What is the difference between GEO and GDO?
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GEO, Generative Engine Optimization, works on your own pages so that an AI understands and picks them up: clear answer, dated facts, developed text. GDO, Generative Distribution Optimization, works elsewhere: it places your information on third-party sources that AIs consult when the question does not name you. The difference is therefore not a writing method, it is a location. And both combine: being understood only helps if you are read, being read only helps if the page holds up.
For what type of question? It all depends on the question. On a question that names your company, it is your site that is read, and GEO decides what the AI retains from it. On a market question, your site is rarely consulted: it is third-party sources that decide if your name appears.
Two locations, not two methods
GEO applies to a domain you own. You decide on the title, the text, the structure, and you can change everything the same day. It is useful work: a poorly built page will not be picked up, even when it is read. But its effect stops at the doorstep of your site.
GDO applies to domains you do not own: thematic sites, publishers, specialized publications. You do not decide alone there; you bring verifiable information. In return, these pages are consulted on questions where your site is not.
What each can and cannot do
GEO improves the pick-up of a page that has already been found. It does not create the search: in our measurements, some AIs write the name of the source they want in their own query, and a company whose name they have never read is not searched for.
GDO increases the number of independent sources that name you. It does not replace your site: it is your site that the AI will read the day a client asks for your pricing or your documentation, and it must remain open to AI bots and readable. Neither guarantees a citation.
Why they combine
A well-written third-party page that names you introduces your name into what the model has already read; a well-built page on your site retains it when it comes to verify. It is the same movement, captured in two locations, and it is cumulative: each source that names you makes the next one more likely, because an AI looks for the names it knows.
What we do not know
Our measurements are based on the API of GPT-5, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 3.5 Flash, not on consumer interfaces, which may behave differently. They describe what models search for and cite at a given moment; they do not measure the effect of a publication on citations, and an AI changes its response from one time to another. Furthermore, "GDO" is our term, not a recognized category: no external study compares GEO and GDO under these names.
Sources
- Aggarwal et al. — "GEO: Generative Engine Optimization", KDD 2024, .
- Google Search Central — "Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search", .
- FaireDuBruit measurements, from September 4 to 16, 2026 — see "How we measured".