Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) for business websites

Anyone who has used a search engine recently will have noticed a change to the way that search results are displayed. Many searches will now return an AI overview at the very top of the page. This is particularly true when the search term is phrased in a natural or conversational way.

For B2B businesses, the addition of generative AI to search engines like Google has forced a re-evaluation of traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) processes. It’s no longer enough to rank at the top of the search listings; now you must consider why generative AI would decide that you are worthy of being at the top of the page. Fail to do so and you risk a reduction in the website traffic flowing from Google, Bing and other popular search engines.

This blog will guide you through the essentials of GEO and explore how adding it to your search engine optimisation processes can result in big benefits for your business.

What is generative engine optimisation?

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the process of optimising your website pages and online content for search engines that employ generative AI. 

In the past, search engines prioritised content based primarily on keywords. This has evolved over time to make search results more genuinely helpful and relevant to users. With the help of AI, search engines can now decipher the intent behind user searches to deliver more dynamic and relevant results.

Why should businesses care about GEO?

Ultimately, the goal of GEO is to make your brand more visible to the right people at the right time. It’s not difficult to recognise the benefit of that, and here’s how it works:

When your business does GEO well, you can expect to see your content in Google’s Search generative experience (SGE) box, also known as the AI overview. It may also appear as a link in the accompanying right sidebar or ‘knowledge card’. (You’ll see a similar layout on other search engines). This gives you prime position, right at the top of the search results page (SERP). 

Where no AI overview is generated, you may still stand to benefit from making it into the ‘featured snippets’. As time goes on, you’ll also see your content more frequently used and linked to in generative AI platforms, such as Chat GPT Search and Gemini. These are all sure-fire ways to get your website some extra visibility and potentially boost your click-through-rate.

The benefits of optimising your business website for generative AI include:

• Better brand visibility: You’ll be more likely to get that all-important position at the top of the search result page, in turn driving more organic traffic to your website.

• Higher lead generation potential: By focusing on user intent, GEO ensures your content reaches the users who will find it most relevant and useful. While it favours informative content over transactional content, you’ll be keeping your brand front and centre in the minds of your target audience.

• Future-ready SEO: GEO prepares your website for the future where generative AI is central to search.

• Rank above your competition: Making GEO a part of your search optimisation processes will give your business a significant edge over those that rely on traditional SEO tactics.
  

How can I optimise my website for AI powered search?

Complete disclosure: there is no guaranteed way to get your content included in the AI generated responses on any search engine. That said, there are some things you can do to vastly improve your chances of securing your space at the top of the SERP, and a lot of it comes down to really knowing your audience.

Here are some practical tips for improving GEO:

• Do your homework: Before you start creating website content, take a deep dive into what your target audience is searching for. Make sure you understand their intent and create content that answers their questions.

• Create high quality content: Aim for in-depth, informative, and engaging content that provides real value to users (focusing on their needs rather than your product features, for example). Avoid keyword stuffing and use natural language.

• Structure your content in a logical way: Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to make your content easy to scan, read and understand.

• Optimise content for conversational search: Think about how people ask questions in natural language and reply in a natural, human way.

• Make use of tools: Don’t be afraid to try AI-powered tools for content generation, keyword research, and SEO analysis.

• Monitor and adapt: Search isn’t standing still, so neither should you. Be sure to track your website's performance and adapt your GEO strategy as search engine algorithms evolve.
  

SEO vs GEO: Do I need to do both?

In short, yes. Generative engine optimisation only works when you have a solid SEO strategy already in place. While the two digital marketing disciplines are slightly different, they are inextricably linked; only websites that do well in SEO terms stand a good chance of achieving results through GEO. Considering them both side by side will truly set your business up for search success.

Here are some of the similarities between SEO and GEO:

• Both require high quality, well written and original content.

• Both require that you consider the technical aspects like site speed and structure as well as meta data, alongside on page content.

• Both use keywords, although the approach is slightly different.
  

And on that note, here are some of the differences between GEO and SEO:

• SEO usually involves optimising for specific keywords and backlinks, while GEO calls for a deeper understanding of semantics and context. Content needs to be easy for AI to parse and use in its responses.

• SEO focuses on ranking individual pages, while GEO focuses on optimising content to provide responses to user queries.
  

It is also important to note that while both rely on continual monitoring of data and analytics to achieve results, GEO is currently harder to measure and digital teams will need to adapt as the technology and its uses evolve.

Time to call in the search experts?

The rise of AI in search is a big change for digital marketing teams, but ours is ready to face the challenge. We’re already adapting SEO approaches for our clients, proactively bringing GEO into the mix to maximise search engine success and boost the visibility of ambitious B2B brands. Perhaps we could help you too? Contact us today.