GEO: SEO for AI answers, what really changes for an e-commerce site

Since the arrival of the AI Overview in France in July 2026, a new acronym has been circulating in every agency: GEO, for Generative Engine Optimization. Behind the trend, a real question for e-commerce merchants: do you have to change the way you do SEO to exist in AI answers? The short answer: a little, and above all not at the expense of the pages that sell.

Where GEO comes from

The term comes from a research paper from Princeton University, presented at the KDD conference in 2024 by Pranjal Aggarwal and his coauthors. The researchers tested nine ways of modifying a piece of content across about 10,000 queries, then measured the visibility of that content in the answers of a generative engine.

Their main findings:

• adding expert quotes is the most effective method, with a visibility increase of around 40%;
• adding statistics and citing sources also clearly improve visibility;
• keyword stuffing, inherited from old-school SEO, does not work.

In other words, generative engines favor content that brings verifiable, sourced facts. That is good news for sites that publish real data, and bad news for generic content.

What Google says

Google has published a page dedicated to AI features in Search. The message is unambiguous: there is no additional requirement to appear in the AI Overview or AI Mode. No special file to create, no dedicated markup, no particular structured data. A page has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet in classic search, and best practices remain the same: following technical guidelines, useful and reliable content, written for people.

So be wary of offers selling a "GEO markup" or a miracle file for Google's AI Overview.

Who gets cited in AI Overviews in France

In our study of 599 French e-commerce queries, each AI Overview cited an average of 5.6 different domains. The most cited: YouTube, far ahead, then Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Que Choisir and Trustpilot. A few e-commerce merchants appear (Oogarden, Darty, Gamm vert, Jardiland, Decathlon), usually on questions directly related to their catalog.

Two takeaways: AI answers draw heavily on video and on user reviews and discussions, and an e-commerce site can be cited if it publishes content that answers the question precisely.

What a citation is worth

Being cited in an AI Overview has visibility value: your brand appears at the moment users are researching. In clicks, however, the benefit is limited.

• Seer Interactive measures that, on informational queries, a cited brand gets about twice as many clicks as a brand that is not cited, but still 38% fewer than in the absence of an AI Overview.
• Pew Research observed that only 1% of users click a link inside the summary.

GEO is therefore first and foremost a brand awareness lever. It does not replace the qualified traffic your categories capture on purchase queries, queries the AI Overview rarely touches: 9% of transactional queries in our study.

A realistic GEO strategy for an e-commerce merchant

1. Keep priority on the pages that sell

Transactional queries remain served by classic results and product modules. Your categories and facets, with well-crafted title tags and copy, remain the first priority. We explain why in our analysis of e-commerce SEO traffic.

2. Publish facts nobody else has

That is the lesson of the Princeton study. Content that stands out in AI answers contains data, sourced figures, expert opinions. For an e-commerce merchant, sources are plentiful: size guides based on customer feedback, internal product testing, usage data, quantified comparisons.

3. Answer your buyers' questions precisely

The questions that trigger the most AI Overviews are practical questions ("what size duvet for a 160 bed", "how to season a stainless steel pan"). A clear, structured answer, with the direct answer first and the details after, is more likely to be picked up. And it should link to the relevant categories for those who want to buy.

4. Take care of your presence beyond your site

Videos, customer reviews, presence on forums and in specialist media: AI answers cite these sources massively. A brand well represented on YouTube and on review platforms is more likely to appear, even when its own site is not cited.

5. Measure differently

The success of informational content is no longer measured in clicks alone. Also track impressions in Search Console, your brand's presence in AI answers on your key questions, and brand awareness (searches for your brand).

In summary

GEO is not a technical revolution, it is an editorial requirement: more factual, better sourced and more precise content. For an e-commerce site, it complements category SEO, it does not replace it. Visitors who buy keep arriving through queries that AI systems largely leave to product and category pages.

What this means for your category pages

The principles of GEO are the same ones unblind applies to every category copy: claims about your offer confirmed by the content of the page, no promotion or collection that will be outdated next season, no interchangeable generic formula, and concrete information that helps people choose. Factual copy is better for the buyer, for Google and for generative engines all at once.