Generative Engine Optimization: How To Get Your Brand Cited By LLMs

Forbes

7 hours ago

Jeremy Fields is the VP of Corporate Development at Newsmatics, a Washington D.C.-based Newstech company.
Generative engine optimization (GEO), much like search engine optimization (SEO), is becoming a critical strategy for businesses as the AI revolution continues to gain momentum.
In fact, the way people search for information has shifted—your content now helps shape how AI tools find, rank and present answers.
Brand visibility, narrative control, web traffic and online influence are still essential—but now, communications and marketing teams must also think about how to shape the large language models (LLMs) behind today's emerging 'ask engines.'
Before diving into strategy, it's important to understand how these systems work. GEO is something I've invested a lot of my time into learning and optimizing, and I'm eager to share some of those insights with you in this article.
LLMs can be thought of as vast digital libraries, ingesting and indexing as much of the world's information as they can access. These models power generative AI tools, chatbots, digital assistants and AI search engines that provide real-time answers to nearly any question or task.
They pull data from websites, social media posts, online forums, video platforms, audio files and more—essentially anything they can process and index.
1. Practical GEO Techniques
GEO begins with a shift in mindset: you're no longer just writing for human readers and search engine crawlers. You're also writing for language models that summarize, synthesize and repackage your content.
Here are a few key techniques to make your content AI-friendly:
• Structure For Clarity: Use clear headlines, subheadings, bullet points and short paragraphs. LLMs perform best with well-organized information and are more likely to surface content that's easy to parse.
• Write Conversationally, But Informatively: Think about how your content would sound if read out loud by an AI assistant. Use natural language, but also ensure your key facts and messaging are clear.
• Use FAQs And Summary Boxes: These formats are commonly pulled by LLMs to directly answer user questions. Embedding a Q&A section at the end of your articles or press releases can increase visibility.
• Prioritize Accuracy And Sourceability: LLMs are more likely to reference content that appears trustworthy. Include stats, links to original sources, dates and named experts to boost credibility.
• Optimize Metadata And Schema Markup: Just as with SEO, include descriptive titles, alt text and semantic markup to help AI tools understand context, especially for multimedia or structured content.
2. How LLMs Determine What Content Gets Surfaced
While traditional search engines use algorithms focused on keyword matching, backlinks and technical optimization, LLMs rely on a mix of factors. The following are a few of the factors I've found are particularly important in the LLM space:
• Authority And Trust Signals: LLMs prefer content from reputable sources, including government sites, academic institutions, well-known media outlets and brands with consistent public presence.
• Clarity And Self-Containment: AI models gravitate toward content that stands on its own without requiring additional context. A concise, fully self-contained explanation or answer is more likely to be reused.
• Repetition Across Trusted Sources: If your brand narrative appears consistently across multiple authoritative sites, LLMs are more likely to pick it up as a validated truth.
• Contextual Relevance Over Exact Keywords: LLMs don't rely solely on keyword density. Instead, they understand the meaning of content. This opens the door to more natural writing and varied phrasing.
3. Content Types That Perform Well With Generative AI
Not all content is created equal when it comes to LLMs. Here are formats that I've found tend to be favored by generative engines:
• Q&As And FAQs: These are a staple for LLM training. These are frequently reused when users ask AI tools for fast answers.
• How-To Guides And Tutorials: Step-by-step breakdowns are commonly used to answer user questions and are often quoted directly.
• Lists and Rankings: Top 5s, 10s and pros and cons lists offer clear insights that models can easily repackage.
• Executive Summaries And Position Statements: These are useful when people ask 'What does X think about Y?' or 'What is [X Company]'s mission?'
• Glossaries And Definitions: If you coin or define a term, especially around niche industry language, there's a chance the AI will adopt your version.
4. AI Discovery Versus Traditional Search: What's Changing
The move from search engines to 'ask engines' changes how people find and experience your content.
• From Finding To Fetching: Traditional search required users to sift through links. AI discovery provides synthesized answers, often without users visiting your site. That makes it more important than ever to have brand messaging baked into your content and referenced by others.
• Voice And Tone Become Strategic Assets: AI assistants are increasingly reading content aloud or paraphrasing it in chat. That makes your brand voice part of the user experience. Clear, confident and accessible messaging is now a performance driver.
• Being Referenced Is The New Ranking: Your brand doesn't have to appear in the top three search results anymore to be influential, meaning the playing field has been leveled. If LLMs mention you, quote you or use your data in their responses, you're winning the new visibility game.
• Linkless Influence Is Real: AI generated answers often summarize content without crediting the original link. This means recognition is becoming as valuable as traffic.
Expand Your Strategy For The AI Era
As the internet evolves from pages and queries to prompts and conversations, businesses need to evolve with it. GEO is not about abandoning SEO or your other tools for brand visibility. It's about expanding your strategy to ensure your brand remains discoverable, quotable and trusted in a world increasingly mediated by AI.
It's time to feed the LLMs and control your brand narrative!
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