SEO vs GEO: Do You Need Both?

An awful lot is changing out there. AI is taking over the world, everything costs a fortune and it’s forgotten how to rain. Yet amidst these harbingers of impending doom, people still need things, and the way they’re finding them is shifting. 

People still use Google to access information, compare businesses and research what to buy. But increasingly, they’re also asking those eager-to-please AI tools questions. And rather than a page of search results, the AI platforms are serving up complete, although not always accurate, answers.  

About 37% of consumers now start their informational searches using AI tools rather than traditional search engines like Google. That raises two obvious questions for businesses: if people are searching through AI, do you still need SEO? And should you now be investing in GEO, too?

The answer to both questions is yes.

SEO and GEO: what the heck are they?

SEO and GEO are two different ways to improve your business’s visibility when people search for products, services and information online.  

What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) has been around for donkey years now, based on the premise that said donkey is approaching 30. It began when the first automated website crawlers appeared online, and website owners started experimenting with keyword placement and metadata to see how they could influence rankings. 

At its heart, SEO is about improving your website and its content so that search engines like Google can understand what it’s about, recognise its relevance and rank it prominently for relevant searches. These days, that includes everything from keyword research and technical SEO (such as site speed and structure) to on-page optimisation, internal linking and backlinks. 

What is GEO?

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the process of creating and optimising online content so AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini can understand it and recognise the expertise you provide. GEO is much newer than SEO. In donkey years, it’s but a foal, gambolling around the paddock and annoying its mum.  

The goal of GEO is to make your content useful enough to be featured in AI-generated answers, whether that’s through a direct mention, a citation or a link to your website. Unlike traditional SEO, where you’re trying to earn a prominent position in a list of search results, GEO is about getting your business into the answer itself.

Traditional search is changing but not disappearing

Frustrations with conventional search results are increasingly prompting consumers to use AI tools as a starting point for their online enquiries. Rather than sifting through pages of results and clicking multiple links to piece together the information they need, searchers are increasingly using AI tools to get a fast, straight answer. 

AI is also changing how people discover brands. Instead of scrolling through pages of search results and weighing up the options, they can ask an AI tool which products, services or businesses it recommends. AI can then serve up a list of options with an explanation of why each has made the cut. 

But even with these new ways of finding information, 95% of people who use AI search still use Google. Once they have an initial answer, they typically turn to traditional search to verify it, find the brands recommended to them and decide whether they can be trusted.

What’s emerging is that AI and traditional search aren’t an either/or situation. 

Yes, consumers are integrating AI into their search journeys, but not at the expense of traditional search. Instead, they’re combining the two in a hybrid search journey, using AI to find answers and traditional search to evaluate providers. 

For businesses, that means being visible in the search results is still crucial, but so is making your brand easy for AI to understand and recommend.

The good news: SEO and GEO have a lot in common

I know what you’re thinking: “Great, that’s something else I need to throw money at.” But no, not necessarily.

You don’t need separate content strategies for SEO and GEO. Many of the principles that underpin good SEO are also useful for optimising content for the AI platforms, and vice versa. 

And, of course, it helps if you have an experienced, some would say debonair copywriter at hand to ensure your content performs well in traditional and AI search.

How to write SEO and GEO content

When you’re trying to satisfy the demands of the search algorithms and the AI platforms, the secret is to ignore them both (to a certain extent) and write for people first.

If you answer customer questions clearly, structure information logically and demonstrate genuine expertise, you’ll tick a lot of the SEO and GEO boxes without even trying.  

So, whether you’re creating content from scratch or reviewing existing pages, here’s a plan of attack:

Start with search intent

Before worrying about keywords or the latest SEO and GEO ‘hacks’, start by establishing what your audience wants to know and the problems they’re trying to solve at different stages of the buying journey. Content that satisfies their search intent will always be more valuable than resources you create simply to match a search term.

Answer the question early

Resist the temptation for a long, meandering intro. Getting to the point quickly makes your content more useful to people and search systems. Start with a clear, concise answer before diving into the evidence and detail that supports it. 

Use clear headings and structure

Split your content into short, logical sections with descriptive headings. Where it makes sense, use lists, bullet points and tables to make complex information easier for readers to understand and search engines and AI tools to find and extract.  

Build authority and trust

Always make it clear why you’re qualified to talk about a subject and verify any technical or statistical claims you make. That means linking to authoritative sources where appropriate and distinguishing between facts, expert opinion and your own interpretation. That will give readers, search engines and AI tools greater confidence in the information and where it comes from. 

Write naturally 

You don’t need to be a professional copywriter to write articles that sell your products and services. Content written by business owners and in-house subject experts brings authenticity, expertise and a genuine understanding of customer problems. 

The key is to write for your customers first by using language and terminology they understand, while naturally incorporating the relevant terms and questions they use when looking for information. 

Go beyond the obvious

In my last blog – Is AI content good enough for your business? – I explained why using AI to generate content isn’t necessarily a problem, provided you edit and refine it. The real danger is publishing average content that offers nothing new. 

Real-life examples, expert commentary and original insights based on first-hand experience will make your content genuinely useful and worth paying attention to. 

So, do you need SEO and GEO?

The simple answer is, yes, you do. If your customers are using Google and AI platforms to research products and services and make decisions, you need to be there. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do anything new. 

Instead of creating twice as much content as you already do – heaven forbid – just follow the principles I’ve discussed to get your content (and brand) recognised, cited and surfaced by traditional search and AI-powered search tools and summaries.  

And, if you need a hand getting more visibility where it matters, I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch and let’s create content that looks the part and gets your business noticed and remembered.