How Generative Engine Optimization Has Changed Search

Keep up with the latest innovations in search engine optimization, with a refreshed strategy that focuses on the most recent development in the search landscape - Generative Engine Optimization. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) marks a significant shift from traditional SEO. GEO is centered around content creation and optimization for AI-driven platforms including AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Bing Copilot. This makes producing AI-synthesizable content vital to be included in AI-generated summaries and snippets.  

GEO’s Impact on Your Customers

Today’s users are looking for personalized and immediate responses to their search queries. They’re seeking tailored solutions and recommendations presented conversationally. To ensure your brand remains relevant and visible to your customers, your digital content needs to be structured in a way that can be easily understood and processed by AI engines. Your content should be long-form and be built around conversational language, long-tail keyword phrases, and structured data to ensure AI models can easily interpret it. Creating and implementing a successful GEO strategy also requires adaptability, fluidity, and new ideas:

• Flexible Strategy Development: Just like the general digital landscape, the AI-driven landscape is also evolving more and more. This means that GEO strategies need to be flexible enough to evolve right alongside user behaviour, best practices, and algorithm updates. 
• Fluid Mindset: In addition to creating flexible strategies, you must be able to seamlessly shift tactics as needed. Generative engine optimization requires a fluid approach to content creation, optimization, and distribution. AI collects information from a range of sources across the web. Your strategy must involve building authority across sources that AI engines may reference.
• Fresh Ideas: GEO success is heavily dependent upon outside-the-box thinking. AI models favor factual, informative, and engaging content. This means your brand should strive to infuse unique ideas and original insights into copywriting. Consider new approaches such as targeting niche audiences with unique solutions, or testing different content formats. 

GEO goes well beyond simply adding target keyword phrases to your content pieces. Comprehensive and highly-engaging copywriting is the winning recipe for success in today’s AI-favored landscape. Segment SEO’s Generative Engine Optimization services can position you for success by building up your topical authority and increasing brand visibility. We’ll ensure your content is discoverable in both the emerging generative AI world, and the traditional search world. Speaking of traditional SEO, let’s take a look at how exactly it differs from GEO.

The Difference Between Traditional SEO and GEO

The main difference between traditional search engine optimization and generative engine optimization is that GEO focuses on optimizing content to be served in a conversational and comprehensive manner. Whereas traditional SEO’s focus is to get pages ranked. The main difference comes down to how your site’s content is presented in search results. To break things down further, here’s a closer look at those key differences:

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Despite the rise of AI and users’ preferred way of receiving information, we should strive to maintain a balance between traditional and generative SEO. The relationship between the two needs to be synergistic in order to achieve long-term results. One should not serve as a replacement for the other, but rather as a supplement. Your brand can position itself for success by understanding the differences between the two, and how they work together.

Optimizing for Traditional SEO and GEO

While the fundamentals of SEO remain the same, the enhancement of personalization and understanding that AI brings means that content needs to be crafted in a way that directly addresses user needs. Refine your existing strategy around the following areas:

• Copywriting Focused on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness): Both GEO and traditional SEO favor content that demonstrates E-E-A-T. Create content that is insightful and provides valuable information that helps users.
• Human and AI Centered Copywriting: As you create your factual and unique content, make sure it is structured for readability and clarity. Use proper headings, build lists, and keep paragraphs concise. This makes content synthesization easier. 
• Focus on user intent: Make sure you clearly understand what your audience is searching for. Give them comprehensive answers or solutions to their queries.
• Create fresh content: Update your past content with new findings and data. This signals relevance to search engines and AI models.

Focusing on these areas will ensure that your content is discoverable across traditional search and generative search. Additionally, you’ll want to make sure you’re tracking the results of your efforts. Tracking AI-driven traffic can uncover valuable data that you didn’t know you needed. There are a few ways to do this including:

• New Traffic Acquisition Report: Create a report in GA4's Library, focusing on AI traffic acquisition.
• Add a Session Source/Medium Dimension: Identify the origin of AI traffic by including a Session Source/Medium dimension in the report.
• Prioritize Traffic Source Display: Prioritize the display of AI traffic by setting "Session Source/Medium" as the default column.
• Filter AI Search Traffic: Parse out AI search engine traffic by applying a regular expression filter to the Session Source/Medium.‍
• Save Your AI Report: Save your newly configured report with a name specific to AI traffic (ex: “AI Traffic Insights”) for easy access.

Conclusion

The changes we’re seeing across the SEO landscape are not slowing down anytime soon. Keeping up with all the new advancements in the digital world can feel overwhelming, but offers great opportunities for elevating your brand’s visibility. Our focus is to ensure that tech and B2B businesses are set-up for success, as things continue to evolve. If you have any questions about the future of SEO, or if you’re ready to get started refining your strategy to include GEO, get in touch with us for a free consultation.

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