GEO vs SEO for online stores: what changes when AI answers shoppers

From a research paper. "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization", by Pranjal Aggarwal and five co-authors, was first submitted to arXiv on 16 November 2023 and accepted to KDD 2024. It describes search engines "that use generative models to gather and summarize information to answer user queries", calls them generative engines, and introduces GEO as "the first novel paradigm to aid content creators in improving their content visibility in generative engine responses."

The paper's headline result is that "GEO can boost visibility by up to 40% in generative engine responses", measured on its own benchmark, GEO-bench. It adds a line that gets quoted less: "the efficacy of these strategies varies across domains". That is worth keeping in mind before buying a GEO package built on someone else's domain.

Since then the term has spread well beyond the paper, along with AEO, "answer engine optimization". Google mentions both by name.

For Google, mostly not. Its guide to generative AI features answers the question head on: "From Google Search's perspective, optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO." Its page on AI features says "The best practices for SEO remain relevant", and that to be a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode "a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet". Then: "There are no additional technical requirements."

The reason is how the features are built. Google says they "are rooted in our core Search ranking and quality systems" and describes retrieval-augmented generation as "relying on our core Search ranking systems to retrieve relevant, up-to-date web pages from our Search index". If your product page ranks badly, the AI answer is drawing on the same index that ranks it.

Outside Google, the picture is different, and that is where a store has real new work. ChatGPT search reads your pages through OpenAI's own crawler, OAI-SearchBot, and OpenAI says "Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers." Perplexity, Anthropic and Amazon have their own bots too. A robots.txt written only with Googlebot in mind can leave you out of every other assistant. How ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google shop goes through each one.

Some of it. Google has a section titled "Mythbusting generative AI search: what you don't need to do", and several of its items are common GEO advice. Pick a piece of advice to see what Google says about it:

For a catalogue, the useful parts are about llms.txt, markup and page shape.

llms.txt is optional. Google says "You don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in Google Search (including its generative AI capabilities), as Google Search itself doesn't use them." It also says keeping one for other services is "completely fine". Our scan's llms.txt check, DISC-002, carries a low weight, 5 against 15 for the two checks below: some assistants read the file, and Google does not. Our llms.txt guide covers what to put in it if you want one.

There is no AI-only markup. "Structured data isn't required for generative AI search, and there's no special schema.org markup you need to add." Product markup still earns rich results, and Google's AI features page asks for one thing about it: "Making sure your structured data matches the visible text on the page". Our DISC-005 checks one part of that match: whether the price your structured data advertises is visible on the product page.

Pages stay pages. "There's no requirement to break your content into tiny pieces for AI to better understand it." Nobody needs a second, AI-flavoured product description, which will be a relief to whoever writes the first one.

A setting, a report and the other assistants, by Google's and OpenAI's own pages.

The first is a Search Console setting. Google's guide says "a site must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console to be eligible for display in generative AI features on Google Search." It is easy to miss and costs nothing to check.

The second is measurement. Google points to "the Generative AI performance report in Search Console" for how your content does in those features. It also says "No third-party tool has access to our internal ranking or AI systems", which is worth remembering when a tool offers you an AI ranking score.

The third is the other assistants. Each has its own crawler, and some take feeds. Google's own list for AI features includes "Checking that your Merchant Center and Business Profile information is up-to-date", and its guide says Merchant Center feeds "can help your products and services to be visible in both AI responses and other Google Search results."

Here is the whole list as a checklist. Tick what you have done; the ticks stay in your browser:

After the answer. GEO and SEO are about being found and quoted. Some AI shopping goes one step further, where an agent opens your page or calls your systems to buy. Google's guide touches on it: browser agents may work by "analyzing visual renderings (like screenshots), inspecting the DOM structure, and interpreting the accessibility tree", and "Protocols like Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) are emerging that will allow Search agents to do more."

Being quoted and being bought from are different tests. A store can be cited in every AI answer and still lose the sale at a CAPTCHA. What is agent readiness covers how that second test is measured, and the hub article lists the five walls an agent meets.

Our order, from the sources above:

1. Keep doing SEO. Google says it is the same work for its AI features.
2. Let the assistants' search bots in, in robots.txt and in your firewall. The robots.txt guide has a generator.
3. Make prices, stock and details readable as text, with Product markup that matches the page. Our DISC-006 checks that the product text is there without JavaScript, and DISC-005 that the advertised price is on the page; the product structured data guide covers the markup.
4. Keep Merchant Center current, and check the Search Console setting for generative AI features.
5. Skip anything sold as a GEO hack that Google lists under what you don't need to do.

What is GEO?

Generative engine optimization: work aimed at appearing in AI-generated answers. The term comes from a 2023 paper that introduced GEO "to aid content creators in improving their content visibility in generative engine responses."

Is GEO replacing SEO?

Not for Google. Google says "optimizing for generative AI search is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO", and that there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode".

Does my store need an llms.txt for AI search?

Not for Google: "Google Search itself doesn't use them." Some other services read the file, and Google says keeping one for them is "completely fine".

Do I need special schema markup for AI answers?

No. Google says "there's no special schema.org markup you need to add." Keep your Product markup, and keep it matching the visible page.

How do I see whether my store appears in Google's AI answers?

Google points to "the Generative AI performance report in Search Console." Our agent readiness checker looks at whether AI agents can read your store and get as far as buying.

The sources below were last checked on the date shown.