Short answer: AEO (answer engine optimisation) and GEO (generative engine optimisation) mean making your pages easy for AI answer systems such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot to crawl, understand and cite. In practice that means letting their search crawlers in, being indexed with snippets allowed, writing answer-first pages with specific evidence, and keeping your business identity consistent across the web. No file, schema type or agency can guarantee a citation. Google says there are no special requirements for AI Overviews beyond normal Search eligibility.
What are AEO and GEO?
Traditional SEO aims for a ranked link a person clicks. AEO and GEO aim for your page to be the source an AI system reads and cites when it composes an answer. A buyer who asks ChatGPT "which agency handles real estate lead generation in Noida" sees a written answer with a handful of cited links, not ten blue results. If your pages are blocked, thin or vague, you are absent from that answer even if you rank well in classic search.
The terms overlap heavily. AEO is usually used for direct-answer placements (the descendant of featured-snippet optimisation). GEO is broader: how your brand is described and cited across generative tools. Both rest on the same foundations as SEO: crawlable, indexed, useful pages from a source the system can trust. Our SEO vs AEO vs GEO comparison goes through where they differ.
How do Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Bing find and cite pages?
Each engine publishes how it accesses sites. These documents, checked in October 2026, are the ground truth; most AEO "hacks" contradict them.
| Engine | Crawler that controls inclusion | What the official docs say |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Googlebot (normal Search) | A page must be "indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet"; there are "no additional requirements" and no special schema needed (Google Search Central). |
| ChatGPT search | OAI-SearchBot | Sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers". GPTBot is the training crawler and is controlled separately (OpenAI crawler docs). |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot | Perplexity recommends allowing PerplexityBot so your site appears in results; it says the bot is not used to crawl content for foundation models (Perplexity bot docs). |
| Microsoft Copilot and Bing AI summaries | Bingbot | Bing respects robots.txt and recommends IndexNow, clear headings, tables and FAQs, evidence and regular updates (Bing Webmaster blog). |
Three details people get wrong:
- Blocking GPTBot does not remove you from ChatGPT search. OpenAI's settings are independent: you can allow OAI-SearchBot for search and disallow GPTBot to opt out of training. The reverse mistake is common: a blanket "block AI bots" rule from a security plugin or CDN that also blocks OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot.
- User-triggered fetchers behave differently. ChatGPT-User and Perplexity-User fetch a page because a person asked. OpenAI says robots.txt rules "may not apply", and Perplexity says its user fetcher "generally ignores robots.txt rules". They are not what decides search inclusion.
- Google-Extended is not a Search control. Google describes it as the control for AI training and grounding in some other Google systems. Blocking it does not remove you from AI Overviews;
nosnippet,data-nosnippet,max-snippetandnoindexdo.
Changes take time: OpenAI says about 24 hours for robots.txt updates to apply to search, and Perplexity says up to 24 hours.
The AEO/GEO checklist: item, why, how to check
| Item | Why it matters | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot allowed | Blocked crawlers mean no citations from that engine | Read robots.txt; also check CDN/WAF bot rules (Cloudflare and hosting firewalls often block by default) |
| Key pages indexed, snippets allowed | Google's only stated requirement for AI Overviews | Search Console URL Inspection; search for stray nosnippet or noindex |
| Main content in server-rendered HTML | Not every crawler renders JavaScript the way Googlebot does | View source (not Inspect) and confirm the answer text is there |
| Answer in the first 2–4 sentences | Self-contained statements are easy to lift and attribute | Read only the opening paragraph: does it answer the H1? |
| Question-style headings with self-contained sections | AI Overviews use query fan-out across subtopics; each section can match a sub-query | Each H2 section should make sense if quoted alone |
| Specific evidence: numbers, dates, named sources | Generic claims give an engine no reason to pick your page | Count claims with a source, figure or first-party result |
| Comparison tables and checklists | Bing explicitly recommends headings, tables and FAQs | At least one table on decision-type pages |
| Consistent business entity (name, address, phone, service area) | Helps systems tell your business apart from similar names | Compare site footer, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, LinkedIn, Justdial/IndiaMART listings |
| Named author with real credentials | Supports trust in expert topics | Author box links to an about page with verifiable experience |
| Structured data matching visible content | Clarifies page type; Google says no special AI schema exists | Rich Results Test; markup matches what users see |
| Fresh dates and IndexNow pings for updates | Bing recommends IndexNow so AI answers reflect the current page | IndexNow enabled via CMS plugin or CDN; "updated" dates are real |
| Independent mentions on reputable sites | Corroboration beyond your own domain | Track mentions in industry publications, associations, client sites |
The technical half of this list is covered in more depth in our AI search technical SEO audit, and schema choices in structured data for AI search.
How do you write pages AI engines will cite?
Answer engines pick passages, not whole sites. A page earns citations when a passage answers a specific question better or more verifiably than alternatives.
- Lead with the answer. Put the direct answer before context. "Google Ads offers two attribution models: last click and data-driven" is citable. "Attribution has evolved a lot over the years" is not.
- Use evidence competitors cannot copy. First-party results with context, method and date. We publish ours this way: for example, ~₹40 average CPL on worldwide patient enquiries for Advancells in a restricted healthcare ad category. A specific, attributable number is more useful to an engine than an adjective.
- Cover the decision, not just the definition. Pricing frameworks, trade-offs, steps, mistakes. A page that only defines "GEO" competes with thousands of identical definitions.
- Match how Indians actually search. Queries include city names, ₹ budgets, Hinglish phrasing and platform names (Practo, 99acres, Shiksha). Answer those versions explicitly.
- Keep one topic per URL. Ten near-duplicate pages split signals and look like scaled content. Merge them.
How do you measure AI search visibility?
There is no single "AI rank". Combine the signals each platform actually exposes:
| Source | What it shows | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | AI Overviews and AI Mode clicks are counted in the Performance report under the "Web" search type, and the separate Generative AI performance report (rolled out to all sites by 31 August 2026) shows AI impressions by page, country and device | Impressions only in the Generative AI report; see the AI visibility tracking framework |
| Bing Webmaster Tools: AI Performance (public preview since February 2026) | Total citations, average cited pages, sampled grounding queries and page-level citations across Copilot, Bing AI summaries and some partners | Grounding queries are a sample; no position within the answer |
| GA4 referrals | ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links, per OpenAI's publisher FAQ; Perplexity and Copilot visits show as referrals | Only counts clicks, not citations without a click |
| Fixed prompt panel | Whether you are cited for 20–30 buyer questions, tested monthly across engines | Answers vary by user, location and time; log prompt, date and engine |
| Branded search and direct enquiries | Indirect lift when AI answers name you | Many influences; read as a trend |
In GA4, build a custom channel group "AI assistants" matching sources such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com and gemini.google.com, and report leads from it, not just sessions. Our AI search visibility tracking framework has the full setup and a prompt-panel template.
What does not work for AEO and GEO?
- llms.txt as a ranking lever. Google's AI features guidance says you don't need new machine-readable files or AI text files to appear, and none of the four engines above lists llms.txt as an inclusion or ranking signal in the docs we checked. It is harmless to publish, but there is no confirmed ranking effect. Details in does llms.txt help SEO or AI search?
- "AI schema". Google states there is no special schema.org markup needed for AI Overviews or AI Mode. Schema helps describe content; it does not buy citations.
- Blocking crawlers to "protect content" and still expecting citations. If OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot is blocked, that engine cannot quote you.
- Mass-produced FAQ or location pages. Hundreds of templated pages with swapped city names is the pattern that gets sites flagged as low value.
- Fake reviews, invented statistics or planted mentions. These create reputational and policy risk and tend to be contradicted by other sources the engine reads.
- Guaranteed placements. No engine publishes a way to buy organic citations, so no vendor can promise them.
How do you choose an AEO/GEO agency in India?
If you are comparing AEO or GEO services, ask each agency these questions and expect concrete answers:
| Ask | Good answer | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| How will you check crawler access? | Robots.txt, CDN/WAF rules and server logs for OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Bingbot and Googlebot | "We'll add llms.txt" |
| How will you measure results? | Fixed prompt panel, Bing AI Performance, GA4 AI referrals, leads from those referrals | Screenshots of a single ChatGPT answer |
| What content will you produce? | Fewer, deeper pages built on your first-party data and expert input | A fixed quota of AI-written posts per month |
| What can you guarantee? | Deliverables and process, not placements | "Top position in ChatGPT in 30 days" |
| How does this connect to leads? | AI referrals tracked to CRM stages | Visibility reported without any lead or revenue link |
A longer evaluation guide is in AEO and GEO services in India: how to choose an agency. If you want us to run the audit, see our AEO & GEO services; we start with crawler access, indexation and a prompt-panel baseline before writing anything.
Sources
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website: eligibility (indexed, snippet-eligible), no special optimisation, files or schema; preview controls; Google-Extended; Search Console reporting under "Web"; query fan-out.
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers: OAI-SearchBot vs GPTBot vs ChatGPT-User; independent robots.txt settings; ~24-hour update time.
- OpenAI Help: Publishers and developers FAQ: any public site can appear in ChatGPT search; utm_source=chatgpt.com referral tagging.
- Perplexity: Perplexity crawlers: PerplexityBot and Perplexity-User behaviour; up to 24 hours for changes.
- Bing Webmaster Blog: Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools: citation metrics, covered surfaces, IndexNow and content recommendations (February 2026).