It’s the process of making sure your material is accessible in Generative AI Engines, such as ChatGPT, Claude, SGE, Gemini, Perplexity, and many more, and can reach the greatest number of people when people ask about:
- Products and solutions you sell
- Stories about the situations you’ve experienced
- Services you provide
- Ideas you’ve shared
- Information that you can provide with extensive knowledge and expertise
If you’re more likely to be sought out or be included in a reply to a query by AI the more likely to be in the spotlight and get your site visited or your brand being talked about offline.
We’ll provide ideas on how to combat GEO, along with the methods that smart companies are using to keep on top of Generative Era of marketing. What we’ll cover:
- What is the difference between GEO & SEO are different
- What is the reason GEO is so important?
- How GEO operates
- Important factors to consider for GEO
- Research on GEO
Table of Contents
What Is Generative Engine Optimization?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is an innovative digital strategy that aims at increasing the impact and visibility of information in response created by platforms powered by AI like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews.
In contrast to traditional SEO, which is a form of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that is focused on improving the rankings of the results pages of search engines, GEO concentrates on ensuring that the content is recognized and used by large language models (LLMs) in formulating responses to queries from users.
It’s more than just getting found through search engine optimization (SEO). It’s about capturing the attention of the online world by generating AI results for inquiries and questions. With GEO, you are able to harness the incredible power of AI by creating personalised and engaging content that connects with your target audience, not only with the machine navigating the internet and utilizing it to help inform the outputs of their machines.
The Difference Between SEO & GEO
SEO is a widely respected strategy that focuses on enhancing websites to be more prominent on traditional search engine result pages (SERPs). The optimization process involves the use of specific keywords and the creation of high-quality content, as well as the establishment of backlinks, in addition to other methods. SEO mostly revolves around how search engines such as Google and Bing browse and search for websites.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
On the other hand, GEO represents a newer concept that came to light in response to the rise in AI-driven search engines, sometimes referred to as Generative engines.
These engines use artificial intelligence algorithms in order to create answers and solutions to queries instead of just cataloging and ranking websites by keywords. Fundamentally, GEO is an optimization strategy that focuses on creating articles that not only attract humans but also resonate using the AI-powered search engines.
The Advent of GEO and Its Necessity
It was the Study on GEO that was conducted by students from Princeton, Georgia Tech, The Allen Institute of AI, along with IIT Delhi, and published in November 2023 by Aggarwal, Murahari, Rajpurohit, Kalyan, Narasimhan, and Deshpande. They concluded the study by delivering a powerful message:
The most important aspect of this research is that researchers looked at nine aspects to determine what factors are associated with the possibility of influencing an AI’s reaction.
These were the factors that led to:
- Unique Words
- Keyword Stuffing
- Easy-to-Understand
- Authoritative
- Technical Terms
- Fluency Optimization
- Cite Sources
- Quotation Addition
- Statistics Addition
The team analyzed each of these in order to discover what characteristics most affected their performance. It was discovered that easy methods, such as keyword stuffing, didn’t perform as well, while the addition of quotes and stats led to the most significant improvement in performance.
Empirical Evidence Supporting GEO
The team examined a variety of Generic engine Optimization methods, as described below, and then compared them to a baseline in which there was no optimization. The results revealed that certain methods consistently beat the baseline in all aspects:
The most efficient optimizations for GEO efforts comprised:
- Quotation Additions
- Statistic Additions
- Fluency Optimization
- Cited Sources
- Technical Terms
- Authoritative Comms
The research provides a compelling argument for GEO through a thorough evaluation.
The results are shocking and worth mentioning:
- Methods for GEO, such as the use of quotes, citations, citations from reliable sources, and statistics, significantly increased the visibility of sources by more than 40 percent over a variety of search queries. This highlights the importance of the richness of content and credibility when optimising for GEs.
- Sandbox SEO published a fantastic GEO critique that explains how some of the initial approaches in the paper aren’t up to the top standards for most academic journals.
- In particular, the critic discusses problems like top five results limitations, inconsistent rapid direction, poor visibility of optimization, and many more.
- The critique offered by Sandbox is well worth reading, and there are excellent points. However, from my viewpointthe essence of what the initial GEO paper outlines as the things to do is important to establish best practices for EEAT.
What are the things that are worthwhile to do? This is how it was outlined in the paper:
Intent-Specific Optimization
- Informational queries: For queries seeking information or knowledge, including quotes, citations, and figures, significantly increase the visibility. This strategy is in line with people’s need for reliable and detailed responses, increasing the credibility and reliability of the information.
- Navigational queries: When users are trying to navigate to a particular webpage or website, it was found that optimizing fluency and making sure that the content is directly relevant to the user’s goal can increase accessibility in GE responses.
- Transactional queries: For queries with the intention of completing transactions, for example, like buying products or subscribing to an online service, clearly stating calls to action as well as optimizing content to improve clarity and persuasiveness were important strategies to increase the visibility of.
Domain-Specific Optimization Efficacy
- Technology and Technology: Technical terms and authoritative style adjustments were especially efficient in these areas, likely because of the public’s desire for reliable and accurate information.
- Humanities and Arts: In these areas, the inclusion of quotes and references to well-known sources increased the visibility of content and align with the public’s interest in depth and context.
- Financial and Business: The addition of data-driven insight and statistics significantly increased visibility, which reflects the need of viewers for accurate, relevant information for the decision-making process.
How To Do Generative Engine Optimization
The most important thing to implement GEO involves understanding the workings of Generative AI and then leveraging that information to create content that is appealing to humans as well as machines. In the last couple of months, more data has begun to be revealed, showing how this kind of job can be carried out professionally and result in real results for businesses.
Here are a few data-driven strategies we have observed firsthand and have discovered by conducting data analysis, which can effectively influence how the brand appears in LLMs. These are tactics that brands can use in their content strategy to create LLM-focused results over the next few months:
Topics of research that are relevant to those you serve:
At Foundation we’ve been helping companies understand their current position in the market through the perspective of LLMs. In a time in which AI Overviews and ChatGPT are influencers of buying decisions just as well as word of mouth, we must know exactly what LLMs are talking about us and our customers. Here’s a quick overview of what we’re hearing about brands such as Lululemon and Nike in the LLMs:
Our analysis of Reddit Marketing initiatives, together with partners, has revealed first-hand evidence that Reddit sentiment is often correlated to LLM sentiment. In this way, Generative Engine Optimization strategies that do not include user-generated content in their strategy are usually likely to be ineffective against strategies that do.
We suggest that companies use search engine tools to discover the subjects your target customers are interested in and the kinds of questions they’re asking. Verify the number of questions that are typically asked by Google and see whether there is an intentional connection that makes you sure that your customers would be willing to ask the AI tool.
Create Query Intent-Based Content At Scale
In research conducted by Profound and Profound, they found that the most commonly assets that were cited were the comparative listicles. Our strategy for developing our SaaS money pages coincides with this study on what brands are able to do in order to influence LLMs and improve their chances of being mentioned. 32.5 percent of all sources mentioned to by LLMs were identified as comparative lists, closely followed by blog posts and opinion pieces, which accounted for almost 10 10%.
With this information, brands are able to see how one of the most effective methods to optimize their content for LLMs is to create or create high-quality, relevant, and informative content that addresses the topics and questions that correspond to the types of questions that people might ask about for an LLM. Comparison, alternatives, top or top, etc These are just a few words that are part of some of the more common transactions that people have to ask for an LLM.
Implement Digital PR Activities With Excellence
One of the primary aspects of an engine’s generative optimization is its credibility and experience. In order to boost your authority in a particular area, you must be an expert on the topic. An established and tried method to establish authority is to conduct digital PR strategies that show that your company or brand is an authority or expert on the topic or field. There are a variety of digital PR that could influence LLMs:
- Experts’ quotations: Inclusion in essays or articles that talk about the latest news or developments.
- Podcasts feature: Being interviewed by professional-oriented podcasts could influence the LLMs
- Media includes: If the media is talking about you and putting positive content, it could be a major gain for you.
- The report features:If the report or white paper you’re in quotes from white papers or reports, it could further establish the expert status of your company.
Incorporate Structured Data
Use schema markup to provide structure and context for your content to make it easier for AI to generate AI to comprehend and index.
Concentrate on the user’s intention:
Be aware of the motive of a search query and then tailor your content to satisfy the user’s desire. In contrast to traditional search engines, which focus on click-through behavior as well as profiles of backlinks, LLMs prioritize contextual relevance. Relevance is determined by the degree to which your content is in line with the intention of a search. In real life, this involves covering a variety of investigational, informational, transactional, and navigational purposes instead of simply optimizing to meet one.
To be successful in GEO, Content teams need to ensure that they cover the primary areas of intent to search:
Informational Queries
These are the foundations of LLM engagement. The LLM users are asking questions like:
- “What is [topic]?”
- “Who invented the concept?”
- “Why is it important to have [thing]?”
- “How do you make [system] function?”
- “Examples of [practice]”
- “Learn [topic] step-by-step”
These types of questions are perfect for blogs that will never go out of style as FAQ pages, blog posts, or lengthy guides. They’re often utilized in LLM prompts and are often fed directly to featured excerpts or responses to questions in conversation.
Commercial Investigation Queries
These are decision-stage questions like:
- “Best [toolto use] in [use case”Best tool for [use case]”
- “Top 10 [alternatives]”
- “[Product A] vs [Product B]”
- “Review of [solution]”
- “Comparison of [platforms]”
Each one of them requires its own landing page or post for comparison. They are essential for being included in LLM responses when customers are attempting to assess options. And they frequently precede purchases.
Navigational Queries
Branded search is essential even in dynamic environments. Users frequently type in prompts like:
- “[Brand] pricing”
- “[Tool] features”
- “Login on [platform’s name”Login to [platform name]”
- “[Companyhelp center”
If your company doesn’t have these terms through documented pages or structured documents, LLMs will either hallucinate the solution or draw from third-party aggregators. Create a digital footprint by creating an indexable landing page for each item, service, or support inquiry.
Transactional Queries
They are bottom-funnel-driven and purchase-driven:
- “Buy [product] online”
- “[Brand] coupon”
- “Cheap [alternative]”
- “Discount on [tool]”
- “Pricing for [solution]”
Every one of these can be an opportunity for conversion and a reference source for models seeking to promote an item or explain pricing. Pages for sales or offers as well as pricing breakdowns need to be designed in order to correspond to these categories.
