What is Generative Engine Optimisation
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of making content more visible for AI-driven search engines and other AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Gemini. The aim of GEO is to have your content appear in AI-generated answers, summaries, or other outputs.
SEO vs GEO
GEO and SEO are similar in many ways. Both practices are focused on creating relevant, credible content to answer user searches. Both practices are designed to help users find helpful information, so high-quality content is crucial. The EEAT framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) that Google uses to evaluate the quality of web content and its creators is key for both SEO and GEO.
The strategies differ in that GEO focuses on optimising content for AI engines, which produce a summary as the output. SEO, on the other hand, focuses on content for traditional search engines, which produce a ranked list of sources as the output. This means that SEO strategies are centred around keywords and backlinks, while GEO focuses on content structure.
How GEO will affect your marketing strategy
We are still learning about how GEO will impact digital marketing. Currently, two key areas where we are starting to see differences are changing user behaviour and website traffic variations.
Changing user behaviour
Before we dig into how GEO might impact your marketing strategy, it’s important first to understand how the nature of search is changing from the user’s perspective. As search engines have evolved to understand the context behind queries, users have begun to change their habits. They now search for answers to specific questions in natural language, instead of searching for information using keywords and phrases to find relevant content topics.
For example:
“How can SEO help my small business get found online”
Instead of
“SEO tips”
Website traffic variations
For some content, you may see a decline in website traffic as users get their answers straight from the SERP (search engine results page) rather than clicking links to read more. This is more likely to impact informational searches where AI can quickly summarise results. However, users will still click on this content to dig deeper or verify sources. So even though the volume of clicks may be down, it’s still important to focus on quality content in your marketing strategy.
Local SEO, focused on specific geographic areas, is unlikely to be affected. These search results will still centre around maps, reviews and real-world proximity.
How to incorporate GEO into your search strategy
To incorporate GEO into your search strategy, prioritise quality, clear, and well-structured content. As with all good content marketing strategies, focusing on your users and their needs is the most important thing.
Here are our top tips for including GEO in your content marketing:
- Create concise, impactful content. Stick to short paragraphs where possible.
- Rich, engaging content is key. Include images, visuals, and media to break up sections, and remember to include descriptive captions.
- Use AI-friendly structures to help both users and bots skim information. Use bullet points to summarise data and clear headings with logical hierarchies. (H1 to H2 to H3).
- Write for humans first. Use easy-to-read, conversational language and provide simple explanations.
- Focus on user intent. Become an educational resource by providing quality content that addresses their needs.
Is GEO going to replace SEO?
While GEO is changing the landscape of search engines, SEO is not being replaced. Instead, think of GEO as a complementary practice to SEO. While there are some differences between the two strategies, the best practices are largely similar. Content writers will need to focus on both GEO and SEO, but they actually merge really well together. The result will be clearer, more helpful content for users. It’s a win-win-win.
What’s next?
Like any digital marketing technology, AI-driven search is still progressing. We’re still learning about GEO and will continue to share more updates as we learn more. The key to keeping current is monitoring trends, staying informed, and tracking results to identify any changes.