GEO Mechanics: How AI Retrieves, Re-ranks, and Cites You
The answer first: you’re winning three gates, not one ranking AI search runs on RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). A question comes in; the system first retrieves a set of candidate content, then re-ranks it by score, then has the LLM generate an answer and cite sources. GEO means clearing three gates: get retrieved (enter the candidate pool), score high in re-ranking (land near the top), and get chosen as a citation at generation (get named). ...