optimizing-for-generative-engineslisted

# Optimizing for Generative Engines (GEO) ## Overview Generative Engine Optimization is on-page work for the AI-search era. Same craft as classic SEO — read the page, find the gaps, fix them in place — but the priorities shift: LLMs reward **quotable claims**, **structured answers**, **author credibility**, and **freshness** far more than they reward classic keyword density [1][6][8]. Why now: AI platforms now take **15–20% of informational query volume** away from traditional search [3], non-branded informational traffic is down **15–30%** across content sites [3], and only **11% of websites earn citations from both ChatGPT and Perplexity** [4] — meaning per-platform tuning is real, not cosmetic. This is the skill that makes a page citable. Pair it with `auditing-technical-seo` (crawler access) and `adding-schema-markup` (structured data) for the full stack. ## The 7 high-impact GEO patterns Audit the page for each. Gaps are the edit list. 1. **Quotable claims with sources.** LLMs preferentially lift stat-with-citation lines. "X grew 47% YoY according to [source]" beats "X grew significantly" every time [1][6]. 2. **Definitive opening sentence.** First sentence must answer the page's implied question — front-loaded answer capsules are extracted directly into AI answers [2][6]. 3. **FAQ blocks with literal Q&A.** Question-shaped H2s + concise answers drive disproportionately high citation density on Perplexity and ChatGPT [1][2]. Pair with `FAQPage` schema. 4. **Compar