GEO · AEO · AI search optimisation
Get cited in AI answers — generative and answer engine optimisation, done with real evidence.
When a buyer asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overview about your category, are you the brand it recommends — or invisible? Theia shows you exactly which sources the AI engines cite for your keywords, finds the answers you should be winning, and builds the content that earns the citation.
What you get
Three things, so you stop guessing at AI search.
GEO and AEO without the mystique — what AI engines cite today, where you're missing, and the content that gets you cited. Every claim traceable to a real customer.
AI-citation tracking
Your share of citations across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude — per query, per keyword cluster, per category, tracked weekly so you see it move.
The sources AI engines cite
For every keyword that matters, the exact domains and pages the AI answers pull from — so you know who's winning the answer, and the evidence that put them there.
Content built to win citations
The evidence-rich, well-structured answers AI engines reward — sourced at every claim, written to be the most relevant answer to your buyers' real questions. Not a track-it dashboard: the thing that gets you cited.
An example output
Who the AI answer cites — and your share of it.
For any query that matters, Theia reads which brands the AI answers cite and works out your share — so you know exactly who's winning the answer, and by how much. Here's a sample read for one query.
AI citation share — “best mirrorless camera”
ChatGPT · Gemini · AI OverviewsIllustrative sample output. Share of AI answers that cite each brand for the query, across the AI surfaces — tracked weekly, with the source domains behind every citation.
Search is 50–70% of all traffic — and AI answers now sit on top of it.
This is the new front line of organic visibility. AI Overviews appear on a large share of Google searches, ChatGPT reports hundreds of millions of weekly users, and Gartner has projected traditional search volume could fall around 25% by 2026 as buyers shift to AI answers. Whoever wins citation share over 2026–2028 locks in disproportionate visibility for the decade.
And the good news is reassuring: an AI Overview selects from a retrieval set of real, existing pages — it doesn't invent its sources. So you can't trick your way in. You earn the citation by being the most relevant human content in the first place. That is a game you can win on merit.
50–70%
of all web traffic comes from search
≈ 30–40%
citation-likelihood lift from real stats, quotes and sources (Princeton GEO study)
2026–2028
the window to lock in AI citation share
SEO · AEO · GEO — the three disciplines
The discourse uses three acronyms for three slightly different things. The integrated strategy needs all three.
SEO
Search engine optimisation
Ranking in classic Google / Bing organic results. Still ~30% of clicks. Still matters — but increasingly competes with AI Overview synthesis above it on the page.
AEO
Answer engine optimisation
Being cited inside Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot and Perplexity. Decides whether AI surfaces your brand as a trusted source for a query — the citation that sits above the blue links.
GEO
Generative engine optimisation
Being referenced by LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) in their generated answers. Less about a single citation, more about whether the model knows you in the topic — woven into the recommendation it gives.
E-E-A-T (Experience · Expertise · Authoritativeness · Trustworthiness) is the unifying quality signal across all three — and relevance is what earns it.
The relevance flywheel
The relevance that wins the AI answer is the same relevance that wins the customer.
This is why GEO and AEO are not a side quest. To the engines — Google, Amazon and the AI answers — relevance is what earns ranking, citation and visibility. To the customer, that same relevance is what makes your brand the obvious choice. One thing wins both.
And it compounds. The sales that follow — velocity, reviews, click-through — are themselves relevance signals, so the engines surface and cite you more, and the wheel spins faster. Growth compounds; it doesn't just add. Getting cited in AI answers is the entry point to that flywheel.
How AI answers actually decide who to cite.
There's a lot of mystique around AI search. The mechanics are simpler — and more reassuring — than the hype suggests.
Probabilistic wording, real sources
The answer text is generated probabilistically — the model writes it. But it isn't conjured from nothing: each answer is grounded in a retrieval set, a far larger universe of real, existing pages the system draws on.
It identifies; it doesn't create
An AI Overview does not invent its sources. It surfaces the most relevant, authoritative human content it can find for the question. The source pre-exists; the AI only selects it.
So the route in is relevant human content
You cannot optimise your way into a citation with tricks. You earn it by being the clearest, best-evidenced answer to the question — genuinely relevant human content, published first.
Evidence wins — measurably
Princeton's GEO study found the levers that reliably lift citation likelihood are substantive: adding relevant statistics, direct quotations and authoritative citations raised visibility by roughly 30–40%. Authority and evidence, not keyword tricks.
The conclusion is the whole point: to rank in AI search you need relevant, authoritative human content in the first place. That is exactly what Theia produces — answers built from what real customers say, rich in evidence, written to be the best response to the question. We don't chase citations; we build the thing that earns them.
How Theia does GEO and AEO
Theia's GEO / AEO layer isn't a separate product — it's part of how Theia reads your whole market, with the right surfaces and the right measurements. And because Theia produces the content too, it doesn't just tell you you're missing — it gives you what gets you cited.
Measure citation share across all surfaces
Weekly tracking across Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Per-query, per-keyword cluster, per category. Click-weighted share of voice that maps to actual consumer attention.
Find the AI answers you should be winning
Theia identifies the queries where your brand should be cited but isn't, ranked by category volume and commercial intent. Not just "track citations" — "find the missing citations that matter."
Produce the content that earns citations
Theia's content engine drafts the evidence-rich answers AI engines reward — sourced at every claim, structured around real customer language, written to be the most relevant answer to the question. The Princeton levers, built in.
Integrate with the rest of your market
AI citation share next to organic visibility, perception trajectories and sales movement — and the same content earns you organic ranking, easing your reliance on paid search. The integration is the strategic insight; single-surface dashboards systematically mislead.
What Theia is not
Honesty about the boundary. If your only question is LLM citation tracking, narrower tools serve you better:
Pure LLM monitoring
Evertune is the leader. Cleaner product, lower commitment, easier procurement if scope is LLM-only. How we compare →
GEO agencies
EnrichLabs, LSEO, Digital Elevator. Services-led GEO consulting. Useful for execution; doesn't deliver the measurement infrastructure.
SEO platforms
Ahrefs, SEMrush, Authoritas. Strong on classic SEO; adding LLM tracking as a feature. Often the right tool for SEO-led teams.
Theia is the right call when GEO and AEO are one of several pillars you need integrated. It's the wrong call when GEO is the only question.
Questions
GEO, AEO and AI search — answered
What is the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO?
SEO optimises ranking in classic search results. AEO (answer engine optimisation) targets being cited inside AI answers like Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. GEO (generative engine optimisation) targets being referenced by LLMs such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude in their generated responses. The complete 2026 strategy needs all three — and they share one foundation: genuinely relevant, authoritative content.
How do AI Overviews and AI answers decide which sources to cite?
An AI answer is generated probabilistically — the model writes the wording — but it is grounded in a retrieval set: a much larger universe of real, existing pages the system pulls from. The AI does not invent the source; it identifies and surfaces the most relevant, authoritative human content for the question. The brands that get cited are the ones that already published the clearest, best-evidenced answer.
How do you rank in AI Overviews and AI search?
Publish the most relevant, authoritative, well-structured answer to the questions your buyers actually ask — rich in real evidence (statistics, quotes, sources), clearly organised, and genuinely helpful. That is what Theia produces from real customer data, which is why it earns citations rather than chasing them.
Can you trick your way into AI Overviews?
No. Because the model selects the most relevant existing human content, there is no shortcut around actually being that content. Princeton's GEO study found the levers that reliably lift citation likelihood are substantive: adding relevant statistics, direct quotations and authoritative citations raised visibility by roughly 30–40%. Authority and evidence win; tricks don't.
Why does AI search matter for a CMO?
Search is 50–70% of all traffic, and AI answers now sit on top of it — on a large share of Google searches and across hundreds of millions of weekly ChatGPT users. Whoever wins citation share over 2026–2028 locks in disproportionate visibility for years. Getting cited in AI answers is the new front line of organic visibility.
How do you measure AI citation share?
Query each AI surface (Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude) for your category's keywords, extract the cited source domains, and compute the share of answers that cite your brand — per query, per keyword cluster and per category, tracked over time.
See your category's AI citation landscape.
We'll run a 2-week citation-share audit on your category across the AI surfaces — competitor leaderboard, query-level gaps, and the content recommendations to win them.