Technical GEO: Speaking the Language of AI

AI doesn't "read" your website; it parses it. A successful GEO strategy depends on a flawless technical foundation to ensure your data is ingested correctly.

Answer Nugget: Technical GEO

Technical Generative Engine Optimization is the implementation of structured data (primarily JSON-LD Schema) and machine-readable instructions (like `llms.txt`) to provide explicit context to AI crawlers. It is the code layer that translates your business's "who, what, and why" into a format that machines can trust and cite.

JSON-LD: The Digital Fact Sheet

JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is the most effective format for implementing Schema Markup. It allows you to create a block of code in your page's <head> that acts as a hidden "fact sheet" for crawlers. It doesn't affect your visual design but provides precise details about the entities on the page.

Example: Defining an Attorney as an Entity

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Attorney",
  "name": "James V. Counsel",
  "jobTitle": "Senior Litigation Partner",
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Ohio Criminal Law",
    "OVI Defense"
  ],
  "alumniOf": {
    "@type": "CollegeOrUniversity",
    "name": "The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law"
  }
}

This code explicitly tells the AI that "James V. Counsel" is an "Attorney," what he "knowsAbout," and where he was educated. This is infinitely more powerful than just having that text in a paragraph.

llms.txt: The New robots.txt

The `llms.txt` file is a proposed standard that allows website owners to give specific instructions to AI crawlers, separate from traditional search engine bots. This allows for more granular control over how your content is used for AI model training and answer generation.

Example: `llms.txt` Directives

User-agent: *
# Default rule for all LLMs

Disallow: /private/
# Disallow crawling of any paths under /private/

Allow: /generative-engine-optimization/
# Explicitly allow crawling of the GEO knowledge hub for context.

While not yet universally adopted, creating an `llms.txt` file signals to AI companies that you are a sophisticated, data-aware entity, which can be a positive signal in itself.