WTF is GEO?

Are you one of the 48% of people using AI to make shopping decisions?

This week’s theme has been GEO! Generative Engine Optimisation also known as AI Search or AI Optimisation or AI Visibility. It’s so new, the name ‘GEO’ has only just become mainstream. Sure, we’re all bored of the AI chitchat (*yawns*), but in a matter of months GEO has already transformed the way we buy, search and interact online.

Not only is it giving us easily accessible (and not always accurate) answers at the top of Google etc, in the form of AI Overviews, but in your favoured AI tool (Chat GPT, Copilot, Claude etc) it’s recommending the best options to buy (is your product or service on the list?) and potentially throttling visibility of websites (yes yours).

A great article out today by Suzanne Bearne c/o BBC News explains how the AI summaries are hitting online traffic. “The feature is a concern for newspapers and other media publishers, who have already seen much of their advertising revenue siphoned off by social media.” See link in the chat below.

How to navigate GEO

But how do you, as a business or person, trying to navigate this new search landscape ensure you’re getting seen? I attended a brilliant session today hosted by Lauren Ingram at Next Big Thing c/o The Marketing Meetup who shared some insightful tips.

The key takeaways were, for your digital content, to be:

1: Credible.

2: New.

3: Specific.

4: Human.

5: Consider AI your friend – and feed it information that makes sense and is useful to real people.

The parallels with PR are incredible.

PR already does all of this extraordinarily well. And GEO includes press coverage in its searches. By supporting quality publications, shaping narratives, bylines, thought leadership, profile interviews, comments, reviews and news, as well as reposting on socials and sharing content that looks, feels and reads like a human, you too can earn visibility.

Sure, I’m biased about the power of PR, but at a time when AI is transforming our world at mind-boggling speeds, I take comfort in the knowledge that strategic, considered, trusted content is the cream that will rise to the top.

A sentiment shared by GingerMay's PR icon Victoria Usher in a post earlier this week, which said “For me, this is the exciting shift: GEO shows that when done well, PR delivers measurable outcomes that drive revenue, accelerates investment conversations, and strengthens competitive advantage. PR has always mattered. GEO proves just how commercially powerful it really is.” See link in the chat below.

Sifting through the daily AI hyperbole – this has caught my attention. GEO isn’t going away – how we search for information has changed forever (for better or worse) – and I for one am watching with interest…

*Full post written by a human.

Victoria Fairclough is a PR & Communications Consultant at Fair Communications. For more information, please visit: www.faircommunications.co.uk

FAQs

1.     What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) also known as AI Search or AI Optimisation or AI Visibility. GEO has already transformed the way we buy, search and interact online.

2.     Why should I care?

Not only is it giving us easily accessible (and not always accurate) answers at the top of Google etc, in the form of AI Overviews, but in your favoured AI tool (Chat GPT, Copilot, Claude etc) it’s recommending the best options to buy (is your product or service on the list?) and potentially throttling visibility of websites (yes yours).

A recent BBC News article explains how the AI summaries are hitting online traffic. “The feature is a concern for newspapers and other media publishers, who have already seen much of their advertising revenue siphoned off by social media.”

3.     What can I do to ensure my website, product or service is included in GEO?

Top tips include ensuring your digital content is credible, new, specific and human. Consider AI your friend – and feed it content that makes sense to real people.

4: What’s PR got to do with it?

PR already does all of this extraordinarily well. And GEO includes press coverage in its searches. By supporting quality publications, shaping narratives, bylines, thought leadership, profile interviews, comments, reviews and news, as well as reposting on socials and sharing content that looks, feels and reads like a human, you too can earn visibility.

GEO shows that when done well, PR delivers measurable outcomes that drive revenue, accelerates investment conversations, and strengthens competitive advantage. PR has always mattered. GEO proves just how commercially powerful it really is.