Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of optimising your website to be cited, referenced, or recommended by AI language models and generative search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Microsoft Copilot. It represents the next frontier of digital visibility beyond traditional SEO.
For AEC firms, GEO is particularly important because project procurement increasingly involves research phases where decision-makers use AI assistants to shortlist firms. A practice that ranks well in traditional search but is invisible to AI systems may miss an emerging category of client enquiry.
GEO strategies for AEC firms include: creating an llms.txt file, implementing JSON-LD structured data for your organisation and projects, writing clear authoritative prose (AI models favour factual, well-structured content), including FAQ sections on service pages, and ensuring your firm is mentioned on authoritative third-party sources that AI systems learn from.
Unlike traditional SEO, GEO has no single ranking algorithm to optimise for. The goal is to ensure AI systems have accurate, rich information about your firm from multiple credible sources, so they can confidently recommend you when relevant questions arise.