If you’re seeing “GEO” (generative engine optimization) making the rounds on SEO blogs, LinkedIn, or Reddit, you’re probably wondering what’s real and what’s noise. Here’s the answer: Most brands and site owners don’t need to radically change their SEO strategy for AI-powered search. The core principles of SEO still work. Yes, some tools and marketers are running campaigns to push the idea that GEO is a new, must-have, expensive approach, often with the goal of selling you on subscriptions or new products. Below, I’ll walk through what’s going on with these campaigns, how to separate fact from hype, and what actually moves the needle if you want your brand to appear in search or AI answers.
What is GEO and why are people talking about it?
GEO stands for generative engine optimization. The idea is that you optimize your web content specifically to appear in the results produced by generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others. In theory, certain brands claim they can help you target or “teach” these AI models to mention your site, service, or product more often when someone asks them a question.
On paper, this isn’t a totally new problem. Marketers have always wanted their brands to show up for emerging trends, new platforms, or algorithm updates. The difference now is that some in the industry are aggressively pushing GEO as a whole new approach, sometimes with questionable claims.
Sponsored campaigns and paid influence: Separating truths from marketing
You might have seen emails or posts talking about GEO as the future, or even saying “SEO is dead.” Some of these are part of coordinated campaigns by GEO tool vendors. Creators and influencers are being asked, sometimes even offered equity, to talk up these ideas and shift industry thinking. This isn’t really new, but I’m seeing more of it now than before.
“Brands can now track where they appear in AI generated responses and actively improve their visibility.”
Does that sound familiar? These pitches use language that makes GEO seem urgent or like a major paradigm shift. Be wary. Most AI tools do not have a transparent or official way to tell you how or when you appear in their answers yet. And most are built on top of the same public or well-known web sources, think Wikipedia, news agencies, niche blogs, rather than accepting “optimization” in the same way Google does.
Common GEO marketing tactics
- Overstating the need for a totally new content strategy
- Claiming to offer visibility tracking in tools like ChatGPT or Gemini
- Suggesting conventional SEO is now “outdated” or ineffective
- Offering paid partnerships or influencer deals to amplify their messaging
I get these requests too, and honestly, I ignore most. I’d rather recommend what I actually use and trust.
What’s actually changing in search, and what’s not
Let’s get real about what’s new and what isn’t. Google and Bing are both rolling out search features that borrow from, or are even powered by, AI. AI summaries, AI overviews, conversational results. Chatbots like ChatGPT pull information from the web and “synthesize” it into answers. This has led some marketers to think we need a whole new playbook. But so far, most of what works for Google’s algorithm also applies to these models.
“If you want to show up in AI tools, do great SEO.”
- AI tools mostly pull from authoritative, trusted sources already on the public web.
- Clear, direct, and well-cited information about your brand is more likely to appear.
- You can influence answers by putting out strong content, press releases, and pages with relevant, current data about your business.
There are some tweaks that help, but nothing radical. Here’s a quick table to break down what helps both Google SEO and AI results:
| Action | Helps Google SEO | Helps AI/LLM Results | GEO-Specific? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publish clear, original information about your product | Yes | Yes | No |
| Issue factual press releases | Sometimes | Yes | No |
| Get cited by news sites and blogs | Yes | Yes | No |
| Add “About Us” and product evidence pages | Yes | Yes | No |
| Claim your business on knowledge panels | Yes | Yes | No |
| Buy expensive GEO software | – | ? | Only if you believe the pitch |
I think it’s fair to say there’s nothing magical about GEO that you can’t get with solid, conventional SEO practices. At least not yet.
Should you change your content for AI search?
Here’s where some nuance comes in. AI tools have a different tone than Google, less formal, sometimes more conversational. But they still reward the same basic things:
- Structured, discoverable website content
- Evidence of authority (like reviews, news mentions, case studies)
- Up-to-date, factual, transparent information
- Neutral, clear language (AI does not reward hype or exaggerated claims)
If you’re running a business or a brand website, think about what the AI would “see” if it visited your published pages. Is it easy to understand what you do? Are your claims backed up by third-party sources? If so, you’re on the right track.
What AI does not reward (at least for now) is over-the-top sales copy or keyword stuffing. AIs tend to combine lots of sources and synthesize them. They ignore things that feel manipulative or unsupported.
“Don’t describe your brand in an over-the-top way with tons of hyperbole or superlatives. AI likes more neutral language, but do say how you’re a great pick for so and so purchase intent keyword.”
I wish it was more complicated. But honest, third-party credibility and clarity wins, both for Google and for AI answers.
Examples of actions that help both SEO and AI visibility
- Get mentioned on reputable industry news sites
- Add a press section with objective descriptions of your product and achievements
- Create help center articles that answer common customer questions with clear, factual responses
- Encourage reviews on trusted third-party platforms, not just on your own site
- Make sure your company info is accurate on business directories and knowledge panels
I know that some of these sound obvious. But I see brands missing these steps all the time.
Do GEO tools and paid creator campaigns change the game?
Let me be direct. Most of the value in these new GEO tools is in dashboards or reporting, not in new magic SEO techniques. I have not found a single tool that actually gives you special influence over AI results that cannot already be achieved with credible, factual, well-cited web content.
That’s not to say all GEO tools are scams. Some offer useful tracking, like mentions monitoring or sentiment analysis. But I’d avoid any vendor telling you to abandon what works in favor of an all-new, high-fee playbook. At best, these campaigns are marketing tactics to attract attention and create FOMO. At worst, they try to move people away from proven strategies so you’ll buy into a solution that has little added impact.
“GEO is not a replacement for SEO. For most brands, it’s just a new wrapper around what’s always worked: being discoverable, reputable, and cited.”
Spotting GEO hype: What to watch for
- Claims that keyword-driven SEO is now obsolete
- Overpromising on “visibility” in closed AI systems (which are still black boxes)
- Direct outreach to creators with payment, equity, or bonus offers to drive buzz
- Pitches centered around “AI replacing everything”, it’s not true, not yet anyway
Sometimes it feels like we have to keep repeating this: building trust, authority, and clarity into your content works. No tool or campaign can shortcut that process.
A few things GEO vendors get right
I want to be balanced here. There are a couple of things the GEO discussion highlights that do matter. If you want your brand to appear in AI answers, especially for non-branded searches, you should focus on:
- Being cited (preferably positively) in third-party content
- Publishing neutral, verifiable claims
- Making your messaging easy to find, read, and reference
That press releases work better for influencing AI tools than they did for classic SEO is probably true. Models often pick up their facts from those sources. If you’re a startup, getting into those news feeds might be extra helpful right now. Beyond that, though, you don’t need to pay big for GEO “services.”
What I recommend: Practical steps for everyone
- Make your site crawlable. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools will show if you are indexed. If not, fix it first.
- Create or clean up your About page. AI tools like to cite these pages.
- Write product or solution pages that address specific buyer questions. Focus on transparency.
- Add a Press or News section. Make this easy for journalists, bloggers, and the public to find.
- Get reviews and testimonials on reputable third-party platforms. AI models weigh these heavily.
If you work in a field where accuracy and trust are crucial, spend more effort on building those third-party signals. That is especially true for health, finance, and legal content.
What about those AI answer monitoring tools?
Several new platforms claim to track how your brand appears in chatbot answers or auto-generated summaries. They might show you an answer pulled from ChatGPT or Gemini, then mark whether your site appeared. This is mildly useful for big brands who want to stay on top of perception or mentions. But it won’t help you influence those answers directly, at least at this stage.
If you’re a creator or consultant like me, I get why this feels like a new opportunity. But please be careful. Jumping into a new technology just because there’s marketing behind it, or because someone on LinkedIn says “SEO is dead,” doesn’t help your clients. Or yourself.
TLDR of actions that actually matter
- Clear, unbiased, and up-to-date brand claims on your site
- Third-party citations and news stories
- Customer reviews and testimonials on trusted sites
- Pages indexed and visible to Google and Bing
- No exaggerated hype or manipulative copywriting
You do not need a GEO subscription or to follow a “data-driven” influencer for any of this. The fundamentals win every time.
“If you’re thinking about GEO, ask yourself: is this really new, or just SEO in a new costume?”
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