How can I get cited in Artificial Intelligence search results? Why Generative Engine Optimization Matters Now

Search is changing again, and fast. New generative engines (GEs) and large language models (LLMs) are reshaping how users find information and challenging brands to stay visible in a world where answers are increasingly consumed on LLMs, rather than websites. According to Semrush, by 2028, AI-powered search is expected to surpass traditional search, with ChatGPT's weekly active users growing eight times from October 2023 to April 2025. The next wave of optimization isn’t just about ranking high—it’s about being referenced, cited, or summarized in those AI-generated answers.

At Oshyn, we have spent decades helping brands optimize for significant technological shifts. This article explains: 

• What Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is 

• How it differs from traditional SEO 

• What brands can do today to stay discoverable in the AI search era 

Key Takeaways

While the rules for visibility in search results are evolving, the core principles remain the same:

• Trust equals visibility. Reliable, well-sourced content earns credibility with both humans and AI systems.

• Clarity improves comprehension. Structured, easy-to-read writing helps LLMs and web crawlers interpret and reuse your insights.

• Originality builds authority. Unique perspectives, data, and frameworks make your brand a point of reference.

• Utility earns citations. Tools and calculators increase your brand’s “citability.”

What’s driving the shift from SEO to GEO

Traditional SEO focuses on optimizing webpages to improve their ranking in search engine results, such as those from Google or Bing. These systems crawl, index, and rank content based on relevance, authority, and technical performance.

Generative engine optimization (GEO), also known as Artificial Engine Optimization (AEO) or Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO), works differently. They do not list links; they read and synthesize answers.

Platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Bing Copilot generate summaries based on retrieving content they have read or indexed from across the web. According to SearchEngineLand, we are in the “Retrieval Era”. This means your content might influence an answer even if a user never visits your site.

SEO is about visibility in search results, GEO is about visibility in synthesized answers.

Why SEO Principles still matter in GEO

Before exploring what’s different, it’s essential to acknowledge that traditional SEO foundations remain crucial.

In fact, many of the same best practices that help pages rank also improve LLM visibility.

• Helpful, trustworthy content remains essential. High-quality, accurate, and readable human-centered content drives results for both search algorithms and LLMs.

• Crawlability and accessibility are still critical. If your pages are not technically discoverable, they cannot inform search rankings or LLM-generated answers.

• Machine-readable formats, such as structured data/schema markup, are invaluable because the machines that read your content, e.g., crawlers, LLMs, can easily digest it.

• Brand authority and citations build credibility. LLMs prefer referencing sources that are cited or discussed elsewhere. More than backlinks, consistent brand mentions help shape your online reputation.⠀

How GEO Expands beyond Traditional SEO

While SEO focuses on getting users to click, GEO focuses on getting your brand cited. Below are four ways to adapt your content for Generative Engine Optimization and maximize your visibility in LLMs:

1. Prioritize Citability over Clickability

Goal: Make your content easy to quote.

LLMs do not rank links; they summarize information. Your goal is not only to drive traffic but to ensure your brand is cited or referenced in generative answers. The more concise and authoritative your content, the more likely it will appear in AI-generated responses

• Publish original data (statistics, research, frameworks)

• Provide clear definitions for emerging terms in your field

• Use structured comparisons (e.g., “SEO vs. GEO,” “AI Search vs. Traditional Search”)

2. Structure Content for Machine Understanding

Goal: Make your ideas modular and machine-readable. Generative engines prefer segmented, structured, and factual content that is easy to interpret. Think about digestibility. Break complex topics into smaller, self-contained sections that are meaningful and stand alone. Use heading formats like:

• “What Is GEO?”

• “Why GEO Matters for Marketers”

• “How to Measure GEO Success”

Example:

Instead of one long article on “How does ChatGPT Work,” create a series of modular sections, such as “What is a Large Language Model?” “How does the model learn?” and “What is a prompt?” This makes your content more readable for humans and more indexable for LLMs.

3. Add Multimodal Content

Goal: Feed AI models multiple ways to understand your message

LLMs can learn from text, images, audio, and video. Consuming different media types is critically different from traditional web crawlers like Google. Enhance your articles with:

• Infographics that summarize key comparisons

• Explainer videos or short “snackable” clips

• Annotated images that visualize data or frameworks⠀

This increases the surface area of your content across multimodal learning models.

4. Publish Unique, Utility-Focused Content

Goal: Offer real value, not repetitive content

AI platforms are trained to identify and highlight the usefulness of information. Pages that provide:

• Unique insights (original data, analysis, or calculators)

• Actionable resources (worksheets, templates, frameworks)

• Clear, jargon-free explanations are far more likely to be cited or summarized.

What we still don’t know about GEO visibility:

1. How GEO signals are weighted

   LLMs use complex retrieval and synthesis methods, and their “citation” systems are not always transparent. While structured, authoritative content is helpful, it’s not yet measurable in the same way as SEO metrics.

2. How data sources used for model training will shift

   As more publishers restrict access or introduce paywalls, LLMs may rely on licensed data sources rather than open web crawling, e.g., Reddit or Quora. That could change what kinds of content are surfaced or cited.

3. If attribution is consistent

   Even when your content influences an LLM response, you may not always be credited or linked. This makes measuring “GEO success” more qualitative than quantitative for now.

Why GEO Visibility Doesn’t Mean More Traffic

There is one important caveat.

As your content becomes more visible in LLMs, users may not always need to click through to your website. By providing much of the information users request, AI answers can reduce the need to visit various websites and pages.

LLMs deprioritize links: AI search doesn’t always include links to referenced brands or content. Links that do appear tend to be less prominent than those found in traditional search.

In some cases, your visibility might increase while direct traffic decreases. That can still be a win. If your brand becomes the source that users trust, it strengthens your authority, even if overall site sessions decline. And according to a study by Semrush, “the average AI search visitor (tracked to a non-Google search source like ChatGPT) is 4.4 times as valuable as the average visit from traditional organic search, based on conversion rate.” These AI search users may have used LLMs to compare and research all their options, and are more likely to convert once they arrive on your site.

Oshyn can help prepare you for the AI Search Era

Those working in SEO have seen this evolution before. When Google introduced featured snippets and knowledge panels, many marketers worried about losing traffic. But innovative brands learned to adapt by designing content that earned those featured placements, gaining visibility and clicks.

GEO is not a replacement for SEO but expands it:

• SEO helps your content rank higher. 

• GEO helps your content get cited more often. 

Together, they define your brand’s visibility across both search engines and generative engines. SEO helps you rank. GEO helps you get referenced. Together, they define modern visibility.

At Oshyn, we help brands adapt to this new landscape by creating content architectures that perform in search and position your brand as a credible voice in the era of generative AI. Try our free Oshyn Reliability Report, to see ways to improve your brand experience.

Meanwhile, the field of Generative Engine Optimization is still evolving, and best practices will continue to shift as AI search matures. Check back on our blog  for updates!