The recreation has modified, and fairly lately, too.
Generative engine optimization (GEO), AI Overviews (AIOs), or simply an extension of website positioning (now being dubbed on LinkedIn as Search All over the place Optimization) – which acronym is right?
I’d argue it’s GEO, as you’ll see why. And if you happen to’ve ever constructed your personal giant language mannequin from scratch like I did in 2020, you’ll know why.
We’ve all seen varied scary (for some) information on how click-through charges have now dropped off the cliff with Google AIOs, how LLMs like ChatGPT are eroding Google’s share of search – mainly “website positioning is lifeless” – so I received’t repeat them right here.
What I’ll cowl are first rules to get your content material (alongside along with your firm) advisable by AI and LLMs alike.
Every thing I disclose right here relies on real-world experiences of AI search successes achieved with shoppers.
Utilizing an instance I can speak about, I’ll go together with Boundless as seen under.
Screenshot by writer, July 2025
Inform The World One thing New
Think about the dread a PR company would possibly really feel if it signed up a brand new enterprise consumer solely to seek out they haven’t received something newsworthy to advertise to the media – a tricky promote. Conventional website positioning content material is a bit like that.
We’ve all seen and finished the slightly drained final content material information to [insert your target topic] playbooks, which try to show your web site into the Wikipedia (a key information supply for ChatGPT, it appears) of no matter trade you occur to be in.
And let’s face it, it labored so properly, it ruined the web, in accordance with The Verge.
The elemental downside with that kind of website positioning content material is that it has no info acquire. When trillions of webpages all observe the identical “finest observe” playbook, they’re not telling the world something genuinely new.
You solely have to take a look at the Data Acquire patent by Google to underscore the significance of content material possessing worth, i.e., your content material should inform the world (by way of the web) one thing new.
BoundlessHQ commissioned a survey on distant work, asking ‘Ideally, the place would you wish to work from if it had been your selection?’
The outcomes supplied a set of knowledge and this sort of content material is excessive effort, distinctive, and value-adding sufficient to get cited in AI search outcomes.
In fact, it shouldn’t take AI to provide this sort of content material within the first place, as that might be good website positioning content material advertising and marketing in any case. AI has merely compelled our hand (extra on that later).
In spite of everything, in case your content material isn’t distinctive, why would journalists point out you? Bloggers hyperlink again to you? Folks share or bookmark your web page? AI retrain its fashions utilizing your content material or cite your model?
You get the thought.
For improved AI visibility, embrace your information sources and analysis strategies with their limitations, as this stage of transparency makes your content material extra verifiable to AI.
Additionally, updating your information extra commonly than yearly will point out reliability to AI as a trusted info supply for quotation. What LLM doesn’t need more moderen information?
website positioning Might Not Be Useless, However Key phrases Undoubtedly Are
Key phrases don’t let you know who’s truly looking out. They simply let you know what phrases set off advertisements in Google.
Your content material might be interesting to college students, retirees, or anybody. That’s not concentrating on; that’s one dimension matches all. And within the AI age, one dimension positively doesn’t match all.
So, kiss goodbye to content material guides written in a single type of English, which win site visitors throughout all English-speaking areas.
AI has created extra jobs for entrepreneurs, so to win the identical site visitors as earlier than, you’ll must create the identical content material as earlier than for these English-speaking areas.
Key phrase instruments additionally allegedly let you know the search volumes your key phrases are getting (if you happen to nonetheless need them, we don’t).
So, if you happen to’re planning your content material technique on key phrase analysis, cease. You’re optimizing for the improper search engine.
What you are able to do as an alternative is a strong market analysis primarily based on the uncooked information sources utilized by LLMs (not the LLM outputs themselves). For instance, Grok makes use of X (Twitter), ChatGPT has publishing partnerships, and so forth.
The discussions are the true matters to position your content material technique round, and their quantity is the true content material demand.
AI Inputs, Not AI Outputs
I’m seeing some discussions (suggestions even) that creating data-driven or research-based content material works for getting AI suggestions.
Given the dearth of true data-driven content material that AI craves, get pleasure from it whereas it lasts, as that can solely work within the brief time period.
AI has raised the content material bar, that means individuals are particular of their search patterns, such is their confidence within the expertise.
Due to this fact, content material entrepreneurs will rise to the problem to provide extra focused, substantial content material.
However, even in case you are utilizing LLMs in “deep” mode on a premium subscription to inject extra substance and worth into your content material, that merely received’t make the AI’s high quality minimize.
Anticipating such fanciful outcomes is like asking AI to rehydrate itself utilizing its sweat.
The outcomes of AI are by-product, diluted, and hallucinatory by nature. The hallucinatory nature is without doubt one of the the reason why I don’t worry LLMs resulting in synthetic common intelligence (AGI), however that’s one other dialog.
Due to the worth degradation of the outcomes, AI is not going to wish to danger degrading its fashions on content material based on AI outputs for worry of turning into dumber.
To create content material that AI prefers, it’s essential be utilizing the identical information sources that feed AI engines. It’s lengthy been recognized that Google began its LLM undertaking over a decade in the past when it began coaching its fashions on Google Books and different literature.
Whereas most of us received’t have the funds for an X.com information firehose, you may nonetheless discover inventive methods (like now we have), corresponding to taking out surveys with sturdy pattern sizes.
Some significant press protection, media mentions, and good backlinks might be vital sufficient to shift AI into seeing the worth of your content material, being judged ok to retrain its fashions and replace its worldview.
And by data-mining the identical information sources, you can begin structuring content material as direct solutions to questions.
You’ll additionally discover your content material is written to be extra conversational to match the search patterns utilized by your goal consumers after they immediate for options.
website positioning Fundamentals Nonetheless Matter
GEO and website positioning are usually not the identical. The reverse engineering of search engine outcomes pages to direct content material technique and formulation was efficient as a result of rank place is a regression downside.
In AI, there is no such thing as a rank; there are solely winners and losers.
Nonetheless, there are some heavy overlaps that received’t go away and are much more vital than ever.
Not like website positioning, the place extra phrase depend was usually extra, AI faces the extra constraints of rising power prices and shortages of pc chips.
Meaning content material must be much more environment friendly than it’s for search engines like google and yahoo for AI to interrupt down and parse that means earlier than it may possibly decide its worth.
So, by all means:
- Code pages for sooner loading and faster processing.
- Deploy schema for including context to the content material.
- Construct a conversational answer-first content material structure.
- Use HTML anchor bounce hyperlinks to totally different sections of your content material.
- Open your content material to LLM crawling and use llms.txt file.
- Present programmatic content material entry, RSS feeds, or different.
These practices are extra factors of hygiene to assist make your content material extra discoverable. They might not be a recreation changer for getting your group cited by AI, however if you happen to can crush GEO, you’ll crush website positioning.
Human, Not AI-Written
AI engines don’t cite boring rehashes. They’re too busy doing that job for us and as an alternative cite sources for his or her rehash as an alternative.
Now, I’ve heard arguments say that if the standard of the content material (let’s assume it even consists of info acquire) is on level, then AI shouldn’t care whether or not it was written by AI or a human.
I’d argue in any other case. As a result of the very last thing any LLM creator needs is their LLM to be retrained on content material generated by AI.
Whereas it’s unlikely that generative outputs are tagged in any means, it’s fairly apparent to people when content material is AI-written, and it’s additionally fairly apparent statistically to AI engines, too.
LLMs may have sure tropes which are frequent to AI-generated writing, like “The way forward for … “.
LLMs received’t default to producing lived private experiences or spontaneously producing refined humour with out heavy inventive prompting.
So, don’t do it. Preserve your content material written by people.
The Future Is A New Focused Substantial Worth
Getting your content material and your organization advisable by AI means it wants to inform the world one thing new.
Ensure it presents info acquire primarily based on substantive, non-LLM-derived analysis (sufficient to make it worthy of LLM mannequin inclusion), nailing the website positioning fundamentals, and maintaining it human-written.
The query now turns into, “What are you able to do to provide high-effort content material ok for AI with out costing the earth?”
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