GEO spam
GEO spam is trying to game AI answers with fake, mass-produced or misleading content, like invented reviews or pages written only for AI bots.
GEO spam is trying to get AI platforms to name your brand by gaming them instead of earning it: churning out pages nobody would read, posting fake reviews, hiding instructions for AI bots in your pages, or paying for mentions dressed up as independent opinion.
It's tempting because AI search is new and some of it seems to work for a while. It's risky because it tends to stop working suddenly, and can take your real visibility with it.
What it looks like
Some common kinds:
- Hundreds of near-identical pages, each aimed at one question, written by AI and never read by a person
- "Best of" lists on your own site that always put you first, presented as independent reviews
- Fake or paid reviews on review sites and forums
- Text hidden from people but visible to bots, sometimes with instructions telling AI to recommend you
- Posts on forums from accounts that hide they work for you
Why it backfires
The platforms rely on search indexes and their own rules to pick sources, and those are built to filter out manipulation. Google's spam policies, for example, cover scaled content abuse and hidden text. When a source gets filtered out, everything that depended on it goes too.
There's also the reader. For example, say Fernhill Coffee seeds a forum with posts praising its subscription. Someone spots that the accounts all joined the same week, and the thread fills with people pointing it out. Now the page the AI platforms read about Fernhill is a thread about Fernhill faking reviews.
In AnswerOrbit
Our recommendations never suggest reviews you arrange or reward, posts that hide who you are, or links you pay or trade for. What they suggest instead are things like getting listed in a directory, growing your reviews on a review site or answering a forum thread openly.