GEO and AEO
Be cited inside the AI answer.
Search now ends in an answer, not just a list of links. Generative engine optimisation, also called answer engine optimisation, gets your business named inside that answer.
Where GEO gets you cited
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- Gemini
- Microsoft Copilot
- Google's AI answers
In short
GEO is generative engine optimisation: shaping your content and data so ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google's AI answers cite your business inside the reply. Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, is the same discipline named for the answer it wins. 7 Minds Systems runs both as a managed service for firms across the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
What the work involves
Written to be quoted, not just ranked.
Content written to be quoted
Pages that answer the real question up top, in clean, self-contained sentences a model can lift into its reply without rewriting or guessing at your meaning.
Structure and schema machines can read
The facts, entities, and relationships stated in markup and plain prose, so an engine parses who you are and what you do rather than inferring it and getting it wrong.
Presence in the sources engines cross-check
The models read far more than your own site. We build your business into the places they consult, so your name is there when they assemble the answer.
Answer engine optimisation, not only ranking
The prize is the direct answer, so we shape pages for the citation an engine reads back, not only the link it lists beneath. That is what answer engine optimisation means.
Measured by citations, held over time
We track where and how often the engines cite you, report what moved each month, and keep adjusting as the models and their sources change.
GEO is not SEO with a new name
One wins the link. The other wins the answer.
SEO wins the click. GEO wins the citation.
SEO earns a ranking a person clicks through to. Generative engine optimisation earns a mention a model reads back, often to someone who never sees a results page at all. Different prize, different work.
The engine answers before the link is seen.
More people now act on what ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini tells them without scrolling to a link. If the model does not know your business, ranking first changes nothing: the person already has their answer.
Same foundations, a second scoreboard.
The clean structure and fast, readable pages that rank you on Google are the same ones a model reads to cite you. We build them once and score on both, which is why GEO and SEO run as one method.
One method, not a bolt-on
GEO, run as a managed service.
Generative engine optimisation is not a one-off audit you file and forget. The engines and the sources they read change every week, so a citation you earn in one month can quietly disappear the next if no one is watching.
We run it as a managed service: audit, fix, write, and structure, then monitor your citations across the answer engines and keep adjusting. It sits inside the same work as your search ranking, because the foundations are shared, and it is scoped on a call rather than sold as a fixed package.
This is the deep dive on generative engine optimisation and answer engine optimisation. For how SEO and GEO run together as one service, see the SEO and GEO overview. For getting cited by one specific model, see LLM SEO.
Find out if the AI answers cite you.
Book a thirty-minute call and we will show you where the answer engines mention you today, and where they do not.
A thirty-minute call, no pitch: we audit where you stand on Google and inside the AI answers, and you leave knowing exactly what is missing.
Questions
GEO and AEO, answered.
What is generative engine optimisation?
Generative engine optimisation, or GEO, is the work of shaping your content, structure, and data so AI answer engines cite your business inside their replies. Where SEO earns a ranking someone clicks, GEO earns a mention a model reads back to the person asking, whether or not they ever visit your site.
How is generative engine optimisation different from SEO?
SEO works on the search results page; generative engine optimisation works on the answer an AI writes on top of it. SEO wins the blue link and the click. GEO wins the citation inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google's AI answers. The foundations overlap, so we run both together as one method.
What is answer engine optimisation, and how does it relate to GEO?
Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, is the same discipline named for its goal: earning a place in the direct answer an engine gives, rather than the list of links beneath it. We treat AEO and generative engine optimisation as one piece of work, because a page written to be quoted serves both.
How does 7 Minds do generative engine optimisation?
We audit where the engines cite you today, fix the technical foundations, then write and structure pages so a model can lift a clear, sourced answer from them. We add schema and plainly stated facts that machines read without guessing, then track your citations each month and keep adjusting as the engines shift.
Which engines does generative engine optimisation target?
The named ones people already ask: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Google's AI answers. Generative engine optimisation works on the sources these models read, your own site and the places they cross-check, so your business is present wherever the answer is assembled, not only where a link is ranked.
What does generative engine optimisation cost?
Generative engine optimisation is built into our tiers: quotable, well-structured pages come with the Autonomous Storefront from £3,500, deeper technical work with the Operational Hub from £6,000, and ongoing GEO with the Bespoke Transformation from £10,000. A standalone engagement is scoped on the call, and every figure shows in your local currency.
Book a strategy call
Thirty minutes on getting cited by AI.
Thirty minutes to scope this role properly: what it would answer, what it would escalate, and what it would cost to run.
Know the scope and the number before you start.
The build is scoped and priced in writing before it begins, with the exclusions named, and the AI workforce is built and trained on your services and voice before it answers anyone. You commit to a defined piece of work, not to a promise.
Book a thirty-minute call
Pick a time straight from the diary. If you would rather write first, email us and a person replies, usually the same working day.