Generative engine
A generative engine is software that writes a new answer to your question rather than retrieving an existing page for you to read.
In a little more detail
It is the software behind AI search, named for what it does mechanically. The word generative is doing the work: the answer did not exist anywhere before you asked, so there is no page to rank. This is why the older playbook of climbing a list does not straightforwardly apply.
Related terms
- AI search: AI search is a program you ask questions in plain language, like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity, which writes you an answer instead of handing you a list of links.
- GEO: GEO, or generative engine optimization, is the work of making it more likely that AI search names your business when someone asks it a question about what you sell.
See it on your own site
The scan reads your site the way AI search does and reports where you stand on this and sixteen other checks.