GENERATIVE ENGINE OPTIMISATION
GEO is the practice of making your brand and products easier for generative AI systems to understand, retrieve, cite and recommend in answers shoppers see in tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. For ecommerce, GEO usually means clearer product facts, stronger category evidence, structured data and measurement of share of voice—not buying an organic mention.
| Approach | Main focus |
|---|---|
| SEO | Search-result visibility and visits to relevant pages. |
| AEO | Clear answers that answer tools can understand and use. |
| GEO | Brand and product inclusion, accuracy and evidence in generative answers. |
This work can suit Shopify and D2C brands with meaningful product catalogues, ecommerce teams improving product discovery, and agencies adding commerce-focused AI visibility services. The best starting scope depends on category, products and buying questions.
GEO is the practice of making a brand and its products easier for generative AI systems to understand, retrieve, cite and describe in answers. For ecommerce, it often includes clear product facts, useful category evidence, structured data and measurement.
No. Platforms control their answers. GEO can improve the clarity and evidence available to those systems; it cannot buy or guarantee an organic recommendation.
SEO focuses on visibility and clicks in search results. GEO focuses on whether a brand or product is included, described accurately or recommended inside AI-generated answers. The work can overlap.
Scope can include prompt-level visibility checks, competitor comparison, product-page and catalog gap analysis, prioritised fixes and follow-up measurement. The exact work is confirmed before it starts.
Timing varies by platform and category. Vialtry measures before and after on an agreed prompt set rather than promising a fixed timeline.