ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Cites sources via Bing index + SearchGPT. Rewards clear, chunked answers with schema.org markup and llms.txt.
GEO Playbook • 2026
Rank on ChatGPT, Perplexity & AI Overviews
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the new SEO. When a user asks ChatGPT or Perplexity "what's the best vibe coding agency?", your job is to be the source it cites. Here's how.
The engines that matter
Perplexity
Real-time crawl + retrieval. Prioritises citation-worthy pages: unique data, tables, PDFs, expert quotes.
Google AI Overviews / Gemini
Pulls from the top organic results + Knowledge Graph. E-E-A-T signals dominate inclusion.
Claude (Anthropic)
Uses Brave/independent search. Values well-structured HTML and unambiguous factual paragraphs.
Bing Copilot
Direct index feed. Bing Webmaster Tools + IndexNow guarantee same-day discovery.
DeepSeek / Kimi / Qwen chat
Retrieval blends web + curated corpora. Feed them via llms.txt and public JSON endpoints.
The 8 GEO tactics that move the needle
- Publish an llms.txt and llms-full.txt manifest at the site root
- Add FAQ + HowTo + Article JSON-LD to every long-form page
- Write in short answer-first paragraphs — the first 2 sentences are what gets quoted
- Include original data, benchmarks, or tables engines can lift as a citation
- Add a canonical author box with credentials (E-E-A-T for AI Overviews)
- Submit URLs to IndexNow so Bing/OpenAI/Perplexity discover within minutes
- Publish a public JSON endpoint mirroring your core content for RAG-friendly scraping
- Track brand mentions in ChatGPT/Perplexity with weekly prompt audits
Measuring GEO
Run a weekly prompt audit: ask each engine your top 20 target queries and log whether your domain is cited, positioned, or absent. Track share-of-voice per engine over time — no dashboard tool does this reliably yet.
Our Site Intel tool ships a GEO audit that runs those prompts against ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini automatically.
FAQ
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of making your content the source AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude) cite when users ask questions in natural language.
How is GEO different from SEO?
SEO optimises for 10 blue links. GEO optimises for a single generated answer with 1–5 citations. Structure, factual density and citability matter more than keyword frequency.
Which AI engines send the most referral traffic?
As of 2026: ChatGPT search, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews lead. Bing Copilot and Claude are growing fast.
Do LLMs actually read llms.txt?
OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity and several open-source crawlers respect llms.txt as a hint file. It doesn't replace robots.txt but supplements discovery.