Has GEO killed the SEO star? Get started with AI search
Gone are the days when your audience would run straight to Google (or Jeeves if it’s 2002) to answer any and all queries. Now, they’re becoming far more likely to ask ChatGPT or, at the very least, consult Google’s AI Overview instead of clicking through any websites – with 72% of people already searching using AI¹.
In fact, experts predict that search engine volume will drop as much as 25% by 2026², and LLM (large language model) traffic will overtake Google searches by the beginning of 2028³.
Scary? Maybe, if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Here, we’re going to take a closer look at why you should care about GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), where it fits with your existing search strategy, and how to get going from scratch.
Let’s start with some basics…
WTF is GEO?
GEO refers to optimising your content to make it readable, extractable, and credible enough to be cited by LLMs like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, or your other favourite AI buddies.
You might also hear people calling it AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimisation) or AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation). Tomato tomato – it’s all the same thing.
Why should you care about GEO?
This is a great question, and one that we had at So Contented at first. If AI is giving people the answer to their question directly and just citing its sources, why does it matter where it gets that information from?
Turns out it does matter… a LOT.
Between January and August 2024 alone, the revenue generated from AI-driven searches increased by 525%⁴. That means people aren’t just reading responses and going on their merry way. They’re actually clicking through and making buying decisions based on what the LLM spits out. Now things get interesting.
How does GEO fit with SEO?
It would be easy to run around panicking and wondering why you bothered to spend £££ on an SEO strategy if GEO is taking over the world. But fear not. If you’re going strong with SEO, you’re already halfway there to optimising for AI, too. This isn’t an either-or situation – you’ll need both if you want to see some serious sales and conversions. And there’s plenty of overlap between the two.
How to optimise content for AI
Now for the juicy stuff – what you can do to make your content the go-to source for LLMs.
Answer specific questions
SEO hinges on getting key search terms into your content. They’re often fairly short and sweet, and don’t usually make sense as full sentences on their own. They might be, ‘copywriter near me’ or ‘brand copywriter Leeds’.
But when people are searching using AI, they often ask specific, long-tailed questions. Like, ‘what’s the best copywriting agency in Leeds for brands in regulated industries?’. So your GEO content should answer those very specific questions your audience has to help it rank (FAQs are fantastic for this).
Answer those questions directly
You want AI models to be able to easily work out what you’re saying so they can cite you. So cut the fluff when you’re answering questions. Start with a straight answer, then elaborate afterwards if you need to. Essentially, make the robots’ lives as easy as possible.
Structure your content
This is nothing new if you’ve been following SEO best practices. Clear, well-structured content is easier to crawl, index, and cite.
That means using:
A heading hierarchy
Bullet points (oh, hi!)
Short, sharp paragraphs
FAQ schemas (your well-intentioned FAQ sections won’t have nearly as much impact without them)
You’ll also want to check in with the more technical side of things to make sure your site’s running well behind the scenes, too.
Go beyond long-form content
As much as it pains us to say it (because we love long-form content), it’s not the be-all and end-all when it comes to GEO. You’ll notice that Google’s AI Overview cites YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and even podcast transcripts in its responses now. So, if you want to increase your chances of coming up in AI-driven search, it’s time to diversify your content.
Build brand authority
In theory, AI doesn’t cite just anyone in its responses. It carefully crawls everything it can find about your brand first to make sure it’s citing an authoritative source. That means, if you want to be that source, you have to make it crystal clear who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.
Some easy ways of doing that are:
Writing authoritative, well-researched content.
Working on your brand messaging to stay clear and consistent.
Publicising your awards and achievements.
Being featured in relevant lists and directories.
Engage with your audience
As well as authority, AI tracks brand sentiment. Basically, if your brand is well-liked, it’s more likely to feature as a source in AI-driven search.
To increase the presence of positive brand sentiment, you’ll have to engage your audience and make sure they’re raving about how much they love your brand.
You could:
Encourage positive reviews
Build your community on social media
Engage with your audience in relevant forums
How to get started with GEO
There are some quick GEO wins in there, like adding specific, long-tailed search terms and double-checking your content’s structure. But some other strategies need a little more work to bring to life.
You’ll notice that AI-driven search engines are very keen on reliable, authoritative, well-liked sources. But how can you work out where you sit on that scale and what you can do to tip it in your favour?
Simple – all you have to do is ask.
Interview AI
Start by asking ChatGPT or your preferred robot overlord what it knows about your brand. Providing there’s at least some information out there, it should give you a pretty comprehensive overview of what it thinks and why.
If you like, you could ask some follow-up questions about your competitors and where it sees you ranking among them.
Fill in the gaps
Maybe the response was that you’re the best in the biz, and everything it said was totally accurate. Nice, your job’s done.
But if there were any inaccuracies or gaps, now’s the time to fill and correct. Find the places on your site where you could be clearer about what you do and amend them. Reach out to trusted customers and ask them to leave reviews. Write articles about your areas of expertise to show you know your stuff.
Once that’s done, interview your AI pal again to assess the impact.
How to measure the impact of your GEO strategy
There are fancy platforms out there that can help you closely monitor things like your visibility in AI searches, how often your brand’s mentioned in responses, and your overall brand sentiment. If you have good website analytics, you’ll also be able to track click-throughs and conversions that have come directly from AI responses, too.
The key is to experiment, track results, and figure out what works for you and your audience. Just like SEO, GEO best practices will probably never stand still, so your content will be a constant work in progress of tweaking and testing. Sounds like hard work, but it’s a small price to pay for what could be a huge payoff as AI-driven searches skyrocket.
Want some help clarifying your key messages or writing kick-ass SEO and GEO content? Drop us a line – we’d love to chat about your goals and how we can help.
www.highervisibility.com/seo/learn/how-people-search
www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-19-gartner-predicts-search-engine-volume-will-drop-25-percent-by-2026-due-to-ai-chatbots-and-other-virtual-agents
www.semrush.com/blog/ai-search-seo-traffic-study
influencermarketinghub.com/ai-seo-benchmark-report
