Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the work of making your content more likely to be cited in answers that AI tools write. Those tools include ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews.
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If you run an IT firm, the practical question is simpler: when a buyer asks an AI who to hire, does your firm come up, and is what it says about you right?
Where the term comes from
GEO was named in a 2023 research paper, later published at the KDD 2024 conference. The authors tested different ways of changing a page's content and measured how often it got cited in AI answers.
Their headline was that some methods improved visibility by up to 40%. The ones that worked best were adding quotations from relevant sources and adding statistics. Keyword stuffing, the old SEO habit, did worse than leaving the content alone.
That's a useful result. It says AI engines favor content that's specific and backed up, not content that repeats a phrase.
What the research can't tell you
Three limits.
The tests used a benchmark of 10,000 queries across many topics. It wasn't built around IT service buyers, so I wouldn't assume the same gains apply to an MSP or a pentest firm.
It was a controlled experiment. Real AI tools change, and they give different answers from one run to the next. A 2026 SparkToro study found the odds of getting the same list of brands twice were under 1 in 100.
And "up to 40%" is the best case, not the typical one.
Does it work for B2B?
I don't think anyone has a clean study on B2B IT firms. So here's my read, and I'm labeling it as that.
The basic parts should work, because they help people and machines at the same time. That means pages that say plainly what you do, who for, and where. Specific claims with numbers and sources. The same description of your firm everywhere it appears. A site the engines are allowed to read.
The parts I'd be careful with are promises. No one controls what an AI writes, so no one can guarantee a citation. Google says the same about rankings in normal search: no one can guarantee a #1 position.
Why it's worth doing at all
Because clicks are changing. Pew Research followed U.S. adults in April 2025. They clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits when a Google AI summary appeared, and 15% when it didn't. When fewer people click past the answer, being in the answer matters more. (One U.S. study from 2025, so treat it as a direction, not a forecast.)
What it looks like for an IT firm
- Make your site readable. Google says it needs no special markup for AI Overviews, only a page it can index and show with a snippet. OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
- One page per service. Say what it is, who it's for, and what changes for the client.
- Be specific. Numbers, named methods, real constraints. Fewer adjectives.
- Keep your description consistent. Your site, your LinkedIn page and any directory listings should tell the same story.
- Check what AI says about you today. Then fix what's wrong. That's the first thing I'd do.
Sources
- Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimization, KDD 2024.
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website.
- Google Search Central, Do you need an SEO?
- OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers.
- Search Engine Land, AI recommendation lists rarely repeat, SparkToro study, January 2026.
- Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears, July 2025.
Common questions
What is generative engine optimization?
The work of making your content more likely to be cited in answers that AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews write.
Does GEO work for B2B IT firms?
There is no clean study on B2B IT firms. The basic parts should help people and machines at the same time, but anyone promising a specific citation is promising something they do not control.
What does AI search optimization include?
Making your site readable to the engines, one page per service, specific and sourced claims, a consistent description across your site, LinkedIn and directories, and checking what AI says about you today.
Kryston's AI visibility audit gives you a dated baseline of this for your own firm: what ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews and Google say about it today, and what to fix first.
Kryston guides
Analysis for IT services and software development firms on search, AI visibility and buyer trust.
