Remember when everyone thought SEO was dead? Cute. Turns out, it just got a new best friend-slash-competitor: GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation).
If SEO is about wooing Google, GEO is about impressing the new cool kids on the block, aka AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. Ignore it, and your brand risks fading into digital oblivion faster than you get hit with a “404 page not found.”
But don’t panic, because this isn’t about choosing sides. It’s also not about breaking up with SEO. It’s about learning how SEO and GEO work together so your brand stays visible whether someone’s typing into Google or chatting with an AI.
What is GEO?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is the fresh-faced younger sibling of SEO. Where SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is all about optimising for search engines, GEO is about optimising for AI-powered search.
Instead of keywords and backlinks being the stars of the show, GEO is obsessed with:
- Entities: Not just words, but whole concepts. This means your brand, your product, your location, your whole vibe.
- Answers: GEO doesn’t care about clicks. It cares about being the answer inside an AI chat.
- Trust: While SEO leans on backlinks, GEO leans on clarity, reliability, and whether your content looks trustworthy enough to be cited.
SEO vs GEO: Same same, but different
Think of SEO and GEO as two different stages:
- SEO is the spotlight on your website, helping people click through.
- GEO is the cameo appearance in someone else’s show (AI-generated answers) helping people remember you.
Neither cancels the other out. You still need SEO to rank and drive traffic (aka to be seen online in the first place), and to know what people are actually searching for (yes, I do still love keyword research, sue me). SEO can elevate your brand presence like nothing else, and if you run a location-based business that relies heavily on Google maps content, you better be on the SEO train.
But GEO ensures you show up when AI systems are serving instant answers.
And with AI replacing Google for many, this is pretty much as important as it gets.
GEO isn’t just a buzzword, and it’s actually a great time
Here’s the thing: more people are asking questions to AI tools instead of Google. That means if your content isn’t optimised for AI, you could miss out on visibility. This doesn’t mean re-inventing your website. It means:
Structuring your content so it’s clear and easy for AI to “read” and understand.
Writing with depth and context, not just surface-level keywords.
Thinking beyond clicks to mentions, citations, and being the trusted source.
What I love most about GEO is that it cares. Well, as much as any robot can, but we’ve all been won over by Wall-E, right? Whereas SEO can be a little bit snobbish, only allowing sites with the most traffic and the highest SERP rankings to sit with it, GEO is more inclusive.
It cares about what you say and why. It wants to read your content, and it wants to understand your ideas. It’s less preoccupied with page load times and metadata, and more interested in the quality, credibility, and originality of your content.
Why? Because it wants to provide trustworthy and insightful responses to AI users. It wants to recommend the best brand or product for their exact needs. And that’s a huge win, because it allows us to get back to real, meaningful, audience-driven content and marketing.
The “zero-click” mindset shift
In traditional SEO, “zero-click results” (where users get the answer without clicking your site) felt like a loss. It was always a constant battle:
“Hey, we just ranked number 1 on Google for this query!”
“Well, why hasn’t traffic increased?”
“...because people already got their answers on the SERP. Oh well, back to square one.”
In GEO, however, zero-click is the whole point. If ChatGPT drops your brand name in an answer – even if the user never visits your site – you’ve won. Music to your ears, too? It’s a win because you’re in their head, influencing the decision before they even Google you.
While, yes, it’s obviously best for users to click into your site and browse (especially if you’re an e-comm site), GEO means that it’s not the end of the world if they don’t.
But don’t break up with SEO just yet
Here’s the plot twist: SEO still matters. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a trained SEO copywriter and disputing that could put me out of business.
*Laughs nervously*
The truth is, Google’s not going anywhere. It would be silly to think otherwise. Billions of searches still start there daily. Heck, I still use Google for almost everything, and pretty much everyone I know does, too.
Technical SEO (site speed, mobile optimisation, etc.) keeps your website functional and user-friendly. It remains the non-negotiable foundation of any good site, and, by extension, any good brand.
Keywords may not be the only game in town, but they’re still a big piece of the puzzle and provide the perfect jumping off point for content topics, audience interests, even shaping new products.
And I'll never not recommend cluster blog strategies as the cornerstone of your SEO success. This is the way your blogs are created and organised, clustered around key topics (or pillar pages) with lots of off-shoots into more specific iterations of each topic. Cluster blog content almost straddles both SEO and GEO, now that I think about it – its goal is to be read and understood semantically, which both modern SEO and GEO love.
The bottom line: If GEO is about getting cited by AI, SEO is about making sure your site is worth citing in the first place.
GEO + SEO = power couple
They’re the Taylor and Travis of the search engine world. Here’s how to think about it:
- SEO builds your house. It’s the foundation, structure, and curb appeal.
- GEO is how you get invited into conversations around town. It’s your reputation, your word-of-mouth, your “oh, I’ve heard of them.”
You need both. A house no one’s talking about? Invisible. A reputation with nothing behind it? Flimsy.
Where to start with GEO content
If you want to future-proof your content strategy and get the edge over your competition, start here:
- Audit your current content. Is it clear, well-structured and detailed enough that an AI could “understand” it?
- Focus on entities, not just keywords. Don’t just say what you do – explain who you are, who you help, and why you matter.
- Maintain strong SEO foundations. Fast, mobile-friendly sites with solid on-page SEO still win.
- Track mentions, not just clicks. Success in GEO-land is about being cited, referenced and trusted.
Where to from here? Don’t stress, just evolve
SEO isn’t dead, and GEO isn’t just hype. Together, they form the new playbook for visibility in a world where people are just as likely to ask ChatGPT a question as they are to Google it.
So, no need to burn your SEO guides. Just expand your toolkit. Because the future of search isn’t either/or – it’s both.
Struggling to keep up with SEO while trying to figure out this whole GEO thing? That’s where I come in.
As an experienced SEO and GEO content writer, I create targeted strategies and content that help your brand show up, get cited, and stay trusted by both Google and AI.
Let’s make sure your business isn’t invisible in the future of search. Drop me a line to get started.