What’s Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) & How To Do It

Since ChatGPT became mainstream, there have been speculations about people opting for it over Google as they no longer have to go through the hassle of scrolling through multiple search results pages to find their desired information. Now, these speculations have transformed into reality with the introduction of AI-driven search engines like Perplexity.ai and You.com.

These search engines use AI to generate precise and personalized search results for each individual user. Seeing this, Google also introduced AI Overview, which is a section above the organic SERPs that provides a summary of the top results for a particular query.

But what does this mean for traditional search engine optimization (SEO)? Well, it has branched into a new subcategory called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), which is basically SEO but for AI search results.

At Influencer Marketing Hub, we've noticed that these search engines have seen a 525% surge in revenue generation since the beginning of 2024, which is something we've covered in more details in our AI SEO Benchmark Report. We've also explained how GEO will be a must-have skill for marketers in the coming years.

So, let's take a detailed look into GEO and how you can use it to optimize your website for AI citations.

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

Generative engine optimization (GEO) means optimizing your content to appear in AI-generated responses. That's its simplest definition.

However, if you go into detail, GEO is now a branch of its own, quite like SEO. The algorithms behind AI-driven search engines are different from traditional algorithms; therefore, the techniques and strategies used in GEO are also unique.

Also, SEO isn't merely based on how helpful your content is. It also takes other factors like keywords, user experience, page load speed, backlinks, and visuals into account. SEO-based search engines display ranked links based on their content's authority and relevance.

Meanwhile, AI models mainly consider the content's relevance, regardless of its authority or popularity. They provide a comprehensive answer based on the user's intent.

How Generative Engines Show Results

To ace GEO, you first need to understand how large language models (LLMs) work. Only then you can optimize your content for them.

The good news is that researchers from Georgia Tech, IIT Delhi, Princeton University, and Allen Institute for AI got together to observe which GEO techniques boost content visibility. They tested nine optimization techniques across a range of knowledge domains, such as history and legal, on Perplexity.ai and Bing Chat.

In this research, they discovered that generative engines comprise two components:

• Generative Models: Each model serves a purpose, such as summarization or query reformulation.
• Search Engine: A search engine that returns results via models by understanding the user's query in a conversational format.

The nine techniques they tested with generative engines were citing sources, adding quotations, making the content easy to understand, optimizing fluency, adding unique words, adding technical terms, adding statistics, optimizing keywords, and making the writing style more authoritative.

They found that generative engines are most likely to show content that:

• Cites sources
• Is authoritative 
• Has statistics

Study results

Making your content easy to understand or more fluent also increases visibility by 15% to 30%. Interestingly, keyword optimization did not have a significant impact on content visibility. In fact, keyword-optimized content performed worse than the baseline content by 10%.

The researchers revealed that

"the application of GEO methods presents an opportunity for these small content creators to significantly improve their visibility in Generative Engine responses."

These results show that, unlike SEO, where keywords are all-important, GEO techniques rely more on the overall quality and context of the content. 

Moving forward, as digital marketing evolves to include more conversational search platforms, businesses will have to adapt their content to this new form of optimization. Otherwise, they will not only go down in SERPs but also lose out on a ton of revenue. 

Trishla Ostwal, an AI and tech writer for Adweek, reported that generative AI can reduce publishers’ organic search traffic by 20% to 60%, which can result in an ad revenue loss of a staggering $2 billion per year. Businesses need to start dabbling in GEO right now to avoid this fate in the future. 

New: Google's genAI search has sent publishers scrambling to prepare for a significant disruption in organic search traffic, ranging from 20% to 60%, according to sources. This translates to a $2B annual ad revenue loss.

https://t.co/ScsLPozT3Y via @Adweek

— Trishla Ostwal (@trishlaostwal) March 13, 2024

Why GEO Isn't Just Another SEO Trend

GEO is one of those AI trends that's going to last, considering the top players like Google and Bing have already implemented generative engines into their search algorithms. In fact, an X user found that Google's generative search also features content from Perplexity.ai, which is another generative engine. That further seals the deal on the significance of GEO.

So...Google generative search is featuring content from @perplexity_ai ? It's so over (for google). pic.twitter.com/f11kclUVgj

— Sparky (@Sparky_Zivin) October 16, 2024

Another reason GEO is likely to stay is that generative engines are just way too helpful. They eliminate the need for people to use additional websites or online services to get the information they need.

For example, with Google's generative AI, people can find code they'd previously have to search for on StackOverflow. As user interest increases, so will the popularity of generative engines and, ultimately, the need for GEO practices.

Google's new generative AI search is amazing! RIP StackOverflow 🙁 I find it easier to use than ChatGPT as it is readily available in Chrome search tab and I can always go to search results if I want. pic.twitter.com/yFWOE98YnP

— Karthik Ramasamy (@_cartick) June 12, 2023

These search engines aren't as keyword-centric as they used to be. With voice search becoming increasingly popular, search engines now prioritize content that is conversational and easy to understand. As a result, generative engines show results that can be easily read out by digital assistants like Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri.

How GEO Compares to SEO 

The main goal of SEO is to rank higher on search engines. For that, you'd include relevant keywords in your content, get backlinks from high-authority websites, include meta descriptions, work on technical SEO, and so on.

However, with GEO, rankings aren't the main focus. Instead, it's about creating content that is contextually rich. The outputs of generative engines cater to user intent rather than how authoritative a website may be. They understand what the user is actually looking for and show results that offer the best answer.

In this context, it would be wrong to say that keywords don't matter at all. They do. However, over-optimization won't get you the results that it used to before. Instead, long-tail and question-based keywords that align with user intent will have a greater impact on visibility in generative engines.

The content structure also differs across SEO and GEO. With SEO, your content is structured around specific keywords and phrases. However, for GEO, your main goal should be to focus on clarity and conciseness.

It's not a coincidence that most generative engines seem to love bullet points. Bullets are easier to read and understand, which is why they are often featured in the top results in generative engines.

As we've explained above, generative engines have certain models with different purposes. One of these purposes is summarization since AI search engines offer a concise overview of the main points in an article. When creating content for GEO, you should structure it in a way that's easy for AI to understand and summarize.

For example, we searched for "how to create a budget for a college student" on Google and Perplexity.ai. Google didn't have an AI Overview or a featured snippet for the results.

The top result was a .gov site, and the second was a website with over 200k ranking keywords. That's purely SEO.

Google search results

While Perplexity.ai took some information from the top results, it also showed us data from a website that wasn't on the first page. The site's information was presented so concisely yet informatively that it was picked up by AI. That's what the crux of GEO is: clarity and conciseness while still providing valuable information.

Perplexity.ai search results

GEO also involves a heavy focus on user intent. While SEO prioritizes driving clicks through metadata and headline optimization, GEO directly addresses the user's questions and needs. For example, for our query above, most SEO results will first explain the importance of creating a budget and other information, while Perplexity.ai's AI Overview will directly state the steps to create a budget. 

Perplexity.ai search results

How to Set Up GEO for Success

Whether it's Google search generative experience optimization or any other generative engine, you need to first familiarize yourself with how the general model works to set up your GEO process. In the study we've discussed above, the researchers revealed that generative engines go for content that cites sources and statistics and is authoritatively written.

Since AI engines show you concise and straightforward answers, it makes sense that if you want to optimize your content for GEO, it should also be written that way. Sure, you can add details and explanations, but your content should be easy to summarize into a few key points.

Similarly, structured data and semantic markup further help generative engines understand the context and relevance of your content. For example, if you have a recipe website, using structured data to mark up your ingredients and cooking instructions will increase the chances of generative engines picking up your content for recipe-related queries.

Don't forget all about keywords. Change your approach, though. Use long-tail and conversational keywords in your content since generative engines focus on understanding human intent and natural language. For example, instead of ''best teenage cars,'' use ''what are the best cars for teenagers?''

Again, going back to the study earlier, authoritativeness is a must-have in your content. Google's E-E-A-T guidelines should be your basis for creating content for generative engines, too. Add sources, statistics, quotes, and persuasive arguments to increase your content's credibility for generative engines.

Together, when you combine concise and structured content with authoritative sources and relevant keywords, you create an optimized environment for generative engines to pick up your content and serve it to users. For example, we searched for the query ''what are the types of social media influencers'' on several generative engines.

Perplexity.ai Results

Perplexity based its answer on the structure we've used in our article on the types of social media influencers. It also used our article as a source of the content. As evident, the generative engine's answer is quite concise but gets the point across.  

Perplexity.ai results

AndiSearch Results

AndiSearch, another AI search engine, listed our article as the first source in its answer for the same query. It also pulled out key information from our article and presented it in a straightforward manner. What made our article so appealing for generative engines is that we presented the information in a concise manner for readers who wanted a quick scan.

AndiSearch results

Even though we have gone into detail about what each type of influencer characterizes, the numbering and bullets in our article made it easier for generative engines to organize and present the information.

Google Gemini Answers

Although Google Gemini doesn't show sources, it uses the same structure as other generative engines, first categorizing influencers by follower count and then niche type.

Google Gemini results

These results indicate that all generative engines have almost the same underlying mechanism. When you optimize your content for one engine, you are indirectly optimizing it for others, too. 

The common denominator between all these engines is that they show concise, bulleted results. So, you should try to create content that's either already in this format or can be easily transformed into it. 

Easy Steps to Start Implementing GEO Today

Now that you have some understanding of search generative experience optimization, you can start implementing GEO in your own website. Before you start, audit your current content to determine if it's suitable for generative engine results. Here are some things to look at:

• Conciseness and relevance of your content
• Use of long-tail and conversational keywords
• Incorporation of sources and statistics
• The content's ability to be summarized into a comprehensive answer

Focus on whichever element you think is missing from your content to make it more GEO-friendly. Let's say you were previously using shorter keywords since that worked for SEO. Now, shift to long-tail keywords, especially ones that are questions.

You can use an AI tool such as Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to find long-tail keywords. Search for your seed keyword, and it will give you a list of variations and related long-tail keywords.

Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

In the Keyword Overview section, you can see the question-based keywords people are using. Try to use more of them in your content so that AI engines pick up your content when people use voice search to ask full questions rather than typing short-tail keywords.

Source: semrush.com

Semrush's AI makes it easy to find the keywords that will be best for your website. If you enter your domain, the AI will show you a personalized keyword difficulty percentage, which is the difficulty you'll face in ranking for that specific keyword. Focus on keywords with a lower difficulty percentage to increase your chances of being featured in GEO results.

It helps even further that Semrush is a GEO-specific tool with its new AI Overview-tracking feature. In the Organic Research tool, you can see which queries trigger AI Overviews. You can then use these keywords in your content to increase the likelihood of being picked up by AI.

Source: linkedin.com

Before you do that, you can even check your website's position in AI Overviews. In the Position Tracking tool, start a new project for your website and select AI Overviews in the SERP features. It will show you the keywords from your site that rank in AI Overviews.

Source: semrush.com

Go to the pages using these keywords and notice how the content is structured and formatted. Look for patterns and try to replicate them in your other content. If your content involves a lot of non-paragraph elements, create schema markup to help AI engines contextualize your content and display it in their search results. 

GEO Best Practices for Engaging AI-Driven Engines

The following best practices will help you increase your site's visibility in AI-driven search engines.

Understand Your Target Audience's Questions

We've already emphasized that AI-driven engines consider user intent in answer formulation. As a result, a new form of SEO has emerged, which experts are calling answer engine optimization (AEO). Basically, it refers to content optimization to answer user questions or queries phrased as questions, which are becoming increasingly common due to the popularity of generative engines and voice search. So, you should tailor your content around your audience's questions rather than general keywords.

Don't guess what your audience's questions are; use tools like Keyword Magic Tool to confirm user intent. The tool shows you intent for every keyword, allowing you to create content that meets this content and addresses the audience's questions.

Semrush has also introduced AI Overview reports in this tool. In the Advanced Filters section, go to SERP Features and then select AI Overview. The tool will then show you the keywords that trigger AI-driven snippets in the SERPs. Use these keywords in your content.

Source: semrush.com

Ideally, you want to look at four things when creating a keyword master list:

• Long-tail Queries: These are longer and specific keyword phrases that define user intent.
• Semantic Keywords: These are variations or related terms to your main keyword that add context to your content.
• Entities: An entity may be a thing, place, person, or concept that is important to your content. It helps AI engines categorize your content and understand its context.
• Contextual Relevance: These encompass phrases that people use in natural discussions when they discuss a topic.

Take the phrase ''content marketing strategies.'' For SEO, this is good enough. But for GEO, you can change it to fit the four types of queries:

• Long-tail Queries: best content marketing strategies for 2024, what are the top content marketing strategies for small businesses
• Semantic Keywords: content marketing techniques, content creation strategies, social media content marketing strategies
• Entities: social media content, paid content, inbound marketing, email marketing
• Contextual Relevance: reach your target audience, drive conversions, increase website traffic

It's these keywords that will provide more information to a generative engine about your content and enable it to reference it when generating results.

Build Content in Q&A or Modular Format

As you've seen in the AI-generated responses above, the content is usually presented in bullets due to their easy digestibility. Do the same when you're writing content.

Opt for question-based headings to frame your content into a Q&A format. For example, instead of the "benefits of content marketing" heading, try "What are the benefits of using content marketing?" Further, break down your content into smaller headings, with each one discussing a specific aspect of the topic. This helps AI search engines quickly scan and select different sections of your content.

For example, we gave Perplexity.ai a simple query: what is the Pomodoro technique?

Perplexity.ai result

The first source that the generative engine used was the Pomodoro Technique. Upon going to their web page, we saw that they had answered everything about the technique in a modular format.

Pomodoro web page

The same was true for Study.com, another source Perplexity had used. With every section of their page dedicated to one question, it was easy for the AI engine to parse information and present it in its response.

Source: study.com

Utilize Engaging Language with Embedded Authority Cues

One thing we've noticed in all AI responses is that they're in very simple and engaging language. After all, that's what draws in readers. You should replicate this tone in your content, too.

However, that doesn't mean oversimplifying information. Where needed, add authoritative sources and statistics to prove your point. If you have any self-conducted study or data, include that in your content, as it makes your claim more authoritative.

In the Princeton University research earlier, we explained that citations and resources make the content seem more credible to generative models. So, you should include a reference or resource for any claim you make. Similarly, if you share a tip or recommendation, include a case study to prove that it works.

When recommending a tool or platform to readers, explain its usage. For example, in our article on AI SEO tips, we explain (with screenshots) how Semrush helps improve different aspects of SEO. Every claim we make is supported by examples and case studies to add authoritativeness to our content. If you can find relevant quotes from industry experts, make them a part of your content, too.

Regularly Update Content

Just like regular search engines, AI generative search engines are also likely to evolve in the future. Their algorithms may change over time, and so will the kind of results they generate.

You should go through your content regularly and update it for the latest information. Since generative engines, unlike ChatGPT, take results from real-time sources rather than their training datasets, your content should be up to date to be chosen by these engines.

For example, ''best content marketing strategies for 2024'' is a great long-tail keyword. But what happens when 2025 comes and your article is still titled "Best content marketing strategies for 2024"? Your article loses relevance since people are now using AI generative engines to search for the best strategies in 2025.

Even if your content is excellent, AI engines will pick results focused on 2025 since they cater to user intent. Besides updating the content body, you should also update keywords, as people's queries may change over time.

Semrush's AI Overview feature can help you stay updated on which keywords are currently ranking in AI Overviews. You can then see if your content includes or addresses these keywords. If not, update your content accordingly. 

How to Measure GEO Success

Since GEO is still relatively new, measuring your success in generative engine results isn't as clear-cut as SEO analytics. However, there are still a few methods you can use.

Tracking Visibility in Generative AI Engines

The simplest way to track your site's visibility in generative AI engines would be to search for your main keywords and see if your site pops up in the results. However, this isn't the most efficient method. It also takes a lot of time.

Instead, you can use a dedicated tool to see if your content's visibility in the AI search results has increased after making changes to your site. Semrush's Overview tab in Domain Overview is a good example of such a tool. It shows you the percentage of keywords a domain ranks for in Google's AI Overviews.

SERP features in Semrush

You can use this tool to check if there has been a change in your content's visibility after GEO implementation. For the full report, go to the Organic Research Overview tab, where you will see the number of keywords from your website that rank in AI Overviews. To see which keywords rank in AI Overviews, go to the Positions tab and filter SERP features by AI Overview.

Organic research AI Overviews

You will see the traffic these keywords generate, giving you an idea of how much of an impact GEO has on your site's overall traffic. Keep monitoring this data as you make adjustments to your content to gauge if your strategies are working.

Key Metrics for GEO

Unlike SEO, in which you analyze your whole website, for GEO, you should specifically look at pages that are referenced in AI Overviews or other AI search engines. Measure metrics like unique visitors, unique page views, engagement, interactions, and time spent to see if coming up in generative results has brought in more quality traffic.

Semrush's Traffic Analytics tool can help you measure engagement metrics like unique visitors, number of visits, average visit duration, and bounce rate. You can also see the top pages which get the most traffic. If these pages appear in AI Overviews, then you can attribute the increase in traffic to GEO efforts.

Traffic analytics in Semrush

Besides engagement, also consider the conversion rate. For example, if one of your lead generation pages is shown in AI Overviews, you can track the number of conversions generated from that page after implementing GEO. This will help you measure the monetary impact of GEO on your website.

Use of AI Feedback for Continuous Optimization

A bit of manual work can also help you monitor your GEO success and ensure its longevity. If your content is not currently being shown in generative engines, analyze the content that is. Most AI search engines provide links for their sources. Go to these pages and see how they have written and structured their content.

Use these insights to adjust your own content. For example, if you notice that most generative AI results for the keywords you're using contain modular content with headings and subheadings, restructure your content to match this format. Similarly, use the keywords your competitors are using.

Just as explained earlier, you can use the same Semrush features to analyze your competitors' sites for ranking in AI Overview, too. Conduct a Domain Overview to see how many keywords they rank for and then check the pages ranking for those keywords in AI Overview. This can help you identify potential areas for improvement and optimization in your own content. 

Optimizing for Future AI-Driven Search Engines

Going forward, generative search engines will become an inevitable part of the search landscape. Instead of trying to avoid them, it's best to adapt to them. For brands, this means optimizing their content and websites for generative search engines.

In an X post, Barry Schwartz, the contributing editor to Search Engine Land and a popular SEO influencer, showed how when he searched for ''iPhone'' on Google, almost the entire first page was taken by generative answers.

Google Search with generative AI throughout the search results, things to know featured snippets, etc https://t.co/SPCzrkoOx2 via @SachuPatel53124 pic.twitter.com/FXBDBBZr4i

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) October 21, 2024

For brands, this could be both good and bad news. The good news is that Google's first page could act as your brand's home page as a commenter on the post mentioned. The bad news, however, is that you'll have to optimize twice as hard to appear in organic results since generative AI results take up the top spot, pushing organic SERPs down.

In this scenario, the best approach is to create a hybrid strategy that accounts for both SEO and GEO. Sure, you want to appear in AI-generated responses, but you can't downplay the importance of traditional SEO tactics to appear in organic search results.

Go for SEO best practices where they seem relevant and GEO tactics where they do. For example, in the keyword department, both GEO and voice search optimization point toward the benefits of long-tail and conversational keywords. So, focus on that. Similarly, focus on SEO-related practices like backlink-building and technical SEO optimization.

With the blend of both SEO and GEO, you can appear in both organic and generative search results. This way, your brand will have a better chance of appearing in front of potential customers, regardless of the type of search engine they use.

The GEOgraphic Shift to AI Inclusion

Just like you've made changes in your SEO framework, such as using ChatGPT SEO strategies or opting for AI tools for keyword research, you also need to welcome GEO with open arms, considering the speed at which AI generative engines are becoming the new norm. Some core elements of the GEO landscape are conversational and contextual keywords, concise information, modular data, question-based information, and user intent-driven content.

Couple these components with continuous analysis and optimization with AI tools, and you will have a solid GEO strategy. Generative engines are still in their infancy, so be prepared for a lot of changes. Keep up with industry news to learn how you can adapt to new features and algorithm shifts.

Most importantly, do not skimp on traditional SEO. It's still there, and you still have to optimize for it. A successful search engine marketing strategy includes both SEO and GEO, adapting your website to the best of both worlds. 

Check out our SEO ROI calculator to measure the financial impact of your strategies.

About the Author

Djanan Kasumovic

Writer

Djanan Kasumovic, Head of Growth at Influencer Marketing Hub, drives innovation in digital marketing with expertise in AI marketing and AI influencer strategies. He is directly involved in shaping content strategies for top clients like Viral Nation, NeoReach, Brandwatch, and more, blending creative flair with data-driven insights to ensure people not only enjoy the content but leave a little smarter.