The AEO and GEO guide: getting cited by AI search

Most AI answer systems retrieve candidate content — from search indexes, their own crawlers or partner data — and then generate an answer grounded in the most relevant, credible passages. Content that's easy to extract, clearly authoritative and consistent with other trusted sources is more likely to be used and cited.

Research on generative engines has found that adding citations, statistics and quotations to content can increase its visibility in AI-generated answers, while keyword stuffing does not.

When an assistant recommends you, the visitor arrives pre-qualified — they've been told you're a good fit. Volumes are typically smaller than traditional search, but intent can be much higher.

• Academic research. GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Aggarwal et al.) built a benchmark of roughly 10,000 queries and found that content changes adding citations, quotations and statistics increased visibility in generative engine answers by up to about 40%, while keyword stuffing did not help (arXiv:2311.09735).
• Google's guidance. Google says the same SEO best practices apply to AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, and that there are no additional requirements to appear in them (Google Search Central).
• Audience behaviour in India. 44% of Indian internet users had used AI-enabled features such as voice search, image search or chatbots in 2025 (IAMAI–Kantar via Business Standard).

Google's Search Central guide Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search (updated 10 July 2026) is the most authoritative statement on how its AI Overviews and AI Mode select content (source). Key points:

1. AEO and GEO are still SEO. The foundations — technical eligibility, helpful content, page experience — are the same.
2. Retrieval-augmented generation. Google's AI responses are grounded in its Search index and core ranking systems, then link prominently to source pages.
3. Query fan-out. A question such as "how to fix a lawn full of weeds" is expanded into related sub-queries (herbicides, chemical-free methods, prevention). Sites that genuinely cover a topic's follow-up questions have more chances to be retrieved.
4. Eligibility. A page must be indexed and eligible to appear with a snippet; the site must be included in generative AI features in Search Console.
5. Non-commodity content. Unique, expert or first-hand perspectives that go beyond common knowledge are what differentiate a source.
6. Measurement. Search Console now offers a generative AI performance report.

Google's guide covers Google Search only. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini apps and Copilot use their own crawlers and retrieval, and academic research on generative engines (the Princeton-led GEO study) found that citations, quotations and statistics improved source visibility in tests. The practical overlap is large: crawlable pages, clear answers, sourced facts and a consistent entity help everywhere. Where advice conflicts — for example, creating llms.txt — follow Google for Google, and treat other files as optional extras rather than strategy.

• AEO (answer engine optimisation) — making content easy for search features and assistants to extract and present as answers.
• GEO (generative engine optimisation) — improving how often and how accurately generative AI tools mention and cite your brand.
• AI Overviews and AI Mode — Google's AI-generated summaries and conversational search experiences.
• Query fan-out — AI systems breaking one question into many related searches to build an answer.
• Entity — a clearly defined thing (a business, person, product, place) that search systems can recognise and connect.
• Citation — a link or reference to your page inside an AI-generated answer.

Google's own guidance treats AEO and GEO as part of SEO: the same fundamentals — helpful, people-first content, technical accessibility and clear page experience — decide visibility in AI features. It says special files such as llms.txt aren't needed, that structured data isn't required for AI features, and that content shouldn't be chunked or rewritten specifically for AI. The practical implication: invest in genuinely useful pages that answer real questions clearly, with evidence — not in tricks.

The company appeared in few AI answers for its category. We rewrote key pages to state what the product does, for whom and how it compares in plain language near the top; added comparison and pricing pages; published original benchmark data; ensured consistent company information across its site, review platforms and profiles; and earned coverage in industry publications. Over the following months, mentions in AI answers for category questions increased, and referral traffic from AI tools grew.

1. List 30–50 questions buyers ask before choosing a provider like you.
2. Check answers in Google's AI features and major assistants, noting which sources are cited.
3. Compare those sources with your pages: are your answers clearer, more specific, better evidenced?
4. Fix gaps on your site first, then build mentions on credible third-party sites.
5. Repeat quarterly, tracking mentions, citations and referral traffic.

• AEO & GEO services and SEO guide
• AEO, GEO and entities
• AEO vs SEO
• AI Overviews and Indian brands