How to level up your brand content with GEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has long been a cornerstone of B2B digital strategies.

However, the rise of generative AI (genAI) has made it more challenging for B2B brand content to get noticed through organic search.

From Google’s AI Overviews to large language models like ChatGPT and Claude, genAI platforms can provide buyers with direct recommendations for products and services.

Research shows that 89% of B2B buyers are already using genAI during their purchase journey. To maximise the reach of your brand awareness content, it’s vital to meet buyers where they are.

Now is the time to take a proactive approach and start gearing your content for the AI age through the process of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

In this article, we explore how GEO can help ensure genAI platforms cite and draw upon your content, and how a brand and content agency like Rationale can kickstart your GEO strategy.

Key takeaways

• GenAI platforms create ‘zero click’ interactions with brands, making it harder for content to be seen through organic search
• SEO and GEO follow similar principles, but also have specific nuances
• Taking a joint approach to SEO and GEO can maximise the reach of your content
• You can optimise content for AI by focusing on natural language, question-based headings and a clear structure and formatting
• A brand agency like Rationale can help you develop a GEO strategy to boost your content

What is GEO and why is it valuable?

The relatively new process of GEO is quickly becoming an essential tool for brands to drive awareness, build preference and support conversion. 

As more buyers use AI tools to find products and services, this has led to the rise in ‘zero click’ interactions, where buyers are given recommendations in AI answers without needing to click through to a separate website to get information. 

Even Google seems to be moving its offering away from a traditional search experience, with new changes coming imminently that will more heavily integrate AI-driven, zero-click results.

This makes it harder for brands to control their buyer journey through web content or ads, meaning owned channels are losing some of their influence.

Organic search still has staying power, so you shouldn’t throw out the SEO playbook just yet. However, understanding that many buyers will have ‘zero click’ interactions with your brand makes it essential to get cited by the AI platforms they’re using.

GEO vs SEO: what’s the difference?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

SEO is about optimising your web content to rank highly on search engines like Google and Bing, driving more people to click through to your website organically.

The main principles of SEO are adding certain keywords to content, adding backlinks to reputable websites and internal links between your site pages, ensuring good technical performance, and adding correct page metadata, such as keyword tags on images.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)

Also called AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimisation), this process is about ensuring your brand will be cited and mentioned within responses to queries on generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. It involves optimising your web content so it will be recognised by any AI algorithms that crawl your webpages.

AI highly values trust signals and clear schema markup, so a few key processes include using FAQ formats with a clear question-response structure, and using natural conversational language that will reflect how people might interact with AI platforms.

How to optimise content for AI: Five writing tips

1. Write content that answers questions

GenAI is designed to answer queries, so use your titles and subheadings to reflect what buyers might ask about your industry or brand. This will help content be picked up by AI tools and boost your brand trust signals by showing awareness of your audiences.

2. Give a direct answer first

Put the answer to each question in the first sentence, as genAI tends to favour content that gets to the point quickly. Readers will also appreciate having their questions answered directly without having to read through a whole paragraph.

3. Structure your content clearly

GenAI is trained to parse written content based on clearly labelled headings, so make use of frequent H2 and H3 headings in the correct hierarchy. This will make your content easily readable for both genAI and your audience.

4. Make every section self-contained

Because genAI reads sections of text independently, ensure that everything below an H2 or H3 heading provides enough of an answer in isolation. Don’t refer to points stated previously in the content, such as “As explained above”, or “With this in mind”. This can also make your content easier to digest at first glance for new readers.

5. Use natural language

Even when optimising content to be cited by AI, you should use natural language that is easily understandable and suited to your audience. Avoid using AI-generated content, as the writing can come across as tonally flat, generic and lacking in real insight. As people become more aware of what’s AI-generated versus human-made, this will be increasingly important to ensure your content sticks the landing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does AI like ChatGPT decide which brands to cite?

Similarly to how search engine bots crawl webpages to determine how well they use certain keywords and technical data, AI platforms look for question-answer formats and natural language to determine if content is valuable and relevant to certain queries asked by their users.

Adding to this, AI algorithms also base their citations on trust signals, such as how often your brand is mentioned on reputable sites such as industry news outlets, forums like Reddit, or product comparison sites.

Why is my brand ranking highly on search, but not on AI?

Your content could be well optimised for certain keywords and metadata which helps it rank on search, but it may be lacking schema markup or headings to show key questions with clear answers, which will be picked up by AI.

You might also need to strengthen trust signals, which can require a stronger focus on PR and content marketing to get your brand mentioned in the right places.

Does following SEO best practice affect your AI visibility?

Both SEO and GEO follow similar principles around content readability and structure, and optimising for one can certainly help the other. One approach can be to target your SEO around key phrases that are structured as queries, then ensure your content provides answers for AI to pick up on.

Several factors can influence both your organic search rankings and AI visibility. This is why adopting a joint optimisation strategy is important, as you can ensure content is tailored for maximum visibility across all platforms.

Do I need AI tracking software to track AI visibility?

There are a growing number of platforms providing AI visibility data, but this is still an evolving market and much of current GEO is done manually by testing queries on AI platforms. The key thing to keep in mind is that data alone is often not enough.

A robust GEO strategy needs a blend of data, insight and strategic expertise. This is where a brand and content agency like Rationale can help.

How can a brand and content agency help to optimise my content?

Working with an experienced brand and content agency gives you access to specialised industry and strategic expertise, helping you develop a strong GEO and SEO strategy.

As an extension of your team, we at Rationale are able to tailor and optimise your content to maximise AI visibility.

We’ve helped brands across regulated markets develop content that engages and excites buyers, while truly embodying their unique brand voice and positioning.

We’d love to help you develop your content strategy to ensure your content reaches people in AI, search and beyond.

Ready to plan how your content will get noticed in the age of AI? Get in touch with us today.