WhatisGenerativeEngineOptimisation(GEO)?

For years, we’ve been optimising content for search engines—tweaking keywords, building backlinks, and doing all sorts of improvements to make sure our clients websites rank higher on Google or Bing. But GEO shifts the focus from traditional search engines to generative AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and others.

What Is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

So what exactly is GEO? At its core, it’s about making sure that when people ask questions to AI engines, the answers they get include your content. It’s not just about being found; it’s about being the source. In the age of AI, where machines generate responses based on vast amounts of data, being part of that data means you become part of the conversation.

Think about it this way: when someone asks a generative AI engine for advice on a topic you know well, wouldn’t it be great if the AI cited your work or included your insights in its response? That’s what GEO aims to achieve. It’s about optimising your content so that AI models recognise it as authoritative and include it in their outputs.

How GEO Differs from Traditional SEO

The difference between GEO and traditional SEO is subtle but significant. SEO is about making your content more visible to search engines by using keywords, meta tags, and other technical tweaks. GEO, on the other hand, is about making your content more appealing to AI models that generate answers based on patterns and data they’ve been trained on.

One study from researchers at Princeton, Georgia Tech, and other institutions delved into how we can influence AI outputs through GEO. They experimented with different strategies to see which ones made AI models more likely to include specific content in their responses. Interestingly, they found that simple keyword stuffing didn’t do much. Instead, adding quotations, statistics, and citations from reputable sources had a significant impact.

“they found that simple keyword stuffing didn’t do much. Instead, adding quotations, statistics, and citations from reputable sources had a significant impact.” "

This makes sense when you think about how AI models work. They’re designed to generate human-like text based on patterns they’ve learned from large datasets. If your content includes well-structured information, backed by data and credible sources, it’s more likely to be picked up by these models.

Why GEO Matters in Today’s Digital Landscape

But why should we care about GEO? Well, as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, the way people find information is changing. Instead of typing keywords into a search engine, more and more people are asking questions directly to AI assistants.

If your content isn’t optimised for these generative engines, you likely will miss out on reaching a significant portion of your audience.

Effective Strategies for Generative Engine Optimisation

So how do you optimize for GEO? The strategies aren’t entirely new; in fact, they overlap quite a bit with good content practices we’ve known for years. Here are some key points:

1. Establish Expertise and Credibility: Create in-depth content that thoroughly covers your area of expertise. Include relevant statistics, data, and citations from reputable sources. This not only helps with GEO but also builds trust with your human readers.
2. Optimize Content Structure and Quality: Use clear headings, subheadings, and logical organisation. AI models appreciate well-structured content because it’s easier to parse and understand.
3. Enhance Technical SEO and User Experience: While GEO is distinct from SEO, technical factors like site speed and mobile-friendliness still matter. A good user experience benefits everyone, including AI models.
4. Build Authority Through External Validation: Acquire high-quality backlinks from reputable sources. Engage with your audience through comments and discussions. The more recognised you are in your field, the more likely AI models will consider your content authoritative.
5. Optimize for AI-Specific Factors: Write in a natural, conversational tone. Anticipate user questions and provide clear, direct answers. Use topic clusters by interlinking related content to demonstrate depth on a subject.

Leveraging Multiple Platforms for GEO

It’s also worth noting that distributing your content across various platforms can help. AI models don’t just pull from websites; they also look at data from social media, forums, and other online communities. By sharing your content on platforms like Reddit or Quora, you increase the chances of it being included in AI training data.

Some critics argue that GEO is just a buzzword or that it’s not fundamentally different from SEO. And yes, there’s some overlap. Good content is good content, whether it’s for humans, search engines, or AI models. But the key distinction lies in understanding how AI generates responses and tailoring your content accordingly.

For example, the study I mentioned earlier evaluated nine factors to see which had the most impact on AI visibility. They found that adding quotations and statistics significantly improved results, while keyword stuffing did not. This suggests that AI models value content that provides concrete, verifiable information over content that’s merely optimised for keywords.

In practice, this means that if you’re writing about, say, the benefits of a new technology, including actual data and quotes from experts will make your content more appealing to AI models. It’s not about gaming the system but about providing real value - kinder of how it always has been to an extent.

Tailoring GEO Strategies to User Intent

Another interesting point from the study is the idea of intent-specific optimisation. Depending on whether a user’s query is informational, navigational, or transactional, different optimisation strategies are more effective. For informational queries, adding citations and statistics helps. For transactional queries, clear calls to action are important.

“Depending on whether a user’s query is informational, navigational, or transactional, different optimisation strategies are more effective. For informational queries, adding citations and statistics helps. For transactional queries, clear calls to action are important.”"

So where does this leave us? Should you start overhauling your content strategies to focus on GEO? I think the answer is both yes and no. Yes, we should be aware of how AI models interact with our content and make sure we’re providing the kind of rich, detailed information they favour. But no, we shouldn’t throw out everything we’ve learned about good content practices. After all, what’s good for AI models is often good for human readers too.

The rise of generative AI engines is just another step in the evolution of how we access information. From libraries to search engines to AI assistants, each shift has changed the way we need to think about content. GEO is simply the latest adaptation.

In essence, GEO is about embracing the future without forgetting the fundamentals. It’s not a radical departure from what is required by SEO, but adapting those strategies to cover the requirements for GEO.

The Future of GEO in Content Strategy

Will GEO become as big a deal as SEO? It’s hard to say. But given the increasing role of AI in everything, it’s certainly something worth paying attention to. Those who focus on these core principles will be the ones who stand out—both to their audiences and to the AI engines that help deliver their messages.