The path
Six guides, in order.
Each builds on the last. If a term trips you up along the way, the glossary is one tab away.
- How Does AI Search Work?Begin with the machinery. You can't optimize a system you don't understand — this explains training data, retrieval (RAG), and how engines choose sources, without the jargon.
- What Is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?Now the first discipline: Answer Engine Optimization — getting quoted as the answer. This is the goal state everything else serves.
- What Is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?The sibling discipline: Generative Engine Optimization — being in the pool of sources engines retrieve from. You can't be cited if you're never retrieved.
- AEO vs. GEO: How Are They Different?See how the two fit together (and where the distinction actually matters), so the terminology stops being confusing.
- How to Get Cited by AITurn understanding into action: the cross-engine, six-step process for earning citations — quotable answers, entity consistency, off-site corroboration.
- Schema Markup for AI SearchFinish with the build layer: the structured data that makes your facts machine-readable and your answers easy to extract.
How to work through it.
Read actively, not passively — the point is to leave with a plan, not just vocabulary.
- Read in order. The sequence is deliberate: mechanics first, then the two disciplines, then how they connect, then action, then the build layer.
- Keep the glossary handy. AEO, GEO, RAG, grounding, entities — if a term is fuzzy, look it up rather than pushing past it.
- Note your own questions. As you read, jot the exact questions your buyers would type into ChatGPT. That list becomes your content plan.
- Baseline before you build. When you're ready to act, a free scan shows where AI names you today — the starting line for everything you just learned.
Beginner path — completion checklist
- Read How Does AI Search Work?
- Read What Is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
- Read What Is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
- Read AEO vs. GEO: How Are They Different?
- Read How to Get Cited by AI
- Read Schema Markup for AI Search
- Wrote down 10+ real questions your buyers ask AI
- Ran a baseline visibility scan
Where to go next.
Finished the path? Branch based on your goal.
- Run a local trade? Your trade playbook turns all of this into a concrete week-one plan — see Playbooks by Trade.
- Want to go deeper on mechanics? Read How Does ChatGPT Decide What to Cite? and How to Rank in Perplexity.
- Ready to measure? AI Share of Voice shows how to track progress repeatably.