seo-geo

# AI Search / GEO Optimization (February 2026) ## Key Statistics | Metric | Value | Source | |--------|-------|--------| | AI Overviews reach | 1.5 billion users/month across 200+ countries | Google | | AI Overviews query coverage | 50%+ of all queries | Industry data | | AI-referred sessions growth | 527% (Jan-May 2025) | SparkToro | | ChatGPT weekly active users | 900 million | OpenAI | | Perplexity monthly queries | 500+ million | Perplexity | ## Critical Insight: Brand Mentions > Backlinks **Brand mentions correlate 3x more strongly with AI visibility than backlinks.** (Ahrefs December 2025 study of 75,000 brands) | Signal | Correlation with AI Citations | |--------|------------------------------| | YouTube mentions | ~0.737 (strongest) | | Reddit mentions | High | | Wikipedia presence | High | | LinkedIn presence | Moderate | | Domain Rating (backlinks) | ~0.266 (weak) | **Only 11% of domains** are cited by both ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for the same query, so platform-specific optimization is essential. --- ## GEO Analysis Criteria (Updated) ### 1. Citability Score (25%) **Optimal passage length: 134-167 words** for AI citation. **Strong signals:** - Clear, quotable sentences with specific facts/statistics - Self-contained answer blocks (can be extracted without context) - Direct answer in first 40-60 words of section - Claims attributed with specific sources - Definitions following "X is..." or "X refers to..." patterns - Unique data points not found e...