WTAF is GEO, and where’s it going?

It was nearly 30 years ago that search engine optimisation (SEO) started taking the world by storm. Cynics probably thought it was internet wokeness gone mad, and now look at us, we can’t get enough of fighting for the top spot on Google. 

Now that we’re all so obsessed with AI, it felt inevitable that generative engine optimisation was going to come along. According to McKinsey, 65% of organisations are already using generative AI platforms in some form. Your content may already be being pushed through AI results without any optimisation on your part. Imagine what you could do if you added this optimisation to your wider SEO and search strategy. 

Do we think it’s going to dethrone SEO? Ask anyone working in marketing and you’ll probably get a different answer every time. 

For us though, we’re not sure it’s going to be as instant as some people would make out. But we do think it’s going to change the landscape of SEO, for sure. 

Wider brand awareness opportunities 

More chances for your brand to be seen and trusted? Result. 

GEO takes a lot more notice of social media channels and forums (like Reddit and Quora) than historical SEO has done. 

There’s pros and cons to this. 

Pro: Your chances of getting picked up in search results just got way higher, especially if you use your social channels in a smart way.

Con: If AI crawls a forum, for instance, it could push incorrect results in a search. Just because ‘Sharon-from-down-the-road’ has an opinion she’s shared about your brand on a forum, doesn’t mean you want AI to push it to search users. 

Positioning power 

This combination of SEO and GEO is going to give your brand real positioning power. 

Whether your strategy is more SEO-heavy or vice versa, or a blend of the two, the consensus is that high-quality copy is what prevails. 

Anything that shows users you’re the go-to source of knowledge is going to help - regardless of whether you want to be found on AI platforms or more traditional search engines. 

A good mixture of long form keyword-focused gives you SEO power, while question and answer content such as FAQs are prime GEO fodder. This question and answer format works so well for AI because it loves simple, often quite literal answers (otherwise known as ‘mutual information’). Sure, it might not make for the most flowery copy you’ve ever read, but it’s going to get you found. 

In other words, there’s plenty to go at here to make sure your brand is fully optimised for search, regardless of the engine. 

We’re excited to see how the increasing GEO focus changes the way brands get seen and heard online. 

If you want to take your copy from ‘blah’ to copy that helps you show up on search, get in touch now.