GEO vs SEO: New Traffic Source

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, has long been the dominant strategy for attracting organic traffic from platforms like Google and Bing. It’s a craft that combines keyword research, technical performance, backlink building, and high-quality content. SEO-driven websites are designed to appeal to search engine algorithms with structured content, fast loading times, and authoritative links. The main outcome is visibility on search engine results pages and a share of the billions of clicks they generate.

Over the years, marketers have poured massive resources into content that aligns with these principles writing comprehensive guides, targeting niche keyword variations, and optimizing every pixel for that coveted top spot.

What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is emerging as a new frontier. It’s no longer just about appearing in search results. GEO is about becoming part of the answer itself within the AI-generated summaries that tools like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, or Perplexity serve directly to users.

For example, GEO might involve structuring content as concise FAQs, definitions or summaries that AI can parse and quote. Unlike SEO, which pushes users to click through to your site, GEO aims to stay within the AI answer by influencing which sources the AI includes in its reply.

GEO requires a different mindset: optimizing content so that it is easily consumed, cited, or paraphrased by AI systems. These systems extract clean, context-rich summaries, and they’re increasingly replacing the blue link model of traditional search.

SEO vs GEO: Key Differences

The shift from SEO to GEO represents a fundamental change in how traffic is earned online. With SEO, visibility comes from page ranking; with GEO, it comes from becoming part of the AI’s "knowledge."

SEO rewards long-form, keyword-dense content with a clear information hierarchy. It still matters, but it’s no longer sufficient. GEO, by contrast, favors well-structured answers, bite-sized explanations, entity clarity, and alignment with machine-readable schemas.

GEO focuses on appearing in AI-generated answers. It emphasizes structured, easily digestible content (FAQs, lists, short definitions) and machine-readable markup. GEO uses schema data and clear labels so AI systems know exactly what each part of your page is about.

Traditional backlink tactics are less directly relevant; instead, GEO cares about context and authority signals. Success in GEO is measured by how often your content or brand gets mentioned in AI answers or chat responses.

Why GEO Is Gaining Traction

Search traffic is dropping for many sites

Mail Online recently experienced a nearly 50% decline in clicks when Google inserted its AI Overview box above the traditional search results. Even when the publisher was ranked #1, users were far less likely to click through. Mail Online’s case is one of many.

Chegg has gone so far as to file a lawsuit against Google, arguing that AI Overviews have diverted users away from their platform and damaged their revenue streams. (source)

The News/Media Alliance President has warned that incorporating AI tools like Gemini into Google’s search could be “catastrophic” to publishers' traffic, echoing widespread industry concern. (source)

This trend is not isolated. News publishers across the board are sounding the alarm on how generative AI search is reshaping discovery and not in their favor. (CNN)

Apple’s own data showed Safari browser search usage fell for the first time, as users turned to AI assistants instead of Google on iPhone. In short, when Google or other engines answer questions directly, traditional web publishers lose visits.

User behavior is shifting to AI

The growth potential for GEO is enormous. With consumers turning into AI search and traffic shifting, GEO could command a major share of search marketing budgets within the next 2–3 years.

Consumers are increasingly getting answers from chatbots rather than clicking search links. A recent Bain & Company study found 80% of users rely on AI-generated summaries for at least 40% of their searches. Moreover, about 60% of Google searches now end without the user clicking through to another site. Large Language Model chatbots (like ChatGPT) have become popular research tools too – roughly 68% of AI chatbot users rely on them to gather and summarize information. In practice, this means more queries are being answered inside AI interfaces. As Bain concludes, “SEO optimization is no longer enough” and brands risk losing visibility if they ignore AI-driven search.

As AI becomes the filter, GEO becomes essential.

Traffic from AI answer engines is still small compared to Google, but it’s growing fast. Analytics firms report that referrals from generative AIs have jumped from almost zero to significant levels in under a year. For example, Chartbeat found that pageviews coming from ChatGPT shot from about 371,000 in August 2024 to 3 million in January 2025.

Similarweb data shows that major publishers collectively got ~3.5 million visits from ChatGPT in January 2025 versus roughly 8.4 million from Google search alone at one outlet (The Atlantic) in the same month.

In other words, AI-based referrals are rising rapidly (8× in six months for many news sites).

This trend is especially visible for news and content publishers: many report growing sessions from ChatGPT, Bing’s new copilot, Perplexity, and Google’s AI features. The bottom line: generative AI sources are still a modest share of traffic today, but the year-over-year growth is dramatic.

GEO is not hypothetical. It’s happening. And fast.

Top Generative AI search engine

OpenAI ChatGPT
Google Gemini
Claude
DeepSeek
Mistral
LLAMA
Perplexity
Google AI Overview
Microsoft Copilot

How to Optimize for GEO

GEO is not just a tweak on SEO, it’s a new discipline. It demands content that AI tools can easily parse, understand, and cite. That includes structured data, direct answers, and content that matches real user queries as interpreted by large language models.

Start by running the same kinds of prompts a user would ask an AI: “What are the top X in [industry]?”, “Which [product] is best for small businesses?” or “Top-rated [service] providers”. If your brand isn’t mentioned, you’ve got work to do.

Then come the fundamentals: ensure your content is structured for AI readability. Use descriptive headings. Add FAQ and Q&A formats. Include schema.org markup for reviews, authors, and product details. Don’t block AI crawlers tools like GPTBot and Googlebot-AI need access to your site. Check your robots.txt and make sure it allows them in.

Visibility starts with accessibility.

You’ll also need to monitor your brand presence across generative engines. GEO tools now exist that can show where and how your content is being used in AI outputs. These tools help track brand mentions in ChatGPT, Bing’s Copilot, or Perplexity and compare them over time much like traditional search consoles track keyword performance.

Finally, strengthen your authority. Brands that are cited frequently and positively tend to show up more often in AI outputs. That means PR, backlinks, mentions, and a strong digital presence all still matter they just now play a role in how AI perceives and ranks your authority in its answers.

Actionable Steps

Step One: Test Your Visibility

Start by searching like your customers would through the lens of a generative AI tool. Ask questions like “What are the best CRM tools for startups?” or “Top-rated project management platforms.” The results may surprise you. If your brand isn’t mentioned, look closely at who is. What kind of language, structure, or sources are those AI tools referencing?

Keyword Research about What AI Understands

The keyword research process doesn’t disappear in GEO, it evolves. Standard SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Keyword Planner still play a role. But you’ll need to go deeper into user questions, related terms, and semantic connections. The more clearly you align with search intent, the better chance you have of being surfaced in AI answers.

Terms that connect naturally with FAQs, buyer comparisons, and industry specific use cases tend to perform well. Think in terms of completeness: are you answering the actual question the user might ask, or just brushing the surface?

Make Sure AI Can Actually See Your Site

This step is frequently overlooked. If generative engines can’t access your site, they can’t recommend you. It’s critical to ensure that your robots.txt file allows crawling from major AI agents like GPTBot, Googlebot, and ClaudeBot.

Use tools like WAF360: Bot Detection for AI Crawlers to monitor how bots are interacting with your site. Your content should be easy to parse not just for humans, but for machines too. That means short, scannable paragraphs, clear headings, and proper use of structured data. Schema markup for things like products, FAQs, reviews, and videos can make a big difference. AI models use these cues to interpret your content’s purpose and context.

Build Authority Where It Counts

Generative engines trust brands that have a strong presence across the web. This is about more than just backlinks, it’s about recognition. Brands that show up consistently in high-quality content, earn mentions in knowledge panels, or are featured in reputable directories have a better chance of being referenced by AI.

If your site is well structured but still isn’t showing up, consider ways to deepen your credibility. This could mean collaborating with influencers, publishing in respected industry outlets, or getting your data into structured databases that AI models pull from.

Consistency across channels your website, social profiles, public mentions sends the right trust signals.

GEO Is the New SEO?

Not quite. At least, not yet. But the two now live side by side.

To stay relevant, brands must do both: continue optimizing for traditional search engines, while also adapting content for the answer engines of today. Think of SEO as visibility in a list, and GEO as becoming the answer itself.

For marketers, this shift means revisiting how content is planned, written, and measured. For businesses, it’s a call to engage a new kind of strategy one where the goal is not just to rank, but to be read aloud by the AI answering your future customers.