Getting found and cited by AI search: GEO, AEO, AI-ready websites, and how it relates to SEO.
FAQ schema is a block of structured code placed in the head of a webpage that tells search engines and AI tools which questions your page answers and what the answers say. Adding it involves writing your question-and-answer pairs in JSON-LD format, placing that code block in your page head, and testing the result in Google's Rich Results Test.
Getting cited by AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity comes down to three things: writing content that directly answers specific questions, structuring that content so AI can extract a clean quote, and establishing your business as a consistent, recognizable source across the web. The work is the same as building genuine authority, with one extra layer of structure on top.
If your organic traffic has dropped recently, Google AI Overviews are likely the cause. When Google answers a question directly at the top of search results, fewer people click through to any website. The drop hits informational pages hardest and is not reversing. The response is to build content that gets cited inside AI answers, not just ranked below them.
llms.txt is a plain text file placed at the root of your website that gives AI language models a structured summary of your site: who you are, what you do, and which pages matter most. It is an emerging best practice for GEO, not yet a universal standard. Most small businesses do not need one urgently, but adding one is low effort and good positioning.
An AI-ready website is one that AI tools can easily read, understand, and cite. It has clean structured data, a consistent business identity, fast and crawlable pages, and content shaped around the real questions buyers ask. It's built to be found in AI search, not just to look good to people.
SEO aims to rank your pages in search results like Google. GEO (generative engine optimization) aims to get your business understood and recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. They share a foundation (clear content, structure, and trust signals) but GEO focuses on being cited by AI, not just ranked by search.
To show up in ChatGPT and other AI tools, your business needs to be easy for them to find and trust: a clear, consistent presence across your website and the profiles AI reads, structured data that explains who you are, and content that plainly answers the questions buyers ask. There's no ad to buy. It comes from being a clear, credible source.
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is structuring your content so AI answer engines and search features can quote it directly. That means using the real question as a heading, putting a clear answer in the first sentence or two, and adding FAQ schema so engines know exactly what the question and answer are.
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is making your business easy for AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews to find, understand, and recommend. It relies on clear structured data, a consistent business identity across the web, and content that answers real questions, so AI cites you as a trusted source.