At Geotelecom we are SEO positioning experts and today we want to talk about a topic that has been circulating for some time in different channels. We're not going to bore you with a very long introduction like “in today's digital world it is increasingly necessary to work with AI and that's why in this post...” So let's get to the point:
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
GEO refers to the process of optimizing content to make it more visible in results generated by AI-based search engines such as ChatGPT, Google SGE, Bing Chat or Perplexity. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on positioning in classic search results, GEO is looking for content to be selected and presented by these generative engines in their synthesized responses.
To achieve this, it is essential to create content that is clear, relevant and reliable, The language models will be able to understand it and use it effectively in their responses.
Why is it important?
Search engines such as Google Chrome have been improving their search algorithm to deliver quality results. Google BERT, for example, was a considerable change, since it is an LLM-based model whose training allowed for better understand the context of the sentences and not just single words. This generated that a page is no longer positioned only by a keyword, but by a set of synonyms, long tails and relationships.
This completely changes the approach: it is not enough to position a URL, you have to create texts that AI-based engines can understand and use to display content pointing to your website.
GEO key points
1. Search intent focused on questions
As you may have noticed with ChatGPT or other AI tools, The content of your website works best when it is focused on answering questions; this makes it very important for the content to have a conversational intent.
2. Natural and semantic language
As mentioned above, the search engines can understand the whole context and not just a specific keyword. This makes them able to make semantic relationships of the content and therefore show associated results in a more encapsulated way.
3. Don't forget it's a robot: use of structure and hierarchy.
Structured data are also of great importance and, if we facilitate the reading of the content from the structural point of view, this will considerably improve the understanding of the web site.
4. Authority and quality of content
The authority of the domain will also influence the likelihood that the content will be analyzed and displayed in the SERP. It is a factor that has always been relevant, but nowadays we have been able to appreciate a greater movement of sessions coming from IA when the website has a higher relevance for a certain type of content.
What is AEO and how does it relate to GEO?
They are different concepts, but they are related to each other: the Answer Engine Optimization o AEO refers to content engine optimization aimed at generating fast and concise answers.
We see this, for example, in voice searches,excerpts from related questions o “people also ask”, voice assistants, etc.
While the latter previously existed without the new AI models, today Google's SERP has changed and so has the way voice assistants search for information.
The key difference is in the definition: the AEO focuses on giving immediate and concise answers, while the GEO tries to provide more information and context to the query. In this table we are going to see the difference, but it is important to keep in mind that it is not a replacement for organic positioning; they are simply novel approaches that will begin to work in «traditional» SEO.» .
Is SEO dead?
NO, SEO is still the only correct concept. GEO and AEO are new terms, yes, but they are still strategies that go hand in hand with traditional SEO. In that sense, SEO is not dead, it's just more comprehensive than ever.
It is important to keep in mind that AI-based engines use the same criteria as technical SEO in order to correctly understand the web, such as structured data, web semantics, HTML and structure, and so on. In that sense, although it may seem that SEO is no longer used, it is quite the opposite.
GEO can affect SEO metrics
We are talking about a new way of showing some results in the SERP. Before we made a query and the normal thing was to click on one of the first results, but now, it is quite likely that our doubt is solved in a sentence that does not even make us enter the page from which it was extracted.
This could possibly will generate losses in clicks and impressions for certain informational keywords, since (for the time being), these results appear when the query can be understood with a “how, what, when, where, why”.
But there is no need for alarm. The SERP undergoes constant changes that cause and are part of our DNA as SEO experts. Search engines are changing environments and we must have the ability to adapt.
However, it does it is essential to control traffic and metrics associated with this new digital paradigm. For this reason, here are some tips to help you prepare for this new paradigm:
Tips for monitoring AI traffic and impact on your website.
Google Search Console and GA4 are the basic tools to monitor this, although there are other useful paid tools.
Tip 1: create scan reports.
In GA4 you can create custom reports to further analyze some of the data from your sessions.
To do this, simply select as dimension the referring URL of the page, as metric use the sessions and, if you want, you can add the path, which is very useful to detect the URLs that are visiting. Here is an example of the table:
NOTEThe key is in the use of filters and regex, since in the referrer URL you must specify the IAs you want, for example, OpenAI, Copilot, Gemini, etc. This can be done from the filtering option within each report.
Tip 2: monitor your keywords.
From Search Console you can identify your most important keywords. However, remember that GEO applies especially to informational queries, so you can filter by long tail keywords containing “how, what, when”, etc.
Here the important thing is to identify sudden drops in printouts y clicks in words that responded to more direct concerns.
Can I apply it to any website?
Yes, but it makes more sense if your website is a lead site or if you have informational content that encompasses non-transactional intentions.
What is the future of SEO with the existence of GEO?
It's hard to know what the future holds. We only need to think about what we were doing a few years ago when ChatGPT didn't exist and how we generated content to understand how fast the world is evolving.
Despite this, we are confident that SEO will only transform itself as it has done so many times before. At this point it is essential to to count on professionals in web positioning to guide you on how to optimize the content of your site to avoid losing so many impressions or to appear in this type of results and improve your organic traffic.
It may be a coincidence that our agency has “GEO” in its name, but it is a sign to contact us and inform you about our services. SEO services for AI.
