Foundations

Four acronyms, mostly the same thing — and a few clear distinctions worth keeping. We pulled the original definitions, checked who uses which term, and argue which one should win.

A model cutoff and live web search answer different questions. Check retrieval, grounding and citations across product settings without assuming every answer searched.

Five groups of GEO methods, with clear boundaries between documented mechanisms, research findings and hypotheses. Practical steps without guaranteed citation gains.

GEO aims to make useful content discoverable and attributable in AI answers. Learn what the evidence supports, how training differs from retrieval, and where to start.