Long-form references on AI search visibility, markdown content negotiation, and the tooling that makes your site readable to agents.
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the discipline of getting your content cited by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. It blends classic SEO, structured data, and new formats like llms.txt + Accept-header markdown.
generative engine optimization toolsAnswer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and voice assistants pick it as the canonical answer.
answer engine optimization toolsAI agents read markdown 2–5× more efficiently than HTML. Serve it via Accept-header negotiation, sitemap.md, and <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"> and every agent-originated request instantly becomes cheaper and smarter.
markdown for agentsAccept: text/markdown is an HTTP content-negotiation header that signals an AI agent prefers clean markdown over HTML. Implementing it correctly means a Content-Type match, a Vary: Accept header, honoring q-values, and 406 on unsatisfiable requests.
accept markdown headerNine AI crawlers account for virtually all agent-originated traffic in 2026. Blanket-blocking them means no citations from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews. Block selectively with robots.txt and guide the rest with llms.txt.
ai crawlers