Earlier this month, Microsoft published a guide to help retailers increase visibility in search, browsers and AI assistants.
The “AEO and GEO Guide” (PDF) from the leaders of Microsoft Shopping and Copilot and Microsoft Advertising contains and validates helpful tips that are worth reading.
Microsoft’s new guide aims to help retailers increase AI visibility.
GEO vs. AEO
The rise of AI platforms has caused a proliferation of ill-defined acronyms. The guide attempts to clarify two of them:
- GEO. Generative engine optimization. “Optimizes content for generative AI search environments (such as LLM-based engines) to make it discoverable, trustworthy and authoritative.”
- AEO. Answer/Agentic Engine Optimization. “It optimizes content for AI agents and assistants (like Copilot or ChatGPT) to find, understand and effectively present answers.”
I question the need for new acronyms as these terms have been around for years in traditional search engine optimization. “GEO” is synonymous with “EEAT” – experience, expertise, authority, credibility – Google’s term in instructing human quality evaluators.
“AEO” is similar to optimizing for featured snippets in traditional search results.
The key difference is that GEO and AEO focus on the product’s pre-training data to influence exposure in AI responses.
And GEO goes beyond website content to include external sources like reviews, Reddit mentions, product comparison articles, and more.
Intent-driven product data
For me, the most useful part of the guide reinforces my article on optimizing product resources for AI. Product sources and page descriptions should clearly state use cases, such as “best for day hikes above 40 degrees” shoes.
The guide also recommends:
- product page titles that are detailed and descriptive;
- Product descriptions with benefits: who it’s for, the problem it solves, and how it’s better,
- questions and answers,
- comparison tables,
- Detailed alt text for product images,
- Complementary products that correspond to the intention,
- Transcripts for videos.
Social proof
The guide highlights the importance of factual entities such as verified customer reviews, certifications, sustainability badges and partnerships. It warns against using exaggerated or unverifiable claims, stating that “artificial intelligence systems penalize low-confidence language”.
He recommends consistently applying social proof across your website and across all channels, and verifying any subjective claims about your business or product. For example, if you claim that the product is the best in the category, state why, for example “according to tests (XYZ)”.
Structured data
According to the guide, structured data markup such as Schema.org is key to AI visibility.
However, I have seen no evidence to support this recommendation. The guide does not explain how LLMs use the schema. As far as I know, the AI training data does not store Schema tags, and the AI bots only crawl through textual content.
However, for live search, the schema can be useful because it is supported by traditional search engines and LLMs rely on these platforms.
Nevertheless, the guide recommends:
- Schema types: Product, Offer, AggregateRating, Review, Brand, ItemList, and FAQ.
- Dynamic fields: price, availability, color, size, SKU, GTIN and dateModified.
- ItemList markup for collections and category pages to clarify product groupings.
While useful, Microsoft’s “Guide to AEO and GEO” does not bring anything new. The recommendations are consistent with long-term SEO tactics and reinforce the opinions of industry professionals.