Just when we thought we knew all about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), along comes the latest Google iteration: GEO – another acronym to follow SEO, E-E-A-T, PPC, CTA and many more.
GEO is a relatively new term related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), fully named Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). GEO can be described as a variant of SEO, the long-standing process of achieving high visibility and ranking in traditional search engines such as Google and Bing.
GEO and SEO are digital marketing activities that establish authority, visibility, and trust in your brand, products, and services.
In many aspects, GEO does match SEO activity; however, visibility is gained via AI Engines like ChatGPT*, CoPilot, Claude, SGE, Gemini, Perplexity, and more.
The key aim is NOT Google search engine ranking positions (SERPS). Instead, it is to gain visibility when people use AI systems and prompts related to:
- Brand Information (Experience)
- Product Education
- Product and services solutions
- Products you sell to your target audience
- News and industry sector publications where you or your brand have been featured (Trust & Expertise)
- Information in which you have deep expertise and experience (Authority).
The key difference between SEO and GEO searches is that the latter only delivers a single response to the query you enter, not a list of links to websites related to or relevant to the keyword query.
In short, you may get more accurate, tailored GEO responses. However, all information retrieved from GEO platforms should always be checked for authenticity and originality!
You gain visibility across a broader digital landscape and potentially more website visits, sales, and lead generation opportunities.
For both GEO and SEO, content in all forms remains critical to your digital success. Quality content in keywords, images, video and links remain paramount to SEO and GEO visibility.
Google requires content designed for the audience, and GEO requires content that impacts AI indexing. They both need content designed for the reader rather than the delivery system.
AI systems use LLMs (Language Learning Models) to index the content they deliver to prompt queries.
Google has also been adapting its own algorithm to enhance pre-existing AI indexing processes, and in March of 2024, a major algorithm update was implemented.
What do you need to do now?
Our recommendations are as follows:
- Audit your website and ensure the site, content, images, and links comply with the latest Search Engine indexing prerequisites.
- Review the website’s navigation, accessibility, page load speed, and mobile-friendly compliance.
- Conduct a more comprehensive research project on keywords, phrases, and semantically relevant words and phrases.
Note: Content keywords remain required. However, the content itself will benefit from topic and theme relevance, reader focus, calls to action and user intent (educational, informational, transactional).
- To improve content authority, quotations from relevant sources, general citations, and relevant statistics should be added wherever possible.
- Write for the reader in the first instance. The system engines will follow.
- Add Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – one of the most valuable elements of your content marketing, and many AI engine prompts start with a question!
- Establish and practice E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authority and Trust)* best practices.
- Implement Schema Mark-up across your site structure to aid content context and clear understanding of your content intent.
- Distribute your content on more comprehensive digital marketing platforms, including Social Media, YouTube, Forums, and other sector-specific channels.
- Diversify content to include static on-page content, news and blog updates, images, Videos, infographics, and user-friendly options such as gamification/quizzes.
The March update targeted the dark arts of SEO and content spam (i.e., keyword stuffing, poor-quality content, and non-original content). As a result, unique original content will benefit your overall digital marketing strategy.
A combined SEO and GEO approach has been reported to deliver as much as a 40 per cent increase in AI visibility.
GEO is an evolution of how we think about search and results. Take action now.
Conduct a comprehensive technical website audit to include:
- Site structure and navigation
- Site load speed
- Site mobile-friendly status
- Internal and external links
- Schema Mark-Up
- A review of all your content assets, creation, moderation and publishing processes.
- Review existing and planned production of Images, Videos, infographics, etc.
- Create a Content scheduling calendar.
Need help? Contact the Inside Hospitality Solutions Marketing Team, which will be happy to help you understand GEO further and undertake a comprehensive technical website audit.
Do you have any industry knowledge, experience, or news you’d like to share? Why not send us your press releases, survey results, news, and articles? We will review them and may publish them on the IHS website. Just complete the contact form and get in touch.
Subscribe today to our LinkedIn newsletter Inside Hospitality.
*Ask for our Guide on Google E-E-A-T