear in ChatGPT search answers. GPTBot, the robot used for training AI models, is set separately, so you can block training while keeping search visibility open.

Perplexity says it uses PerplexityBot to show and link to websites in its search results, and that this robot isn't used to collect data for training AI models. Both companies note that robots.txt rules may not apply when a user directly asks for a page to be opened during a conversation.

Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are based on the Google Search index, and the Gemini app may also draw on content from the Google Search index when building answers. You can control how Gemini uses your content with the Google-Extended setting, and Google explains that this setting doesn't affect your visibility or ranking in Google Search.

Naver AI Briefing is a feature that shows summary answers inside Naver's search results. Which documents it picks, and by what criteria, is hard to confirm in detail from published official documents, so the realistic way to prepare is to keep your website, Place and blog information that appears in Naver search accurate and consistent.

What should you write so AI quotes your business?

Write text that answers each question in its first sentence and backs up that answer with numbers and conditions. The more verifiable facts and the fewer flowery words, the easier it is for AI to quote you as is.

Decide what to write based on the information customers check before making a decision. The basics are your business intro, services and prices, directions and parking, how to book and cancel, and FAQs; depending on your industry, add details people use to compare, like how long it takes, what to bring and suitable ages.

For a hair salon, for example, "Haneul Hair in Yeonnam-dong offers men's down perms from KRW 40,000, and it takes about 50 minutes" is far more quotable than "We value every single customer."

Text inside photos, PDF menus and notices that only exist on Instagram are easy for AI to miss or not be able to read at all. Simply writing them out once more as text on your website gives AI more material to quote.

Let's take one more made-up example. Heukgwason ("Clay and Hands"), a pottery studio in Hapjeong-dong, isn't a real business, just an example for illustration. Its About page had nothing but photos and the line "A cozy studio that shares the warmth of clay."

The owner rewrote that paragraph to something like: "Heukgwason is a pottery studio a 5-minute walk from Hapjeong Station. Our wheel-throwing one-day class lasts 2 hours and costs KRW 50,000 per person, and your pieces are fired in the kiln and delivered by courier about 3 weeks later." Next, they organized "Can I bring my child?", "When will I get my piece?" and "Do you hold classes on rainy days?" as questions and answers, and updated the prices and times in their Place listing and social media bios to the same values.

A month later, the owner asked several AI services questions like "a pottery one-day class in Hapjeong where it's fine to go alone," and recorded whether the studio's name came up and whether the price and class length were described correctly. Even when a service didn't mention them, they didn't rewrite everything right away; they kept asking the same questions and watched the trend over a few months.

1. 01Write down, word for word, the 10 questions customers ask most often by phone, DM or in person.
2. 02Use each question as a subheading and fully answer it in the first sentence right below. Example: "Is there parking?" → "Parking in the building's basement lot is free for 1 hour."
3. 03Write prices, time required, location and booking methods as text and tables, not images.
4. 04Write a one-paragraph business intro that covers "where, for whom, what and how."
5. 05Make your business name, address and phone number read exactly the same on your website, maps and social media.
6. 06When a price or time changes, update your website first that same day, and note the date of the change.

What should you check first for GEO?

Checking GEO readiness in four groups (business information, question-style paragraphs, sources and consistency) makes sure nothing slips through. Go through the items in the table from the top, and start fixing the rows where you answered no.

"Sources" here means two things. Your information has to be solid enough that AI picks your website as a source, and within your own text, it's good to note where readers can verify claims that need proof, like qualifications, awards and certifications.

You don't have to do it all at once. Start with "business information" and "consistency," then fill in the rest by adding a paragraph each time customer questions pile up.

How do you measure GEO results?

The most reliable way is to ask several AI services the questions your customers would likely ask, and keep a record. The same question can get different answers depending on the user's location, the time and the conversation context, so it's better to track the trend with the same questions every month than to rely on a single result.

When you record, note not just whether your business came up, but also whether the price, hours and location were described correctly and which page was cited as the source. If you see wrong information, track down where it came from and correct your website and map information first.

Google Search Console groups visits from AI features together with regular search. That makes it hard to look at AI visibility on its own, so the realistic approach is to look at your own check records together with notes on how inquiries reached you.

Judge GEO results by putting together your own records of AI answers, impression and click trends in search tools, and what customers tell you about how they found you when they call or book. Analytics tools sometimes show visits that came through AI services, but customers who read the answer and called right away don't show up anywhere, so it's hard to measure the effect by that one number.

• Cafe: "Is there a quiet cafe in Mangwon-dong that's good for working on a laptop?"
• Pilates: "Recommend a 1:1 Pilates studio near Yeoksam Station I can go to after work"
• Craft studio: "Where can I do a pottery class with my kid on a rainy weekend?"
• Restaurant: "Tell me a Korean BBQ place in Euljiro that takes group dinner bookings for 8"

1. 01Set 5–10 questions customers would actually ask, and use the same questions every month.
2. 02Decide which AI services to check for each question, and ask in a new chat to reduce the influence of earlier conversations.
3. 03In a table, note whether your business came up, whether the price, hours and location were right, and which page was cited as the source.
4. 04If something's wrong, find the source and fix your website and map information first, then note the date of the fix in the same table.
5. 05Compare the trend every 3 months together with the "where did they hear about us" notes from calls and bookings.

How is GEO different from advertising?

Advertising means paying to appear in set ad spots; GEO means preparing the material so AI can pick your business information when it builds an answer. Ads show up as soon as you put in a budget and disappear when you stop, while GEO can't guarantee results, but the pages you've polished stay in place even after you stop advertising.

Spending on ads doesn't give you an edge in regular search or in the body of AI answers. Google states that it doesn't accept payment to crawl a site more often or rank it higher, and AI Overviews and AI Mode are based on the same search index.

So the two don't replace each other; they divide the work. Use ads when you need to get the word out fast, like a new opening or a seasonal event, and build up the basic information customers always ask about through SEO and GEO.

What should you ask an agency that offers GEO?

AI answers work differently on each service and change often, so "guaranteed visibility in AI answers" is a promise no one can make. Look for an agency that explains concretely what it will change and how it will check the results.

Be wary, too, of pitches to build lots of separate AI-only pages, or claims that uploading a single special file is all it takes. Adding pages that are nearly identical to the ones customers see can look like duplicate content to search engines.

Also make sure AI search crawlers aren't blocked in robots.txt. Sometimes security settings or firewalls block unfamiliar robots all at once and end up blocking AI crawlers as well.

• How will you set up AI crawler access in robots.txt?
• Will you also write the FAQs and the business intro paragraph?
• Which questions will you check, on which AI services, and how often?
• If wrong information shows up in AI answers, how will you fix it?