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Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly a part of everyday workflows, especially when it comes to discovery. Numerous users now favor chatbots as a primary means of searching for information, which has led businesses to reorient their digital strategies. Rather than focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), generative AI optimization (GEO) could prove to be a better direction for the future.
Prompts Over Search Queries
As compared to 2024, market research suggests that retailers could anticipate an upwards of 520% increase in traffic from chatbots and AI search engines this year. Instead of a traditional search engine, large language models are expected to be the tools helping users find deals and gift ideas this holiday season. Recognizing this market shift, businesses are adopting GEO strategies as a response.
“OpenAI is already moving to capitalize on the trend,” Zoë Schiffer and Louise Matsakis wrote for Wired. “Last week, the ChatGPT maker announced a major partnership with Walmart that will allow users to buy goods directly within the chat window. As people start relying on chatbots to discover new products, retailers are having to rethink their approach to online marketing.”
Users favor prompt-based searching in many cases, and AI companies are incentivized to encourage this behavior; local retailers and market giants like Walmart are each caught in between, and both sides are demanding adaptation. While current trends don’t necessarily suggest that AI will completely supplant traditional search engines, the average business can no longer afford to focus its attention on a single online strategy at this point.
What Is Generative AI Optimization?
Having identified the value of GEO to small and large enterprises alike, considering how the strategy actually works is an important step. To put it simply, GEO is the process of refining how a given AI system may generate content or ideas for the user. This could refer to the adjustment of an algorithm or data inputs, or applying reinforcement learning and user feedback to improve results.
While the average business is not likely to have an AI system of its own to optimize, a similar process to SEO may be applied. If a business wants its products, services, or ideas to be cited by an AI system in the same way that its site might appear as a search engine’s first result, its information must be adapted for AI analysis. Of course, major businesses like Walmart can simply enter paid partnerships, not unlike existing systems on search engines.
“The rewards for winning at search were clear. Earning a high rank in search results means people will click to your site, interact with your content,” Pete Pachal wrote for Fast Company. “Being cited in AI answers is more akin to advertising your brand… a win in GEO means successful reputation management.”
An Emergent, Uncertain Space
As Pachal suggests, the actual benefits of being cited by an AI search engine are not yet clear. This is still a new technology; knowing the kind of user who prefers to use it and how they treat any answers given to them remains uncertain. In its current state, GEO is indeed more a matter of reputation. At the same time, falling behind in GEO could be detrimental if and when AI searches outcompass traditional methods.
How Organizations Can Work Toward GEO
There have been many methods for GEO identified, but the efficacy of each individual method is not yet certain. Regardless, inaction in any of these areas could lead businesses to fall behind competitors who choose to pursue AI optimization strategies. In the push for GEO, even simple solutions may prove to be viable directions.
Concerns Associated With GEO Strategy
Although popular among individuals and industries, AI remains an uncertain technology. Generally accurate, these systems aren’t known to get every answer right; even leading engines like ChatGPT are still undergoing optimization, processes that users aren’t always happy with. GEO seems to be valuable in the context of an AI-powered future, but when that future may come is not yet clear.
“It’s difficult to understand if you’re optimizing for an audience of one or one million,” Pachal continued. “There’s another kind of loss that brands are finding intolerable: incorrect or damaging information in AI answers… All of which is to say that dealing with a reputational problem in AI search is a new kind of difficult-to-crack crisis.”
Why GEO Still Matters for Businesses
While reputational risk is apparent, the right GEO strategy might be able to mitigate it. Aside from this concern, increased adoption of AI isn’t something that the average business can afford to ignore. There is potential for organizations to extract greater value from online spaces and stay ahead in a new kind of search environment. Whether this adaptation yields results in the next few months or a few years, change is not easily ignored.
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