GEO is real and
it’s coming for your
SEO strategy faster
than you think.

Generative Engine Optimization isn’t a buzzword. It’s the next fundamental shift in how brands get found — by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, and whatever comes next. Here’s what we’re actually doing about it.

For the past decade, SEO meant one thing: get Google to rank your pages higher. Create content, earn backlinks, optimize technical infrastructure, and climb the SERP. It was a clear game with clear rules.

That game is changing faster than most brands have noticed. The interface between users and information is shifting from “here are ten blue links” to “here is the answer.” And the sources that feed those answers aren’t just traditional search indexes.

What GEO actually means

Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of making your brand the answer that AI systems surface when users ask questions in your category. When someone asks ChatGPT “what’s the best plant-based protein powder?” or asks Perplexity “which marketing agencies specialize in CPG brands?” — the answer they get is being shaped right now, by decisions brands are or aren’t making.

The good news: the brands that act early have a meaningful first-mover advantage. The bad news: most brands aren’t acting at all, because GEO doesn’t show up in their existing dashboards.

How it’s different from traditional SEO

Traditional SEO optimizes for document relevance — getting Google to understand that your page is the most relevant result for a given query. GEO optimizes for model familiarity — getting AI systems to associate your brand with authority, credibility, and specific topical expertise.

That requires a different kind of content strategy. Not keyword-stuffed pages targeting thin queries, but genuinely useful, clearly attributed, factually specific content that establishes your brand as a trustworthy source that AI systems want to cite.

It also requires thinking about where your brand is mentioned across the web — not just on your own site. AI models are trained on the breadth of the internet. Mentions in industry publications, third-party reviews, forums, and credible directories all feed the model’s understanding of what your brand stands for and how trustworthy it is.

What we’re doing for clients today

We’ve started incorporating GEO considerations into our organic and content strategy work. That means auditing how clients currently appear (or don’t appear) in AI-generated responses, identifying the topical authority gaps that prevent AI systems from citing them, and building content strategies that address both traditional search and generative engines simultaneously.

It also means rethinking how we structure client content — favoring clear, citable, factually dense writing over the keyword-heavy formats that dominated the last decade of SEO content.

This is early days. The signals are still developing and the platforms are still evolving. But the brands that wait until GEO is “proven” will spend the next two years trying to catch up to the brands that started now.