A new search strategy has arrived: Search Engine Optimization's (SEO) little brother, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
As you may already know, when you go to Google and ask a question, you'll see an AI-generated description at the top of the search results.
If you run a business and have invested time and resources into competing for top search positions through SEO, this change can be stressful: Do you need to start all over again to optimize your content for this new type of search?
Good news: you don't need to reinvent the wheel, but it's time to tweak your strategy a bit.
While existing SEO best practices can handle most of the work, you’ll need to make some smart changes to stay visible, relevant, and competitive.
Understanding generation engine optimizations
The world of digital marketing is full of acronyms. Here's what you need to know about this new acronym and why it's important for the future.
What is generative search?
Generative search leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to gather information from multiple sources and compile a unique, consistent response to a user's query.
With generative search, users receive an AI summary with direct answers at the top of the search results page, rather than a traditional list of links.
Accurate generated search results save time and increase usefulness for end users.
But for those who create internet content, this means a subtle change: if you want your content to appear in the AI ​​summary of top results, you need to make it AI-ready.
The rise of generation engine optimization
Generative engine optimization is how you get AI-enabled content.
GEO combines traditional SEO techniques with an understanding of how AI models process and prioritize content. When properly applied, GEO principles can help your content appear in generative search engines like Google's AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot.
Fortunately, GEO best practices don't exclude human readers: you can (and should) write for both human and AI readers, as we'll discuss in more detail later.
Firstly, why is it important to focus on this now?
GEO is a completely new concept and an area of ​​AI use that is only now being understood and organized. Many uncertainties surrounding the adoption of these strategies;
And lots of opportunity For those who employ these strategies to stand out.
Future changes in SEO practice
Simply put, traditional SEO relies heavily on keyword and backlink placement, proper content structure, and back-end technical site optimization.
While these elements are and will always be important, it’s time to put the spotlight on creative, authentic and relevant content to succeed on GEO.
Your mission is to create clearly useful and well-structured content so that both AI and human readers can immediately understand the value you bring to the table. It's a big ask, but we'd like to share some practical tips.
Strategies for navigating generative search
Are you interested in becoming an early adopter of GEO best practices and taking advantage of this paradigm shift?
Start incorporating these practices into your content creation routine.
1. Focus on content fluency and structure
Some terms to remember are: Fluency optimizationThis trendy phrase means making your content easy to read for both robots and humans.
Here's a quick checklist to help you achieve this:
- Make sure your content flows smoothly. Avoid technical terms and long sentences (these can be easily identified when reading the content out loud).
- Use clear headings and subheadings frequently. Make these headings descriptive and realistic.
- Use bullets and lists. They break down information into an easily digestible format to improve readability.
Keeping your content organized and easy to read makes your information accessible to AI and any other audience, and a clear, strategic content structure also makes it easier to stay on track.
Learn more: Mastering Content Quality: The Ultimate Guide
2. Use the EEAT principles
As you learn more about GEO, you’ll see the acronym EEAT frequently.
It means experience, expertise, authority and credibility.
The more trustworthy, authoritative, and experienced you seem in your content, the more humans and AI will want to read, remember, and rank your content.
To do this, consider the following:
- experience: Share personal anecdotes and case studies to demonstrate practical knowledge.
- Expertise: Cite reliable sources and include detailed and accurate information.
- Authoritative: Highlight any qualifications, awards, or recognition that are relevant to your field.
- reliability: Use clear language, avoid clickbait, and make sure your content is error-free.
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3. Optimize for both humans and AI
The Venn diagram of well-written content for both machine and human writers might be a circle: structured and clear language, friendly asides to delight human readers, and concise, to-the-point headlines to help robots focus on shareable information.
Your goal is to make it super easy for the AI ​​to extract key points for use in generative search. and Make sure your content is enjoyable and valuable for people to read.
This may seem like a challenge, but with consistency, structure and clarity, it will work.
Learn more: 25 Tips to Optimize Your Content for Users and Search Engines
4. Consider using AI tools for content creation – at first
The thought may have already crossed your mind that using AI to write your text might be a strategic choice, if you’re writing at least in part for an AI.
This depends on your familiarity with AI and your comfort level as a writer. It can be beneficial to rely on AI as an assistant for initial content outlining, brainstorming, and even content analysis (helping with the hardest part of any project: getting started!).
One word of caution: While AI can help you write a first draft and create an appealing header, you should plan to edit, fact-check, and refine your content before publishing. First, AI can fabricate (or “hallucinate”) information, so you don't want to risk your readers or your company's reputation with false content.
Additionally, it will become increasingly important to distinguish what you say from the growing amount of purely AI-generated content out there (remember EEAT?).
Learn more: AI Content Creation: A Beginner's Guide
Two things to remember for a successful GEO
Expanding your experience with generative search techniques and using GEO to tailor your content will help you succeed with two things:
- education.
- Consistency.
why?
- Education helps us use AI betterInvesting in AI training, staying up to date on generative search, and keeping an eye on the latest AI tips and tricks will help you (and your team!) get the most out of your AI tools.
- Learn more about GEO to stay aheadThis is brand new technology and best practices will likely change over the coming months, so be aware of these changes so you can take advantage of any changes.
- Regular training reduces fear and increases adoptionIt's understandable if some on your team feel intimidated by AI and GEOs – these are big concepts to understand. Educate your team on the benefits of AI in your content strategy, reinforce the idea that AI is a tool to augment (not replace) human talent, and start with small, manageable AI integrations.
- Fighting the long gameApplying GEO techniques requires effort up front in exchange for delayed results. Even when progress seems incremental, remind yourself and your team that this is a critical strategy that will benefit your company over time.
- Balancing SEO and GEO EffortsGEO isn't the end of traditional SEO. Continue to invest in technical SEO, keyword research, and backlinking strategies. Make each part of your ongoing content strategy, as efforts build on each other with consistency.
Generative search is giving smart business owners the opportunity to rethink their online visibility. Investing in both GEO and SEO techniques can make your content more relevant and competitive.
The main thing to remember is that your content needs to be high-quality, trustworthy and relevant.
If you write to your strengths and prioritize a clear content structure, you’ll be on your way to winning the generation engine optimization game.
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