After years focused on ranking in Google results, web agencies are expanding their scope. A new discipline, called GEO for Generative Engine Optimization, now aims to have brands and content cited in responses generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews. Several French agencies specializing in SEO have, in recent months, structured offerings dedicated to this new form of visibility.
A discipline born from the rise of generative AI
The principle of GEO differs from that of traditional SEO. Whereas traditional SEO seeks to rank a page in a list of results, GEO aims to become the source that an artificial intelligence chooses to cite, or to summarize, in its direct answer to an internet user. The boundary between the two approaches remains porous: no single definition really has consensus, and professionals often use SEO, AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO almost interchangeably, as the reference page on the subject on Wikipédia points out. This vagueness does not prevent the topic from gaining traction: conversational engines like ChatGPT claim several hundred million active users each week, and a growing share of Google searches now displays an AI-generated summary rather than a simple list of blue links.
What agencies are offering in practice
In the field, the services that appear in the catalogs of web marketing agencies revolve around a few common areas:
- an audit of the brand's current visibility in the responses of the main generative AIs;
- optimizing existing content to make it more easily summarizable and citable by an AI;
- strengthening trust signals: identified authors, cited sources, consistency of information published on the web;
- regular monitoring of brand mentions obtained in AI responses, given the lack of traditional traffic statistics which remain difficult to measure on this channel.
Several organizations are already positioning themselves as pioneers in this niche, some having formalized a dedicated method as early as 2025, even before the term GEO became widespread in the profession.
Technical fundamentals remain
A sign that GEO does not replace SEO but complements it, the specialized press continues to emphasize the technical foundations of SEO. The media Webmarketing & co'm thus published, a few days apart in August, a guide on the technical signals that really matter in 2026, then an article detailing the contribution of structured data Schema.org to online visibility. These tags, which make it possible to precisely describe the content of a page (reviews, products, events, questions and answers…), are precisely one of the levers cited by GEO practitioners to help generative AIs better understand and present content.
For web agencies, the challenge is also commercial: offering a clear solution to clients who are increasingly questioning their presence in the responses of ChatGPT or Perplexity, without abandoning the fundamentals that have proven effective on Google.
Frequently asked questions
Does GEO replace SEO?
No. Industry professionals rather present GEO as a complement: SEO remains the site's technical and editorial foundation, while GEO adds a layer of work specific to conversational engines.
How can you tell if a brand is cited by a generative AI?
Agencies perform series of standard queries on ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini to observe if, and how, a brand or content appears in the responses: still a makeshift method, for lack of standardized measurement tools to date.
Are structured data enough to be cited by an AI?
No. They facilitate machine understanding of content, but guarantee nothing: the quality, clarity and reliability of published information remain decisive.
Sources
Webmarketing & co'm — Wikipédia, Generative engine optimization — Agence 810
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