Here’s what most marketers are missing about the future of search: By 2026, Gartner predicts organic traffic from traditional SEO could drop by up to 50%. Even conservative estimates suggest a 25% decline in the next 1-2 years. The reality? Most businesses aren’t just unprepared for this shift – they’re actively investing in strategies that won’t serve them in an AI-first search landscape.

Before we get into the details, here are the more important timestamps from this recording:

Timestamps

01:07 – What is GEO?

02:20 – Are marketers thinking about GEO enough?

03:57 – Are we starting to see the impact of generative engines in analytics and traffic?

05:31 – How is the spread of generative AI impacting Google itself?

07:44 – How important is the new skill set of GEO for SEOs and marketers?

09:38 – How important is GEO for business owners, CEOs, and CMOs?

12:45 – How do generative engines work?

21:07 -What are the differences between SEO and GEO?

28:40 – How is the spread of generative AI impacting digital PR?

34:06 – How do we measure the effectiveness of GEO?

38:49 – How can marketers communicate the importance and effectiveness of GEO to their superiors?

41:38 – What are the tactical steps to optimize content for generative engines?

55:50 – How can a marketer strategise an initial GEO strategy for 2025?

59:31 – How should a promotional/PR strategy be approached for GEO?

The Hidden Reality of Modern Search Behavior

Let’s break down what’s really happening in search right now. Search Console data reveals something fascinating: users aren’t just changing where they search – they’re fundamentally altering how they interact with search engines. Queries are becoming longer, more conversational, and increasingly mirror the way people interact with AI chatbots.

The analytics tell a clear story: before someone ever reaches your website through Google, they’ve likely had multiple touchpoints with AI platforms. These conversations are shaping purchase decisions, building brand perceptions, and influencing search behaviour in ways that traditional analytics completely miss.

Breaking Down GEO vs SEO: The Real Differences

Traditional SEO focuses on individual pages and backlinks. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) evaluates your entire digital footprint.

Here’s what that actually means in practice:

Content Evaluation — Traditional SEO looks at pages. GEO analyses data points across multiple sources. While Google might focus on your product page, AI platforms synthesise information from reviews, social media, forum discussions, and industry mentions to form a complete picture of your offering.

Ranking Factors — Recency matters more in GEO. Content from six months ago might rank well in Google, but AI platforms show a strong preference for fresh, current information. They’re also more sensitive to user-generated content and third-party mentions than traditional search engines.

Content Structure — AI platforms excel at parsing structured content but need clear context. Instead of optimizing for keywords, a successful GEO strategy focuses on providing explicit context for every piece of information. “Vegan beauty products” performs better than just “vegan products” because it gives AI platforms clear category context.

The Process That Actually Works

Starting with AI Interviews: The foundation of effective GEO isn’t content creation – it’s understanding how AI platforms currently perceive your brand. This means conducting systematic interviews across multiple AI platforms:

Basic Identity Questions:

• What services does [company] provide?
• Where does [company] operate?
• What makes [company] different from competitors?

Competitive Analysis:

• Who are the leading providers in [industry]?
• What differentiates [company] from [competitor]?
• What are [company’s] main strengths and weaknesses?

Customer Perception:

• Who would benefit most from [company’s] services?
• What do customers say about [company]?
• What problems does [company] solve best?

Once you’ve completed the process, you can then move on to more tactical work, such as:

• Content Optimisation — After understanding AI perception, focus on content structure.
• Clear Section Headers — Use descriptive headers that explicitly state what follows. AI platforms use these for context and categorisation.
• Contextual Clarity — Don’t assume knowledge – state relationships explicitly. If you’re discussing a musical, specify “Oklahoma the musical” rather than just “Oklahoma.”
• Format Diversity — Unlike traditional SEO, GEO benefits from diverse content formats. Include videos, podcasts, data tables, and various media types where relevant.
• External Linking Strategy — The old SEO fear of linking to competitors doesn’t apply in GEO. Linking to complementary content can actually help your visibility in AI responses.

Building Digital Authority That Matters

Modern GEO requires a broader approach to digital PR. The data shows successful brands aren’t just chasing high-authority backlinks – they’re building a genuine presence across multiple platforms.

Diverse platform presence means strategic engagement where your audience actually spends time: industry forums, professional networks, review sites, and knowledge-sharing communities like Reddit and Quora. Each platform adds a different dimension to how AI platforms understand your brand authority.

Active engagement in industry discussions goes beyond promotional content. It means contributing genuine insights, sharing unique data, and participating in technical conversations that demonstrate real expertise. AI platforms evaluate not just what you say, but how you engage with industry challenges and developments.

Strategic review management shapes how AI platforms understand your real-world impact. This means systematically soliciting reviews after positive interactions, responding professionally to every piece of feedback, and creating a clear record of customer support and problem resolution.

Authentic community participation requires consistent, valuable engagement in relevant online spaces. This isn’t about quick promotional hits – it’s about building long-term relationships through genuine expertise sharing and community support.

The goal isn’t just backlinks – it’s creating a consistent, authoritative presence across platforms where your audience engages. When AI platforms see this pattern of genuine expertise and engagement, they develop a more complete understanding of your brand authority, leading to better representation in AI-driven search results.

Measuring Success in the AI Era

Traditional SEO metrics tell only part of the story in GEO. Most marketers track rankings and organic traffic, completely missing the deeper patterns that reveal GEO success.

Here’s what actually matters: Direct measurements start with referral traffic from AI platforms. These show up as distinct sources in your analytics – ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity. But that’s just the beginning. Branded search volume tells a deeper story about how AI platforms influence discovery. When you see search terms growing more complex in Search Console, that’s a clear signal of AI-influenced research behaviour.

The indirect indicators reveal even more. Watch how search intent patterns evolve. Sales teams report prospects arriving with deeper product understanding. Brand perception shifts across platforms. And most tellingly, direct brand searches spike after major AI platform updates.

The most successful implementations show steady improvements across both direct and indirect metrics over 3-6 months. By month three, expect to see more nuanced customer questions. By month six, watch for shorter sales cycles as prospects arrive better informed through AI interactions.

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How To Optimise for AI Overviews

AI Overviews are not just another feature at the top of search results. They represent a complete transformation in how Google displays information, and most businesses are approaching them entirely wrong.

The data shows something fascinating about how these overviews work. While traditional search results create winners and losers, AI Overviews combine information from multiple sources. A small healthcare provider can appear alongside Mayo Clinic and the NHS in the same overview. This isn’t theory – it’s happening right now for businesses that understand how to contribute to these conversations.

Most businesses fail at overview optimisation because they’re stuck in an outdated competitive mindset. The data shows successful businesses take a completely different approach. Instead of trying to outrank industry leaders, they focus on adding unique insights that complement existing information. When they appear in these overviews, the trust transfer is immediate – being mentioned alongside industry leaders builds instant credibility.

Here’s what the numbers reveal: AI Overviews appear overwhelmingly for informational searches. While you might occasionally see them for commercial terms, they dominate the top of search results when users are seeking knowledge rather than products. This creates a clear opportunity for businesses that understand how to position their expertise.

We’ve earned a lot of great results over the past year for our clients through extensive testing and we’ve figured out a few areas of optimisation you can take care of to earn real results for your business too:

Building Complementary Content — Standard advice tells you to compete with existing content. The reality? AI Overviews favour content that fills information gaps. When a business adds genuine value to existing conversations – like a regional bank adding local market insights to general financial advice – they appear alongside industry leaders.

Demonstrating Deep Expertise — Most businesses try to cover everything superficially. The numbers show that focused, deep expertise in specific areas drives better overview inclusion. A healthcare provider seeing consistent overview appearances focuses exclusively on explaining complex procedures in simple terms, rather than trying to cover every health topic.

Creating AI-Friendly Structure — While traditional SEO focuses on keyword placement, overview success requires clear information architecture. This means presenting information in a way that helps AI understand relationships between concepts. Label sections explicitly. State relationships clearly. Make connections obvious.

Maintaining Fresh Relevance — The data shows AI Overviews heavily favour recent, updated content. But this isn’t about making minor tweaks – it’s about consistently adding new insights and expanding valuable information. Regular, meaningful updates outperform sporadic overhauls every time.

A Timeline for Implementation for Your Business

You have a lot of work ahead of you for capitalising on all of the emerging generative engines, including Google’s AI Overviews — but you don’t have to do it all on Day 1. If you’re running solo, you can break the work down into different months and quarters, but if you’re working with an in-house team or external agency, you should be able to do this at scale much quicker.

Here’s the month-to-month breakdown of work you can complete:

Month 1:

• Conduct comprehensive AI platform interviews
• Document current brand perception
• Identify critical gaps and opportunities
• Map competitor mentions and positioning

Month 2:

• Update core service page content structure
• Address identified perception gaps
• Begin systematic review management
• Implement clear contextual markers in content

Month 3:

• Expand presence across relevant platforms
• Develop a complementary content strategy
• Start monitoring AI Overview appearances
• Track changes in AI platform responses

Months 4-6:

• Scale successful content approaches
• Build a consistent cross-platform presence
• Deepen expertise content in key areas
• Monitor and adjust based on response data

Evolve Your Content’s Structure

The future of content structure isn’t just about keywords anymore – it’s about creating an interconnected web of valuable information that AI platforms can confidently reference and share. While traditional SEO had us obsessing over title tags and keyword density, GEO demands something far more sophisticated: content that adds genuine value to existing digital conversations.

Think about your content like building blocks in a larger conversation. Each piece needs clear signposts that tell AI platforms exactly what you’re contributing and how it connects to the bigger picture. This means being explicit about categories and relationships – don’t just write about “Oklahoma,” specify “Oklahoma the musical” if that’s what you mean.

Your content architecture matters more than ever. Use descriptive headers that actually preview what follows, not clever wordplay. Break complex topics into clear, logical sections. But here’s what most marketers miss: GEO thrives on diversity. Mix in videos, podcasts, data tables – AI platforms are far better at parsing varied content formats than traditional search engines ever were.

Freshness isn’t just a ranking factor anymore – it’s a fundamental requirement. Regular updates signal that your content remains relevant and accurate. And perhaps most importantly, stop trying to outcompete everyone. Focus instead on complementing existing conversations with unique insights that fill information gaps. This collaborative approach is what gets you noticed in AI-driven search.

Ready to optimize your content for generative engines? Here’s your action plan:

• Start by auditing your existing content. Review your headers – are they descriptive or just clever? Look for opportunities to add explicit context. Remember, AI platforms need clear signals about what your content is discussing.
• Next, enrich your content structure. Break down complex topics into well-labeled sections. Add summary blocks at the top of important pages. Create clear relationships between ideas and concepts. And don’t forget to mix in different content formats – tables, video transcripts, and structured data all help AI platforms better understand your content.
• Finally, develop a regular update schedule. Fresh, current information isn’t optional anymore – it’s essential for maintaining visibility in AI-driven search results. And when you update, focus on adding complementary insights that fill gaps in existing conversations rather than trying to replace what’s already working.

Review and Reputation Management

Your digital reputation isn’t just about star ratings anymore – it’s becoming the backbone of how AI platforms understand and represent your brand. While traditional SEO might let you hide a few negative reviews in the depths of page four, AI platforms synthesise everything said about your brand across the entire digital landscape. Every review, comment, and mention shapes how these platforms understand – and ultimately recommend – your business.

Key Reputation Factors in the GEO Era:

• User-generated content now carries substantially more weight
• AI platforms analyse sentiment patterns across all platforms
• Review responses matter as much as the reviews themselves
• Community engagement signals build brand authority
• Third-party mentions influence brand perception more than self-promotion

Think about it like your digital brand’s DNA. Each customer interaction becomes part of a larger narrative that AI platforms use to build their understanding of your business. And here’s the kicker: they’re not just counting stars – they’re analysing sentiment, tracking response patterns, and evaluating how you handle both praise and criticism.

Action Steps to Strengthen Your Digital Reputation:

Step 1

1. Conduct regular AI platform audits
2. Ask direct questions about your brand
3. Document current perceptions
4. Identify gaps and misconceptions

Step 2

1. Implement proactive review management
2. Respond thoughtfully to all reviews, positive and negative
3. Create systematic review collection processes
4. Address concerns publicly and professionally

Step 3

1. Build an authentic community presence
2. Share genuine industry insights
3. Participate in relevant discussions
4. Focus on value over promotion

Remember: Every digital interaction is an opportunity to shape how AI platforms understand and represent your brand. Focus on building a rich tapestry of positive, authentic engagements that give these platforms confident, accurate information to draw from.

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Building Authority Across Platforms

Think of your digital presence like a constellation – each platform is a star that contributes to your overall visibility. But here’s what makes the difference: AI platforms don’t just see these points of light, they understand the connections between them.

Here’s where your authority really lives:

• Professional Networks (LinkedIn, industry associations)
• Knowledge-Sharing Communities (Quora, Reddit, Stack Exchange)
• Review Platforms (Industry-specific + general)
• Industry Forums & Discussion Boards
• Specialised Content Hubs

Most businesses spread themselves too thin, chasing presence on every platform possible. Stop. Focus instead on meaningful engagement where it matters most. Quality always trumps quantity in the AI era.

How To Build Your Cross-Platform Authority

Start small but go deep. Choose two platforms where your audience is most active and become an invaluable community member. Share insights that only you can provide. Answer questions thoughtfully. Build relationships that matter.

Pro Strategy: Map out your expertise areas and match them to specific platforms. Technical knowledge? Stack Exchange awaits. Industry insights? LinkedIn’s your stage. Customer success stories? Review platforms need your voice.

Remember, AI platforms are getting smarter at recognising authentic authority. They can tell the difference between drive-by posting and genuine community contribution. Build your presence with purpose, and the algorithms will take notice.

Quick Win: Pick your top-performing case study and adapt it for three different platforms this week. Track how AI platforms start connecting these pieces of your authority puzzle, analyse the impact, and then make a decision on how you can build on this or improve your work to get a better result.

You can learn more about how to establish your authority across the internet by following Google’s existing E-E-A-T guidelines. Watch this video to learn what E-E-A-T stands for.

Future-proofing Your Strategy

Let’s talk about future-proofing your digital strategy. Because here’s the reality: the shift to AI-driven search isn’t just another algorithm update – it’s a complete reimagining of how people discover and interact with information online.

Think about how you searched for information five years ago versus today. The change is stunning, isn’t it? But what’s happening now makes those changes look microscopic in comparison.

Search is evolving beyond keywords and backlinks into something far more sophisticated: an interconnected web of signals that AI platforms use to understand, evaluate, and recommend your business. Getting this right isn’t optional anymore – it’s survival.

Consider this: When was the last time you typed a perfect keyword phrase into Google? We’re all starting to search the way we think – in natural language, with context and nuance. AI platforms aren’t just keeping up with this shift; they’re accelerating it.

Here’s a future-proofing checklist you can follow:

First 30 Days

• Conduct comprehensive AI perception audits
• Document current digital footprint
• Map content structure gaps

Next Quarter

• Implement continuous monitoring systems
• Refine content architecture
• Build strategic review frameworks

Six Months

• Expand platform presence strategically
• Develop response systems for emerging AI tools
• Create feedback loops for continuous improvement

The Hard Truth: Playing catch-up in 2025 will be exponentially harder than starting now. The businesses that thrive won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets – they’ll be the ones that understood this shift early and adapted accordingly.

Start small, but start now. Choose one aspect of your digital presence to optimise for AI platforms. Test, learn, and expand. The future of search is being written right now – make sure you’re part of the story.

In Summary

The shift to AI-driven search represents the biggest transformation in digital visibility since mobile changed the game. Traditional SEO could see up to a 50% traffic drop by 2028, but this creates unprecedented opportunities for businesses that understand the new rules: AI platforms evaluate your entire digital footprint, not just individual pages and backlinks. They’re analysing sentiment, measuring engagement patterns, and building a comprehensive understanding of your brand’s authority across every platform where you appear.

Success in this new landscape isn’t about outspending competitors – it’s about adapting faster and smarter.

The businesses winning right now are focused on distributed authority, genuine engagement, and contextual clarity over traditional ranking factors. They’re teaching AI platforms exactly how to represent their brands through strategic, multi-platform presence.

Key Strategic Shifts:

• Content needs explicit context and clear signposting
• User-generated content carries unprecedented weight
• Cross-platform authority builds compound visibility
• Fresh, current information trumps historical performance
• Brand reputation is evaluated across the entire digital ecosystem

Your Next Steps:

• Conduct AI platform perception audits
• Build systematic reputation management processes
• Structure content for AI understanding
• Develop a strategic platform presence
• Monitor and adapt to emerging AI tools

The opportunity in GEO isn’t about quick wins or technical tricks. It’s about building genuine authority that both AI platforms and humans recognize and trust. The businesses that understand this now will be the ones leading their industries in 2025 and beyond.

Ready to implement a comprehensive GEO strategy? Visit exposure.ninja/geo to learn more about our GEO Game Plan service.

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