AI-driven search engines are revolutionizing how people search and interact with information online. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is how marketers can catch this wave. Here’s a guide to what it is and why it matters.
What is GEO?
GEO is optimizing your website’s content to boost its visibility in AI-driven search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews.
GEO positions your brand to appear in AI-generated results when users search for queries related to your products, services or areas of expertise.
As search behavior evolves, achieving better visibility in AI-generated responses is key to your brand being discovered in this new digital marketing era. It’s not just about being seen; it’s about engaging potential customers, clients and audiences in meaningful ways, regardless of where they begin their search journey.
Ultimately, the goal of GEO is increasing your website’s visibility, attracting more targeted traffic and turning visitors into loyal fans of your brand.
GEO vs. SEO: Similarities and differences
Both GEO and SEO are cornerstones of modern digital marketing.
While SEO has traditionally helped brands increase visibility on search engines like Google and Microsoft Bing, GEO transforms how brands appear on AI-driven platforms.
Understanding how GEO and SEO align and differ will help you optimize your content for traditional and AI-driven searches.
Let’s break down the similarities and differences and how using both can enhance your online presence.
Dig deeper: What do SEO platforms do and how do they help marketers get found on search engines?
How is GEO similar to SEO?
GEO and SEO share several key objectives and methodologies:
- Visibility objectives: Both aim to enhance the visibility of content online, ensuring it reaches the intended audience effectively.
- Keyword strategy: Both involve using keywords to improve discoverability and relevance.
- User experience: Both prioritize creating content that is engaging, easy to find and navigate.
- Content quality and relevance: Both emphasize the importance of high-quality, relevant content that meets user needs and adheres to E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness) principles.
- Data insights and analytics: Both use data insights and analytics to refine strategies, understand user behavior and market trends and optimize content performance.
- Technical optimization: Both require attention to technical aspects like load speed and mobile friendliness, as well as ensuring content can be effectively crawled and understood by search engines.
- Authority building: Both build authority through credible content and relationships, focusing on enhancing trustworthiness and reliability.
- Continuous adaptation: Both involve ongoing adaptation to changes in algorithms and technology to maintain and improve content visibility and performance.
How is GEO different from SEO?
SEO primarily targets traditional search engines like Google, whereas GEO is designed for the dynamic world of generative AI and answer engines.
These engines use advanced algorithms to gather and present information in a more contextually relevant way, which means we need different strategies to optimize for them.
Here are some key aspects that set them apart:
- Response generation: SEO optimizes for traditional search engines that provide a list of links in response to user queries. GEO optimizes content for AI systems to synthesize and prioritize information, generating quick and comprehensive responses.
- Content contextualization: SEO optimizes meta tags and content with keywords to improve search rankings. GEO ensures that content is clear and contextually relevant, enabling AI algorithms to generate accurate and comprehensive responses.
- Information synthesis: SEO aims to improve the ranking of individual pages. GEO focuses on how AI integrates and synthesizes content from multiple sources to provide comprehensive answers.
- User intent understanding: SEO matches keywords to user queries to drive traffic. GEO uses advanced AI to interpret and anticipate user intent more accurately, delivering more nuanced and precise responses.
- Algorithm adaptation: SEO practitioners continuously adapt to updates in search engine algorithms. GEO requires ongoing adaptation to the evolving capabilities, preferences and methodologies of AI.
- Content formatting: SEO optimizes content for traditional search engine formats. GEO crafts content to be easily parsed and utilized by AI, including structured data and formats friendly to natural language processing.
- Research-driven strategy: SEO uses keyword research and technical analysis to inform optimization strategies. GEO requires analyzing AI-generated content structures, topics and citation patterns and how they evolve to refine strategies, ensuring alignment with AI content processing and prioritization.
- Performance tracking: SEO tracks keyword performance, rankings and other organic search metrics to apply to optimization strategies. GEO tracks referral traffic from AI engines, cited sources and response structures to understand how AI-driven platforms prioritize and display your content, informing optimization tactics.
Dig deeper: In Shopping Search, Keywords Are The End, Not The Beginning
What are the benefits of GEO?
- Increased reach: Optimizing for generative AI increases your visibility beyond traditional search engines. As users turn to AI platforms, having optimized content ensures you capture a broader audience.
- Enhanced user experience: GEO optimizes content so AI can provide quick, relevant and personalized answers, improving user satisfaction and loyalty. By understanding context and user intent better, AI platforms offer more personalized information.
- Competitive advantage: Early adoption of GEO can position your brand as a leader in this new landscape, setting you apart from competitors and establishing your brand as a forward-thinking authority.
- Brand authority and credibility: Optimizing for AI platforms helps establish your brand as a trusted source. As these platforms synthesize information from multiple sources, having your content included enhances your brand’s credibility. Additionally, focusing on entities (specific topics, people, places, things) ensures your content is accurately represented by AI, further reinforcing your brand authority.
- Data-driven insights: GEO offers nuanced metrics and insights to refine strategies and improve engagement, providing a deeper understanding of how users interact with your content. By leveraging this data, you can refine your strategies to better meet user needs, improve content relevance and drive more effective engagement.
- Future-proofing your SEO strategy: As search technologies evolve, adopting GEO ensures your digital marketing strategies remain effective and adaptable, safeguarding your brand’s online presence and competitiveness.
Why GEO is important
GEO is becoming increasingly vital as AI-driven search continues to grow.
The initial excitement surrounding AI in search has settled, and we’re now witnessing a phase where public trust is stabilizing and technologies are reaching maturity.
In this competitive landscape, Google, once the undisputed leader, now faces serious competition from Bing’s AI integration, ChatGPT, Perplexity and other innovative AI-driven platforms.
Impact on organic search
AI is reshaping organic search, forcing businesses to rethink their marketing strategies.
Gartner predicts a significant drop in traditional search volume by 25% by 2026, with organic search traffic expected to decrease by over 50% as consumers embrace AI-powered search.
Additionally, 79% of consumers are expected to use AI-enhanced search within the next year and 70% already trust generative AI search results.
Traditional SEO alone won’t cut it anymore. Brands must adapt by integrating GEO into their strategies to capture and retain user attention on AI-driven platforms.
Evolution in user search behavior
GEO is essential because AI-driven search is transforming how people find and consume information. Users are now starting their searches on AI platforms for information, product research and purchases.
For example, ChatGPT has over 180.5 million monthly active users, while Perplexity AI’s search volume has surged by 858% in the past year and it now has around 10 million active monthly users.
This shift shows the growing trust in AI to give accurate, personalized and relevant information quickly. As AI becomes a bigger part of our daily lives, these platforms are becoming the go-to place for people to find information.
By optimizing for AI engines, you can make sure you’re meeting users where they are and providing the high-quality, relevant content they expect. This is crucial for staying visible, engaging users and staying competitive.
