In practice
GEO starts with a baseline: a panel of prompts run across the major assistants to see who is cited in your category and how accurately your brand is described.
From there it is mostly hygiene and evidence — structured data, consistent facts across the web, and original material worth quoting.
Why it matters
A growing share of research now ends inside a generated answer rather than on a results page. If you are not in the sources, you are absent at the moment an opinion forms.
Nobody can guarantee citations. What you can do is measure share of citation over time and work the gaps deliberately.
Related terms