seo-geolisted

# AI Search / GEO Optimization (May 2026) ## Primary Source: Google's AI Optimization Guide Google's official position, published under Search Central docs: > "Optimizing for generative AI search is **still SEO** from Google's > perspective. AEO and GEO are rebranded labels for the same work." Read `references/google-ai-optimization-guide.md` for the full synthesis, myth-busting list (`llms.txt`, chunking, AI-rephrasing, mention-farming, all rejected by Google as ineffective), and the Who/How/Why test for content quality. Audits should frame GEO findings as **SEO fundamentals applied to AI-search surfaces**, not as a separate optimization discipline. When community recommendations contradict Google's primary source, defer to Google and note the contradiction in the report. ## Key Statistics | Metric | Value | Source | |--------|-------|--------| | AI Overviews reach | 2.5 billion+ monthly active users, reported from Google I/O 2026 keynote coverage; not confirmed on a Google-owned source; 200+ countries | Third-party I/O reporting | | AI Overviews query coverage | ~50% of queries (third-party measurement; varies by country) | Industry data | | AI Mode monthly users | 1B+, reported from Google I/O 2026 keynote coverage; not confirmed on a Google-owned source | Third-party I/O reporting | | AI Mode model | custom version of Gemini 2.5 | Google | | AI-referred sessions growth | 527% (Jan-May 2025) | SparkToro | | ChatGPT weekly active users | 900 million | OpenAI | | Perp