10-Step Framework for Generative Engine Optimization [2025 Guide]

A comprehensive 10-step guide to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for 2025, including benchmarks, metrics, and actionable strategies for brands to secure AI citations and maximize visibility in LLM-powered search.

In 2025, brands can no longer rely on traditional keyword-driven SEO to stay visible. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is now essential to secure citations in AI-powered answers and drive increased revenue and mindshare from LLMs. This guide shows you exactly how to adapt and thrive as search evolves from blue links to intelligent responses.

What is Generative Engine Optimization?

Generative Engine Optimization is the natural evolution of SEO in the world of ChatGPT. GEO focuses on optimizing brand content for AI engines like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. Unlike generative SEO, GEO is a comprehensive strategy to improve AI visibility, answer engine optimization, and citation authority across every customer touchpoint.

At Profound, we still prefer the term AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) vs GEO but right now the discourse is split between these two terms. Regardless of the term, Profound is still the tool used by the largest enterprise brands in the world to improve their AI visibility.

Key Differences Between GEO and Traditional SEO

• Source of answers: AI engines synthesize information while search engines list URLs.
• Ranking factors: Citation authority replaces backlinks; structured data outweighs SERP snippets.
• User intent: Conversational queries surpass rigid keyword phrases. Measurement: Visibility score becomes more critical than organic ranking. LLMs only cite 2-7 domains on average per response, far fewer than Google's 10 blue links.

How AI Engines Evaluate Content and Citations

AI engines rely on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), the process of augmenting a generative model with external documents retrieved in real time to produce more accurate answers. This retrieval logic prioritizes relevance, recency, and trust.

This means that ChatGPT now does web search for most questions instead of relying on its existing training data.

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), a core metric from SEO, remains critical for GEO. For example, content with transparent author bios, reputable citations, and consistent updates often outranks shallow material.

For example, our guide on Answer Engine Optimization has been cited over 9,000 times across all LLMs that Profound currently tracks.

Why GEO Is Mission-Critical for Brands

• Every day, over 1 billion prompts are sent to ChatGPT which is a permanent shift in how customers seek answers.
• More than 71% of Americans already use AI search to research purchases or evaluate brands.
• Waiting to adapt means falling behind your competitors. Based on the thousands of sales calls that we've had from February to July 2025, everyone is trying to figure out how to get ranked in ChatGPT.

Market Adoption and Visibility Statistics

• Forrester reports that 89% of B2B buyers have adopted generative AI as a key source of self-guided information throughout their purchasing journey [source]
• Adobe found that 87% of people are more likely to use AI for larger or more complex purchase [source]

Cost of Inaction in an AI-First Search Landscape

• Traffic to ChatGPT is rapidly increasing, with the latest projections showing ChatGPT surpassing Google traffic by October 2030 [source].
• Picture this: six months from now, your top competitor dominates AI search results while your brand fades from view.

Risks to not adopting GEO

• Lost share of voice: Competitors capture AI answers and drive significant revenue from an untapped channel.
• Brand misrepresentation: Hallucinations distort your messaging.
• They control the narrative: Do you really want your competitors defining how ChatGPT talks about your brand?

Ten-Step GEO Framework With Benchmarks

Step 1 – Align GEO Objectives With Business KPIs

Map AI visibility to real business impact.

Start by identifying which business outcomes—such as leads, revenue, or signups are the primary metric to measure success.

Consider adding a "How did you hear about us" question to your new lead or sign-up form. This will expose a wealth of information

Here's some GEO KPIs you can track:

Step 2 – Audit Current AI Visibility and Sentiment

• Use a tool like Profound's Answer Engine Insights to benchmark your visibility score, share of voice, and sentiment trends.
• Analyze which AI platforms mention your brand, how often, and in what context.
• Look for both positive and negative sentiment to understand how your brand is perceived by AI engines. This audit will reveal your current standing and highlight areas for improvement.

Step 3 – Map Real-User Prompts Across the Funnel

• Collect prompts and questions from sales calls, current customers, and social listening on Reddit.
• Document the actual questions and phrases your customers use at each stage of their journey. This helps you understand intent and ensures your content addresses real user needs.
• Mapping prompts across the funnel allows you to optimize for both awareness and conversion queries.
• Use Profound's Conversation Explorer product to estimate LLM search volume based on our dataset of tens of millions of real user prompts, updated weekly.

Here's an example of how to map prompts to funnel stages:

Step 4 – Structure Content for AI-Friendly Summaries

• Incorporate TL;DR blocks, bullet lists, and schema markup (FAQPage, HowTo).
• Use concise, well-organized summaries to make it easy for AI engines to extract key information.
• Structured content increases the likelihood of being cited in AI answers.
• Prioritize clarity and brevity to improve your chances of being referenced.
• Use tables to organize information
• Prioritize comparative articles (Best X Thing, Comparing A to B Solutions )

Step 5 – Optimize Technical Signals and Schema Markup

Prioritize:

• HTTPS everywhere
• Mobile speed under 1.8 seconds
• Complete structured data coverage
• Track AI bot traffic using Profound's Agent Analytics tool, you can see exact AI bot traffic to your site over time to identify any gaps. This is technical GEO, just like technical SEO.
• Bonus: Add LLMs.txt

Technical signals like site speed, mobile optimization, and schema markup help AI engines crawl and understand your content.

Ensure your site is accessible and well-structured for both users and bots. Regularly audit your technical setup to maintain high visibility in AI search results.

Step 6 – Elevate Citation Authority Through Thought Leadership

• Publish original research, whitepapers, and expert commentary.
• Focus on creating unique, data-driven content that positions your brand as an industry authority.
• Earning citations from respected domains increases your trustworthiness in the eyes of AI engines.

The more authoritative your content, the more likely it is to be referenced in AI-generated answers. This is hard to do and that's exactly why it works.

Benchmark: Earn citations from ≥20 high-authority domains per quarter. Measure this with Profound's citation analysis data.

Step 7 – Strengthen E-E-A-T and Brand Trust Signals

• Develop detailed author bios, transparent sourcing, and review schemas.
• Regularly audit your site for outdated or low-trust content and remove or update as needed. Hubspot did this recently to great success.
• Trust signals like third-party reviews, certifications, and clear contact information help reinforce your brand's credibility.
• Strong E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is essential for GEO success.

Step 8 – Integrate Multimedia and Data Assets for Rich Answers

• Embed charts, infographics, and video transcripts with descriptive captions, but keep in mind most AI crawlers cannot parse javascript.
• Use a variety of media types to appeal to different AI models and user preferences.
• Well-labeled multimedia assets (alt tags!) can boost your visibility and engagement.

Step 9 – Scale Prompt Testing and Conversation Workflows

• Build a library of iterative prompts, monitor their responses, and adapt your prompts to ongoing product and market changes.
• Experiment with different question formats and content structures to see what resonates with AI engines.

Metric: Target 20-30 unique prompts per core topic. Make sure these are run once daily. You're measuring longitudinal visibility so tracking it over time is key.

Step 10 – Benchmark, Report, and Iterate Quarterly

• Follow a consistent reporting cadence to track visibility, citation authority, and sentiment.
• Build your own reporting, or use something like Profound to automate this for you.
• Regular benchmarking ensures your GEO strategy adapts to changes in the AI landscape.
• Share results internally to communicate the value of optimizing for AI search.

Measuring Success and Iterating

Continuous testing and optimization are essential as engines evolve in addition to using a tool like Profound to manage your longitudinal AI visibility.

Core GEO Metrics and Dashboard Design

• Visibility score
• Citation count and citation score
• Sentiment index
• Share of voice

Profound is purpose built for brands to dominate in AI search and supports all of this natively.

Using Answer Engine Insights for Competitive Benchmarking Set up competitive asset groups in your category. Export CSV data or use Profound's API for granular analysis and pattern identification.

Governance, Budgeting, and Cross-Team Alignment

Based on our hundreds of active customers, here's the most common roles for high-performing GEO teams:

Budget Range: Mid-market brands typically invest $75k–$150k annually in all tools and resources that go into creating a high-performing GEO program.

Review results quarterly and share among your marketing team and the broader leadership team.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Should Own GEO Strategy Inside an Enterprise? Typically, the Director of Digital Marketing or Head of SEO leads GEO strategy, partnering with content and analytics teams for execution.

How Often Should We Refresh Prompts and Content?

• Review and update key prompts and supporting content every 90 days to align with evolving AI models and user intent.

Can GEO Hurt Traditional SEO Performance?

• No—properly structured GEO tactics like schema markup and authoritative content usually strengthen, not weaken, traditional SEO signals.

What Budget Range Should We Allocate to GEO Initiatives?

• Mid-market brands invest $75k–$150k annually, while enterprises may allocate $250k+ to cover tools, content creation, and analytics.

Which AI Engines Should We Prioritize First?

• Focus on high-traffic engines—ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity—then expand to other models like Claude and Microsoft CoPilot as resources allow.

Looking Ahead: The Future of GEO

Expect deeper personalization, more multimodal answers, and real-time data integration across AI engines. Proactively updating your schema and metadata will be critical to staying visible.

Emerging tools and open standards for AI citation tracking are on the horizon. Profound's Answer Engine Insights is expanding capabilities to help you measure and improve AI visibility more effectively.

Read more about Answer Engine Insights.

Ready to see how Profound can transform your AI visibility? Get a demo of Profound and receive a custom report for your brand.