When a buyer asks an AI assistant for the best option in your category, the model composes its answer from a shortlist of retrieved sources. Generative Engine Optimization is the work of getting into that shortlist and staying there, and it is fully measurable: fix a query set, scan the platforms monthly, and count exactly where you appear against named competitors.
Generative engines compose answers from a small pool of retrieved sources per topic. Run your real buyer prompts monthly, log every cited domain, and treat that list as your outreach plan. A placement inside the pool outperforms dozens of generic links.
Models quote specifics: numbers, definitions, named comparisons. Vague service pages never get cited; pages with a defensible statistic get lifted repeatedly. Give every money page at least one claim worth quoting verbatim.
When your site, profiles, and third-party mentions describe the brand differently, models hedge and cite someone else. Lock one canonical description of what you do and for whom, then deploy it everywhere without creative variation.
This exact method ships inside our client engagements at $45/hr, estimate in writing first.
Start a ProjectPerplexity lists its citations on every answer, making it the most transparent and fastest-feedback platform in GEO.
You cannot be cited by a system that cannot read you. Here is the current agent roster and a sane access policy.
Most high-intent searches now end in an extracted answer, not a click. AEO is the discipline of being that answer.