The Future of SEO

What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimization

The new discipline of optimizing your content for AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews.

The Shift from Traditional SEO

For decades, SEO meant optimizing for Google's traditional search results - the "10 blue links." You'd focus on keywords, backlinks, and page speed to rank higher.

But the search landscape is changing. Millions of people now get answers directly from AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. They ask questions and get synthesized answers - often without clicking through to any website.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the practice of ensuring your content is visible to, and cited by, these AI systems.

Traditional SEO vs GEO

Traditional SEO

-Optimize for Google's ranking algorithm
-Focus on keywords and backlinks
-Goal: Rank in top 10 results
-Success = clicks to your website
-Googlebot is the main crawler

GEO (AI Optimization)

+Optimize for AI model training & retrieval
+Focus on clarity, authority, and structure
+Goal: Be cited in AI answers
+Success = brand mentions & citations
+GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, CCBot...

Key GEO Factors

What determines whether AI systems cite your content?

Crawler Access

AI crawlers must be allowed in your robots.txt. Blocking GPTBot or ClaudeBot means AI systems can't learn from your content.

Content Clarity

Clear, well-structured content is easier for AI to understand and cite. Use headings, lists, and direct answers to questions.

Authority Signals

Established sites with expertise are more likely to be cited. Author credentials, citations, and domain age matter.

Common Crawl Inclusion

Many AI models are trained on Common Crawl data. Being included (and not blocked) increases your training data presence.

Structured Data

Schema.org markup helps AI understand your content type, author, dates, and relationships between entities.

Fresh Content

AI systems increasingly use real-time web access. Keeping content updated means more accurate AI responses about your brand.

AI Crawlers You Need to Know

Each AI platform has its own crawlers. Here are the major ones:

GPTBot

OpenAI

ChatGPT training

ChatGPT-User

OpenAI

Live browsing

ClaudeBot

Anthropic

Claude training

PerplexityBot

Perplexity

AI search

Google-Extended

Google

Gemini/Bard

CCBot

Common Crawl

Dataset

Bytespider

ByteDance

TikTok AI

cohere-ai

Cohere

Enterprise AI

Check Your GEO Status

BotView analyzes your site's visibility to all major AI crawlers. See exactly which AI platforms can access your content.