If you've been paying attention to digital marketing lately, you've probably heard whispers about GEO, or maybe AEO, or LLM optimisation.
Everyone's calling it something different because we're still figuring this out.
But here's what matters. Search is changing, again. If you're not preparing for it, you're already behind.
The real difference? SEO gets you ranked in a list of search results. GEO gets you cited in AI-generated answers. One shows your website as an option. The other puts your expertise directly into the conversation.
We sat down with David Krauter, our founder and head of SEO, and Alannah Picking, our SEO Team Leader, to cut through the noise about GEO and what it actually means for Australian businesses.
What Is GEO, Why Does It Exist, And What Should You Actually Do About It?
SEO gives you a list. GEO gives you an answer.
Traditional SEO is about ranking in Google's top 10 results. Someone searches for "best running shoes," Google shows them 10 websites it thinks are most relevant, and users click through to find their answer.
GEO works differently.
Instead of a list of 10 options, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI engines pull information from multiple sources and give you one conversational answer. If your content gets cited in that answer, you win. If it doesn't, you're invisible.
The shift is from competing for position 1-10 to competing for inclusion in a single, synthesised response. It's about being cited in the conversation, not just listed as an option. Your visibility depends on whether AI engines can find, understand, and cite your content.
Getting citations in AI-generated responses is the new currency of search visibility.
Why GEO Exists and What's Changed in Search?
Search behaviour has evolved.
Remember phone books? They listed every business from A to Z. Smart businesses would name themselves "AAAA Plumbing" just to appear first. That was phone book optimisation.
Google improved on that by ranking results based on authority, relevance, and quality. But people didn't search with keywords. They asked questions, and they've been doing it for years.
The big shift has been from keywords to phrases to full conversations. Google adapted with featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and AI Overviews. Now ChatGPT and other AI engines are taking it further.
These tools don't just understand keywords, they understand intent, they understand context, and they respond conversationally.
That's why GEO exists.
Because search isn't about finding websites anymore, it's about getting answers. The algorithms powering these AI engines work fundamentally differently from traditional search engine algorithms. They synthesise information rather than simply ranking it.
The models behind these AI engines are trained on massive amounts of web content, which means the way you structure and present information determines whether you get access to this new search audience.
Does GEO Mean SEO Is Dead or Evolving?
Short answer: evolving.
"If you're doing SEO really well, if you've paid attention to the last few years, you're already doing GEO," David explains. The principles haven't changed:
- Create authoritative content
- Build topical expertise
- Structure your information properly
- Show up where it matters
What's changed is the format and distribution. Instead of optimising for Google's algorithm alone, you're now optimising for multiple AI engines that pull information from across the web.
Traditional search still matters. People still use Google to find local businesses, compare products, and make purchase decisions. But they're increasingly turning to AI for research, explanations, and recommendations.
One feeds the other. You don't have to choose, you have to do both well. Your organic visibility across both traditional search and AI engines compounds over time when you get the strategy right.
The key insight here is that these aren't different strategies. They're different types of visibility stemming from the same foundational work.
How Should Businesses Start Doing GEO Today?
Before you dive into tactics, ask yourself: are your customers actually using AI search?
This is basic marketing. Know your audience and meet them where they are. If your customers are using ChatGPT to research solutions in your industry, GEO matters. If they're searching for commercial intent keywords like "emergency plumber near me," traditional SEO and Google Ads still dominate.
Understanding where your customers fit in the journey determines whether GEO is worth your time and money right now. Look at your analytics. Where is your traffic actually coming from? What search behaviours are you seeing? What metrics matter for your business success?
The goal isn't to be everywhere. It's to be where it matters.
Once you've answered that question, here's how to prepare:
Be Marketers First, Then SEO Second
A holistic approach to GEO should include an understanding of what the rest of your marketing team is doing. If your social media team is doing something completely different to your SEO team, you're paying money in two places and going in two different directions.
Your SEO should support your Google Ads. If your ads focus on highly commercial intent and driving inquiries, your SEO should write content that addresses concerns people have before making that buying decision. Your brand appears in their research phase, then again when they're ready to buy.
If your social media team covers topics that your content strategy covers, they work hand in hand. You get traffic to those articles, you get backlinks, you get social signals. Rather than your SEO trying to do everything on its own and your social media going another way, you're finding unity across all your marketing channels.
That's the real way to get results from both SEO and GEO.
You Need To Go Broader and Deeper
Traditional SEO taught us to target specific keywords. GEO requires you to cover topics comprehensively.
Going broader means discussing a topic from multiple angles. Going deeper means creating detailed content on each subtopic instead of surface-level overviews.
For example, if you write about technical SEO, don't just scratch the surface. Create detailed content on site speed, structured data, crawlability, and everything related to the main topic. Why? Because AI engines pull from comprehensive sources. If you don't cover a subtopic, you won't get cited when someone asks about it.
Your page needs to be the most comprehensive resource on that topic. AI engines will pull from it for multiple related search queries.
This depth-first approach also helps you stand out from the competition. Most businesses and brands still create shallow content targeting individual keywords. Comprehensive resources get cited more often.
These content assets become the foundation of your entire digital presence.
Structure Your Content for User Experience
AI engines love organised information.
Use:
- Bullet points for quick answers
- Tables for comparisons and data
- Q&A formats for common questions
- Clear headings to break up topics
ChatGPT particularly loves tables because they provide quick, scannable answers that can be pulled directly into responses.
Stop thinking about pulling readers through a narrative. Start thinking about answering questions directly. Question, answer. Question, answer. That's what gets pulled into AI responses.
The days of long-form content that requires someone to spend hours on your page are fading. People want immediate answers, and AI engines are built to deliver them. User experience matters more than ever, both for human readers and AI engines parsing your content.
Different types of content serve different purposes. Blog posts provide depth, tables offer quick comparisons, and videos demonstrate processes. Understanding which format serves the user intent behind each search query helps you create content that gets cited.
Let Search Engines Know You Exist
Submit your website to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. ChatGPT has a close relationship with Bing, so being indexed there matters for getting your content into AI-powered search results.
Also, check your robots.txt file. Make sure you're not accidentally blocking AI engines from crawling your content. It's the same principle as traditional SEO. If you want to be found, you need to be indexable.
These tools also give you valuable analytics and insights about how search engines see your site, what's working, and what needs fixing. The metrics you track here inform your entire strategy.
Show Up Where AI Engines Pull From
ChatGPT doesn't just pull from your website. It pulls from Reddit, Quora, industry forums, YouTube, and authoritative news sites.
Start entering conversations on Reddit about topics related to your business. Answer questions on Quora. Contribute to forums where your customers spend time. Create videos on YouTube that demonstrate your expertise.
Don't try to be everywhere. Focus on platforms where your customers actually hang out and where AI engines are actively pulling information. Show up where it matters for your market, not where it's easiest.
This external presence builds your organic authority across the web, which helps both traditional SEO and GEO simultaneously. Every link back to your site, every mention of your brand, every citation of your expertise adds to your overall visibility.
Social media plays a role here too. While social backlinks may not carry the same weight as traditional links, they provide social signals and help get your content in front of more people who might link to it naturally.
How Do You Optimise Content for Intent in a GEO World?
Intent hasn't changed. How you serve it has.
Understanding what someone actually wants when they search is still the foundation. If someone searches "how to increase site speed," they don't want a sales pitch. They want a practical answer. Give them that answer immediately, then back it up with details.
You also need to think about structure, as AI engines prioritise content that's easy to parse:
- Question as heading
- Direct answer in one paragraph
- Supporting details below
This is different from traditional blog writing, where you hook readers and build to a conclusion. With GEO, the conclusion comes first. Your content strategy needs to adapt to this reality.
Understanding user intent means knowing whether someone wants to learn, compare options, or make a purchase. Match your content to that intent, and you'll get better rankings, more clicks, and higher conversions.
Learn from What's Already Ranking
Google has already worked out what's relevant for a keyword or topic. They've already decided what deserves to rank.
Look at the first page of Google for your target keyword. What are the title tags? What's in the meta descriptions? What words does Google bold in the snippets? That tells you how Google feels about that topic.
Copy that consensus first, build your authority in the space, then you can bring your own insights and really guide Google on what the topic actually means.
It's the same in the real world. You don't get invited to speak at a forum until you have credibility. You need to prove yourself first.
There's a second level of consensus, too: how people want to consume that information. Is it a table? A graph? Short Q&As? Videos? You need to match both the topic consensus and the format consensus. Study the competition to understand what's working.
This competitive analysis is a critical part of keyword research. You're not just looking at search volume. You're understanding the full context of what ranks and why.
What Makes Content 'AI-Ready' for Generative Search Engines?
Three things: technical readiness, content depth, and external authority.
1 - Technical Readiness
- Submit your site to Google and Bing Search Console
- Use structured data and schema markup
- Code tables properly (not as images)
- Name images descriptively
- Avoid JavaScript-heavy sites where possible
Remember, you're dealing with machines. The clearer and more structured your code, the easier it is for AI engines to understand and cite your content.
Structured data and schema markup are critical. It's like speaking the language these engines understand. They can pull your information cleanly and accurately. These technical optimisation techniques matter more for GEO than most businesses realise.
The way your content is structured directly impacts whether AI models can extract and cite it effectively.
2 - Content Depth
Cover topics comprehensively. Answer questions thoroughly. Use the formats AI systems prefer: bullets, tables, Q&As.
You don't need 100 pages targeting individual keywords anymore. That's old-school keyword-based thinking. You need comprehensive resources that serve as the deepest, most authoritative content on your topic.
This is about creating genuine value, not just chasing rankings. The businesses seeing success with GEO are the ones providing real answers to real questions.
3 - External Authority
AI engines don't just crawl your website. They pull from wherever your brand appears online.
That means:
- Contributing to industry forums
- Answering questions on Reddit and Quora
- Publishing on authoritative platforms
- Creating YouTube content (if relevant)
Focus on where your customers actually hang out and where AI engines actively source information. Where does your media match your market? That's where you need to be.
Building these external signals takes time, but it compounds. Each quality link, each brand mention, each piece of content you create on external platforms adds to your overall authority.
Query Networks Matter More Than Keywords
This is the big shift. We're not ranking and targeting keywords anymore.
Someone looking for a dentist might phrase it a hundred different ways: "dentist in this area," "teeth whitening specialist," "root canal expert." You're all looking for a dentist, but saying it differently.
That's the query network. Your site needs to cover that topic in its entirety for Google to see you as an authority. AI engines do the exact same thing.
Tools like Google Search Console and other analytics platforms help you find your query network. Look at what searches are already bringing people to your site. Those variations tell you what to cover.
Then write to cover all your bases. It could be as simple as a Q&A section or FAQ at the end. You don't need a separate page for every variation. You just need comprehensive coverage of the topic.
Understanding your query network also helps you stay ahead of the competition. Most businesses still think in terms of single keywords rather than the full conversation around a topic. This narrow focus means they miss opportunities to rank for related searches and get cited in AI responses.
The experience you provide for one search query should naturally lead users to answers for related questions.
Creating Custom AI Solutions for Your Business
Two more advanced tactics worth considering, depending on your business:
Custom GPTs
You can create and publish a custom GPT branded around your business. The ones that perform well typically do one of three things:
- Help people make more money
- Save them significant time
- Let them impress others
For example, a marketing agency might create a GPT that helps businesses audit their website faster or build better content briefs. A small business without cash flow for a bookkeeper might use one that helps organise invoices for their accountant.
It's creating an agent or a custom prompt, branded for your business, that solves a problem for your target market. This positions you as an authority while providing genuine value.
These tools give you direct access to your audience in a new way, establishing your brand within the AI ecosystem itself.
ChatGPT Merchants (Ecommerce)
If you run an ecommerce store, you can register at chatgpt.com/merchants. This allows your product feed to be pulled into ChatGPT responses when people search for relevant items.
It's currently available in the US, with Shopify already integrated and platforms like Etsy following. You have to apply and be approved at this point.
It works similarly to Google Merchant Center. When people search for certain products, your feed gets pulled in, and your products appear in those conversations. This gives you visibility in AI-powered shopping experiences, potentially driving revenue from an entirely new channel.
The Message-Market-Media Match
This is marketing fundamentals. You need to match your message to the market. But you also need to use the right media to reach them.
Maybe GEO is right for your business. It's blowing up right now. For many companies, it's a great place to be. For others, it's not suited yet.
It's the same with SEO. Search behaviour in AI often happens when people are deep in their research stage. They're not jumping in with "where to find a shirt for a Christmas party." They're using traditional search for that.
But they are asking AI for outfit ideas for a Christmas party, this is where they dig deeper into research, and where your time pays off. Understanding these behaviour patterns should inform your overall digital strategy.
The businesses getting the best results are the ones who understand these differences and adapt their approach accordingly.
Why SEO and GEO Work Together
The fundamentals haven't changed:
- Have a technically sound site
- Build topical authority
- Optimise your content properly
- Let Google know you're the authority by having backlinks and presence around the internet
That's why SEO and GEO work so well together. One feeds the other. It's not like you have to do something completely different.
"I think the only regret people have with SEO is not starting it sooner," David notes. The same applies to GEO. We're in the early days. The businesses that start now will have a massive advantage in a few years.
When we do GEO well, many of our clients are already getting traffic from ChatGPT and other AI engines. It's growing. It's not nearly as much as Google right now, but it is growing, and you can't ignore it.
There isn't one or the other. You've got to do both and do them well. Your organic strategy should encompass both traditional search engines and AI-powered answer engines.
We've got clients now where their website is their business. If they didn't have their website, they wouldn't be turning over tens of millions in revenue a year. And that's because they started seven years ago, 10 years ago, doing their SEO on a small budget. They built assets that compound over time.
Making GEO Work for You
GEO isn't replacing SEO. It's the next evolution of it.
The businesses that win will be the ones that:
- Understand where their customers search
- Create comprehensive, well-structured content
- Show up across multiple platforms
- Make their content easy for AI engines to understand and cite
Start by asking your SEO team: What's my query network? What are you doing to optimise me for generative search? Ask them about custom GPTs and merchant registration if relevant.
Start thinking about how you can leverage AI because it's not scary, it's exciting. Be part of it. If your SEO isn't thinking about how to optimise your performance for GEO, you might be missing out on a big opportunity.
Because this isn't the future. It's already happening.
Want help optimising your content for both traditional search and AI engines? Contact us to discuss your strategy.