Here we show the connection between topological order and the geometric entanglement, as measured by the logarithm of the overlap between a given state and its closest product state of blocks, for the topological universality class of the toric code model. As happens for the entanglement entropy, we find that for large block sizes the geometric entanglement is, up to possible subleading corrections, the sum of two contributions: a non-universal bulk contribution obeying a boundary law times the number of blocks, and a universal contribution quantifying the underlying pattern of long-range entanglement of a topologically-ordered state.

7 pages, 3 figures, 1 appendix. Revised version, including an analytical analysis of robustness, and a correction to the bipartition in Fig.2.a