Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Explained
As AI-powered search and large language models become faster and more precise, brands need to think beyond traditional SEO. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) build on core SEO fundamentals like relevance, structure, and authority, but tailor your content for AI assistants, chatbots and voice interfaces as well as classic search engines. For multi-location and franchise marketers, mastering GEO and AEO now puts you ahead of the curve when local “near me” queries land in AI-driven overviews instead of a simple search engine results page.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into the ways AI is reshaping local search, including GEO and AEO, and provide tangible strategies for multi-location marketers to capitalize on this evolution.
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of optimizing your online content and website structure to improve its visibility and likelihood of being included and cited in the responses generated by AI-powered search engines and large language models (LLMs).
Traditional SEO focuses on ranking high in a list of search results provided by search engines like Google or Bing, where GEO aims to make your content a trusted source that generative AI models use when directly answering user questions.
As of Spring 2025, search results such as Google’s AI Overviews feature primarily focuses on informational queries and “how-to” instructions and are not yet incorporating “near me” searches for local businesses, although we anticipate that changing in the near future as AI overviews continue to advance.
For Multi-Location and Franchise Brand marketers, this means there is a window to get ahead of their GEO strategy for when AI-powered search engines and LLMs start to better identify and serve for local intent.
Perplexity is a search engine that leverages LLMs, including models like GPT-4, Claude 3, and Mistral, to understand queries and synthesize answers based on web search results.
Here’s a breakdown of key aspects of GEO:
Focus on User Intent and Context: GEO goes beyond simple keyword matching. It emphasizes understanding the underlying intent behind user queries and creating content that comprehensively addresses those needs in a natural, conversational way.
Optimizing for AI Understanding: This involves structuring your content clearly with headings, subheadings, bullet points, and concise paragraphs. Using simple language, incorporating relevant statistics, quotes, and authoritative sources also helps AI models understand and utilize your content effectively.
Emphasis on Content Quality and Relevance: High-quality, accurate, and relevant content is crucial. AI models prioritize content that provides real value and directly answers user questions. This is where marketers need to remember to write and develop content for real people, not AI!
Beyond Traditional Ranking: While traditional SEO aims to drive traffic to your website, GEO also focuses on ensuring your brand and content are accurately represented and cited within AI-generated responses, even if the user doesn’t directly click through to your site.
Adapting to Multimodal Search: As search evolves to include voice and image queries, GEO strategies consider optimizing content in various formats beyond just text.
GEO is all about making your content “AI-friendly” so that generative engines can easily understand, extract, and cite it as a reliable source when formulating their responses to user queries.
What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?
Relatedly, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the strategy of optimizing your online content to directly answer user questions in the most effective way for search engines and, increasingly, AI-powered “answer engines.”
While traditional SEO is optimizing to rank high on a list of search results, AEO focuses on making your content the direct answer that search engines like Google (with its AI Overviews and new AI Mode), Bing, LLMs and even voice assistants like Siri and Alexa pull from to respond to user queries.
Here are the key aspects of AEO:
Focus on Direct Answers: The primary goal is to provide clear, concise answers to specific questions users are asking. This means understanding the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” behind search queries.
Understanding User Intent: AEO delves deep into the intent behind questions. What is the user really trying to find out? Content is then crafted to directly address that underlying need.
Structured Content: Formatting plays a crucial role. Using headings (H1, H2, H3), bullet points, numbered lists, tables, and concise paragraphs makes it easier for search engines to identify and extract the key information that answers a question.
Schema Markup (Structured Data): Implementing schema markup helps search engines understand the context and meaning of your content. For example, using FAQ schema clearly labels questions and their corresponding answers.
Voice Search Optimization: As voice search becomes more prevalent, AEO considers how people phrase questions conversationally. Optimizing for natural language queries is essential.
High-Quality, Authoritative Content: Answer engines prioritize accurate and trustworthy information. Your content needs to be well-researched, credible, and provide genuine value to the user.
Mobile-Friendliness and Site Speed: A positive user experience is still important. Your site needs to load quickly and be easy to navigate on mobile devices.
How AEO Works:
Answer engines, especially those powered by AI, analyze user queries to understand the intent. Then they crawl and analyze web content, looking for the most relevant and well-structured information that directly answers the question. If your content is optimized for AEO, it has a higher chance of being:
Featured in “Position Zero” (Featured Snippets): This is the prominent box above the regular search results that provides a direct answer.
Included in AI Overviews: Generative AI in search synthesizes information from various sources to provide a comprehensive answer, often citing the sources.
Read aloud by voice assistants: Voice search relies on concise, direct answers.
Displayed in Knowledge Panels: These sidebars on search results pages often provide quick facts and answers.
Used in “People Also Ask” (PAA) sections: These are lists of related questions that search engines generate.
AEO is about understanding how people ask questions and structuring your content to provide the best possible answers in a format that search engines and AI can easily understand and utilize. We’ve also found that the more people search for a brand online, the more times that brand gets mentioned by AEO – effectively improving a brand’s visibility and authority online by providing direct answers in those search results.
Wrapping It Up
Generative Engine Optimization and Answer Engine Optimization represent the next evolution of search, building on the core principles of relevance, structure and authority to meet users wherever they look, be it a chatbot, voice assistant or classic search results. For multi-location and franchise brands, getting your content and local data infrastructure GEO- and AEO-ready today means you’ll be front and center when AI-driven overviews become the go-to source for “near me” answers.
For multi-location and franchise brand marketers this means while the technology behind searches with local intent are still getting refined, we’re getting closer to a one-stop shop answer for local business information, and marketers need to button up their local data infrastructure and digital presence to be found.
