A classic search engine returns a list of pages. A generative engine writes an answer, and names a handful of sources. GEO aims at being one of those sources: the page has to be readable by the assistant's crawler, say one clear thing per section, carry dated facts, and be consistent with what the rest of the web says about the brand.
Most of the work overlaps with SEO. Google wrote in 2025 that optimising for its AI features is still SEO. What GEO adds is a way of writing (the answer first, then the detail) and a way of measuring (which questions cite you, in which assistant). On SeoGeoMap, a GEO speciality is shown on a listing only when the expert's own site shows a service or a client case for it.