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5 minutes

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): A New Channel for Brands to Reach Audiences

The digital landscape is always evolving, and in recent times with the rise of generative AI we are confronted with yet another wave of new challenges and opportunities for businesses to navigate. One of them is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) - a strategy for enhancing visibility of content in AI-generated outputs and search results.

What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

GEO is an emerging discipline focused on optimising content for AI-driven platforms. Think generative AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini SGE and Perplexity. Unlike traditional search engines that rely on keyword matching and link-based algorithms, these AI models generate answers based on their training data, user queries, and context - making the approach to optimisation distinctly different.

Successful GEO aims to ensure your content is not just indexed, but also surfaced by these AI models when they generate responses to user queries. This involves crafting content that is comprehensive, authoritative and contextually relevant, as AI engines prioritise content that answers queries accurately and aligns with their programmed understanding of quality.

Benefits of GEO

So why would you worry about GEO and what can it do for your business?

  1. Nuanced and Natural Content Presentation: GEO allows content about your business to be surfaced in a more nuanced and natural way that isn’t overtly marketing. This subtlety makes it more likely that users will regard the content they see as unbiased and informative, rather than having their guard up that the content may be engineered to sell them something like they would be if it were merely a search result presented on Google.

  2. Greater Reach and Visibility: As AI usage grows, optimising for these platforms can broaden your reach, putting your brand in front of more people in places where your competition might not necessarily be appearing.

  3. Staying Ahead of Competitors: Early adoption of GEO can give businesses a competitive edge, whilst AI models are continuously trained, getting into foundational models early can give brands a leading position that their competitors have to chase.

Risks of GEO

  1. Potential for Misinformation: AI-generated content is dynamic and not something that can be manipulated in a precise way. It also makes mistakes sometimes, so there is a chance that the way it serves information about your content or your brand might not be the way you would necessarily want it to. Although, this is also a good reason to engage with GEO to help influence the outputs rather than rely on the AI tools doing so without any “direction”.

  2. Risk of User Disconnection: A key risk of GEO is that users might get all their answers directly from AI without ever needing to engage with your organisation. This could reduce direct interactions, making it crucial for GEO strategies to focus on enhancing brand visibility and reputation to ensure users are more likely to trust and seek out your products or services.

  3. Ethical Concerns: The use of AI does raise some ethical questions, including issues around data privacy and the potential biases in AI algorithms. As Dr. Safiya Noble, a UCLA professor and author of Algorithms of Oppression, notes, "AI systems can replicate and even exacerbate existing biases if not carefully managed".

A Practical Example of GEO in Action

A simple example of how GEO might work is when an AI chatbot like ChatGPT is asked to recommend the best product or service. For instance, if you ask ChatGPT to tell you what the best photo editing platform is it will recommend Adobe Photoshop.

Obviously, GEO is similar to SEO in some ways, notably the way larger brands with more content and references across the web will always have a higher chance of being surfaced for broad based queries. That said, there are a lot of differences in the way you approach ranking in GEO compared to SEO.

GEO vs. SEO: Understanding the Differences

While GEO and traditional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) share the goal of enhancing content visibility, they differ significantly in their methods and focus areas:

  • Focus of Optimisation: Traditional SEO targets keyword relevance, content quality, backlinks, and meta information to improve rankings on search engines like Google. GEO, on the other hand, focuses on content authority, relevance, and the ability to directly answer queries, optimising for AI-driven search engines.

  • Keyword Strategy: SEO emphasises keyword research and placement to match user searches, while GEO leverages natural language processing (NLP) to understand the context of queries, reducing the emphasis on specific keywords.

  • Content Creation: SEO often drives content creation based on keyword targeting and SEO metrics. GEO, however, prioritises content that answers user queries in a conversational and authoritative manner.

  • Technology Utilisation: SEO utilises analytics and tools to track rankings, backlinks and keyword performance, whereas at the moment GEO is in its early phase and tracking success is a manual process.

Techniques for Boosting GEO Performance

GEO is a new discipline and achieving results takes time and effort given the nuanced complexities of generative AI. There are some basic things you can start to think about to enhance your website's GEO performance, such as:

  1. Quotation Addition: Incorporate credible quotes from authoritative sources to improve the perceived authority of your content.

  2. Statistics Addition: Include relevant, quantitative statistics to boost your content's credibility and visibility, especially in data-driven domains like law and finance.

  3. Cite Sources: Ensure your content includes citations from reliable sources, which can enhance credibility and increase visibility.

  4. Fluency Optimisation: Improve the readability and fluency of your content. AI models prefer well-presented information, leading to better visibility.

  5. Simplified Language: Use clear and accessible language to ensure your content is easily digestible, which should not only help GEO but also help user engagement.

Where to From Here?

Generative Engine Optimisation is an emerging strategy for marketers and that represents opportunities for businesses to reach audiences through a new channel, that will only grow in its reach. By embracing GEO early, businesses have an opportunity to embed their brand in AI models knowledge repositories before their competitors, getting ahead of the curve as consumer behaviour continues to evolve through the growing influence of consumer-facing generative AI tools and assistants.

If you are interested in understanding more about GEO and how your business might go about developing your GEO strategy, then contact our team for an introductory chat.