The world of search engines is evolving rapidly, and so is the way content is ranked. With the advent of AI-driven platforms and Large Language Models (LLMs) like Google's Gemini or OpenAI’s GPT-based models, traditional search optimization practices are being transformed. As AI and LLMs become more prominent, two key approaches to website optimization have emerged:
- Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Both share common goals to make content more visible in search and use somewhat similar methods, so it’s easy to get them confused. That’s why in this article, the search engine marketing experts at SteadyRain are diving deep into both methods to help you decide which approach is best for your business.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO has been around for almost as long as search engines have existed. It’s gone through many changes over the years as ranking algorithms have shifted, but its purpose has remained the same:
Get content to rank more highly in search engines like Google and Bing to increase visibility, site traffic, and ultimately, conversions.
SEO has largely focused on Google as the primary search engine because for decades, Google has dominated the search landscape, driving well over half of all search traffic. This meant that SEO was wholly dependent on Google’s ranking algorithm and needed to adapt fast to keep up with its frequent changes.
On-page SEO mainly focused on optimizing content with popular keywords users were searching in the hopes that Google would surface that content. Over time, it also evolved to include coding schema (bits of information in the HTML that tell search engines more about the website and specific page content), technical fixes such as increasing site speed, improving the user experience (UX) to increase dwell times on a page, and writing content to match keyword intents.
Off-site SEO consisted of social media marketing, PR, and other community outreach to get discovered and gain backlinks, or links from another site to yours that acted as a signal your content was helpful and trustworthy.
Common KPIs included keyword rankings in search engines, organic traffic volumes, and conversions. Additionally, until recently, traditional SEO has primarily been focused on the page level, as it was web pages that would rank if optimized correctly.
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO’s main goal is to enhance content in ways that make it more understandable and relevant to AI models, ensuring it ranks well in AI-driven search engines and is highly effective for content generation by AI.
GEO is all about ensuring that content is rich with entities (e.g., people, places, things) and relationships between those entities. For example, mentioning the relationship between "data privacy" and "GDPR compliance" allows AI to better understand how these concepts are connected. GEO involves organizing content around topic clusters (groups of related content) and ensuring the content establishes clear relationships between different concepts.
To do this, a large focus is put on writing content in a way that aligns with natural language patterns and contextual relevance, ensuring AI models can easily interpret and use the information to generate search results. In essence, you write content the way AI platforms like to think about it. Unlike search engines, AI likes to be thorough and think several steps ahead. When a user enters a query, the AI will surface content related to that query while predicting the next series of queries the user will enter and offering instant answers to those as well. Basically, AI has the capability of doing the typical user’s entire search session in one go and then refining it through having a conversation with that person.
To optimize for this, content needs to:
- Cover a topic thoroughly
- Include content that answers the most likely follow-up questions a user has for a given topic
- Be short and easy to read
- Be clearly organized and segmented in a logical way using headings
In short, GEO goes beyond optimizing content to rank well or be helpful to users (although those are both still important concerns). Instead, it attempts to produce and structure content in a way that AI can easily interpret the information and include it in its generated responses on a topic. The more information about a topic AI pulls from your sources, the more visibility and brand awareness you receive.
Because AI pulls info from many sources across the web, GEO also includes optimizing content about your business and placing your content in places other than your website to corroborate what you have there. Instead of focusing on the page level, GEO is focused on the actual units of information. AI is capable of lifting a single sentence or even just a few words from your content.
Core KPIs for GEO include:
- AI mentions and citations
- Favorable coverage for your business when testing branded queries in AI platforms
- Increased organic impressions
- Increased conversions.
Are SEO and GEO Different?
When you boil the two down? No, absolutely not.
As AI Search threw the SEO world into chaos, professionals started coining any number of new acronyms and terms to reflect what they said was the new playing field for search marketing. At the same time, some marketing blogs gleefully announced that SEO was dead and that AI optimization was the new king.
However, for those of us in the industry who do this daily, we know something most businesses are shocked to learn: SEO and GEO are the same thing. While people may be searching for a new term to encompass what it is we do, GEO is just the natural expansion of SEO to encompass the new reality of AI search. SEO has always been about surfacing content where a business’ customers are in order toto draw more attention to them and increase sales. The introduction of AI doesn’t change this.
People still have a need to search for information, products, and services. AI just adds another place where they can search for them and a new way to do it. SEO isn’t dead, it’s actually growing.
SEO has adapted many times before, such as when Google adapted algorithms to focus less on keyword mentions and more on signals that show users actually get something out of it that’s helpful. Or when Google decided to switch everything to mobile indexing, requiring all sites to be optimized for both desktop and mobile devices. True, the KPIs have definitely changed. AI search can surface all the information you can ever need to answer a simple question directly in its interface, removing the need for you to visit a website to learn more. This has taken a sledgehammer to organic traffic and keyword rankings, but that doesn’t mean your content isn’t being found. It just means you need to add AI engines to the list of places your customers are and where customers can find your content.
Get Found and Convert More with SEO/GEO Services from SteadyRain
While GEO and SEO are basically the same thing, one thing is certain: The addition of AI search into the mix means your search marketing strategy needs to change. Relying on old tactics like keyword chasing and traffic monitoring don’t cut it anymore. You need a comprehensive approach that ensures your messaging reaches your customers wherever they are and your data provides actionable insights.
As SEO continues to shift to keep up with this new AI world that seems to change by the day, it’s essential to put more time and effort into your marketing to stay on top. For many businesses with limited time and resources, this is just too much of a burden. Luckily, SteadyRain is here to be your search marketing partner, doing the heavy lifting so you can focus on your business.
We’ve been on the cutting edge of AI search since day one, innovating and discovering which approaches work best to ensure more people see you and buy your products. From content marketing and paid search ads to social media marketing and email drip campaigns, we do it all.
If you’re worried about falling behind as AI search expands, always remember you have strategic support and real-time insights with SteadyRain to help you enhance your AI visibility Give us a call today and let’s discuss how we can help you become an AI superstar.
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