GEO and AEO: make your website findable for AI with these 7 techniques

Where Google used to hand us lists of links, an AI answer now appears more and more often. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews increasingly decide which brands and organizations are visible, and which are not.

That calls for a new way of looking at online findability: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), also known as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). This article covers why it matters, how it works and above all what you can already do today to stay ahead.

Why optimizing for AI matters

Say you ask an AI search engine: "What are the best sneakers under €100?". Within seconds a short overview appears with three models, including explanation and sources. Convenient for you as a consumer. Sobering for many web shops. If your brand or product isn't mentioned, you don't exist in this new search landscape, and you are less and less visible to potential customers or visitors.

The shift is happening fast:

• 400 million people use ChatGPT weekly (Pew Research Center, 2025).

• 1 in 10 internet users now starts their search with AI instead of Google.

• For searches with AI Overviews, click-throughs to websites drop by 20% on average (Amsive, 2025).

As Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) puts it sharply: "AI is reinventing the way we work with software. First up: search."

In other words, being findable in Google through SEO is no longer enough. You also have to be visible in the answers AI gives. That is exactly what GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is about.

What is GEO/AEO?

Generative Engine Optimization, also called Answer Engine Optimization, helps you structure and enrich your content so AI-driven search engines (answer engines) pick your page as a source. Where classic SEO is about being found in lists of search results, GEO is about being found inside the AI-generated answer. Search engines often remain the basis for finding pages in these answer engines. GEO makes sure your content is then also selected for the answer. So it doesn't replace SEO, it is an important addition to it.

Examples of AI answer engines

Answer engines are mainstream by now. Think of:

• Google AI Overview. Available in more than 200 countries since March 2025, including the Netherlands.

• ChatGPT with web browsing and Claude AI with web search, together 400 million weekly users.

• Perplexity. Very popular for quick research.

• Bing Copilot. Built into the many Office apps millions of people use daily.

If you aren't mentioned there, you miss the moment your audience makes its choice.

Optimizing content for AI

How do you get your content picked by AI? The most important part is E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness). But how do you apply that on your own website in a way that works for AI search engines? Research by Amsive shows that seven strategies make the difference. Not random tips, but methods that have been tested and validated. Below we go through them step by step, with examples showing how to apply them right away.

1. Add quotes (+40% visibility)

AI systems value content that cites experts. A quote gives context, authority and makes your text more human.

Not this:
"Swiss chocolate is popular because of its high quality."

This:
"Swiss chocolate is popular because of its high quality. As chocolate expert Marie Dubois puts it: 'The Swiss tradition of slow conching creates the unique texture that is valued worldwide.'"

2. Use statistics (+37% visibility)

AI prefers hard facts over vague descriptions. Wherever you can, replace general claims with numbers.

Not this:
"Many companies now use robots."

This:
"Companies have increased robot use by 70% over the past decade, according to figures from the industrial automation sector."

3. Cite sources (+30% visibility)

Answer engines prefer information that can be traced back to a source. So use citations to back up your claims.

Not this:
"The Swiss eat a lot of chocolate per person."

This:
"With annual consumption of 11 to 12 kilos per person, the Swiss are among the top chocolate lovers worldwide (International Chocolate Consumption Research Group, 2024)."

4. Write fluent text (+24% visibility)

AI models are trained on natural language. Text that is clear and fluent gets processed better and therefore used more often. So go easy on difficult words and jargon.

Not this:
"The implementation of customer segmentation is often considered a strategic approach that may lead to significant improvements in marketing efficiency."

This:
"Customer segmentation lets you steer your marketing more precisely. You waste less budget and see results sooner."

Keep your content relevant in a world where answers matter more than clicks. Applying these seven techniques raises the chance of your content being picked up by AI systems by 20 to 40%.

5. Smart use of technical terms (+22% visibility)

AI recognizes domain-specific terms as a signal of expertise. But don't overdo it: combine jargon with plain explanation, as described in the previous point.

Not this:
"We fine-tune the model with LoRA for faster training."

This:
"We fine-tune our AI model with LoRA (a technique for training faster and more efficiently)."

6. An authoritative tone (+21% visibility)

Hesitant text convinces nobody, AI included. Use a confident, factual tone.

Not this:
"The Jaguars have never played in the Super Bowl."

This:
"It is worth noting that the Jaguars have never reached the Super Bowl, but have won their division four times."

7. Plain language (+21% visibility)

AI models are strong at pattern recognition, but plain language helps both algorithms and people. The simpler and better structured, the greater the chance you get picked.

Not this:
"Within the framework of the GDPR, controllers are obliged to take appropriate technical and organizational measures."

This:
"Working with customer data? Then the GDPR applies to you. Arrange two things:

• Keep only what you need.
• Give access only to colleagues who really need it."

What doesn't work

Plenty of classic SEO tricks have hardly any effect in an AI context:

• Keyword stuffing → AI ignores it, or even penalizes it.

• Unique words without context → they give the model nothing to work with.

With GEO, findability shifts further toward genuinely helpful content. So focus on E-E-A-T and quality, not on artificial tricks.

Take the first step today

Applying these seven techniques raises the chance of your content being picked up by AI systems by 20 to 40%. The nice part: they also make your content more readable and more convincing for your human audience. A double win.

The good news is that you don't have to overhaul your entire website at once. Small, targeted actions already make a difference.

Here's how to start:

• Begin with your most important pages and add clear citations and statistics.

• Rewrite your FAQs so they read in natural language, as if you were answering a question in conversation.

• Show expertise with quotes from experts, customers or in-house specialists.

• Make it measurable: track whether your content gets picked up in AI answers and monitor the effect on traffic and conversions.

Keep your content relevant in a world where answers matter more than clicks.