SEO is Dead — Long Live GEO? How to Win in the Age of Gen AI

It’s a seismic shift. Users are increasingly turning to generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini for instant answers. The rules of search and content are being rewritten. Traditional SEO, once the cornerstone of online visibility, is no longer enough. Welcome to the era of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). This is the essential strategy for brands that want to stay relevant in the age of AI.

Traditional SEO is Losing the Battle

For decades, businesses have invested heavily in SEO to climb the ranks of Google searches. But now users are bypassing Google altogether and asking high-powered AI engines for direct answers. Apple reportedly saw the use of Google searches decline on its devices for the first time in April of this year. The result of this is that your brand’s meticulously optimized content may be left in the dark, unseen by your target audience. Brands will feel the impact with fewer organic leads and declining web traffic as GenAI engines bypass Google to become the go-to source for information.

This isn’t in the future. This is happening right now. Gartner predicts a 25% drop in traditional search engine use by next year, while Generative AI platforms are experiencing explosive growth. Early adopters of GEO are gaining a competitive advantage. Some have reported up to a 115% increase in visibility. The message is clear: Without GEO, your brand could quickly become invisible in this rapidly evolving digital reality.

Winning in the Age of GEO

GEO isn’t just a technical tweak. It’s a strategic rethinking and restructuring of your content that ensures your brand is positioned to be the authority when your target audience has questions. Here are a few high-level tips:

The Question is King - Brainstorm questions your target audience asks that eventually lead them to your business as an answer. Now develop content that answers those questions. 

Above Rank -  Page ranking is over. There is no page two of search results when you ask ChatGPT. You either show up as part of the answer, or you don’t.

Who Uses Bing Anyway? - No. SEO is not really dead. You still need to optimize for search, but there are differences. One major difference is that you need to optimize for Bing rather than Google. ChatGPT and Copilot rely on Bing’s indexing, not Google’s.

You Are What You EEAT - GenAI engines, like Google, rank and index content based on the age-old SEO principle of EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness). Focus your content on being the expert and the authority on the subject. What can you do in SEO to increase the trustworthiness of your content?

Use Your Voice - Unique content tailored to your brand’s expertise and voice is more likely to be selected and cited by generative AI engines.

The Structured Look - GenAI engines, like Google bots, don’t really “understand” your content the way people do. They need signs that point the way and tell them what things are. There are two ways to create those signs: semantic markup and structured data. Semantic markup uses meaningful HTML tags to describe the structure and role of your content, while structured data uses standardized schemas to give machines explicit information about the content. You need both to really help AIs understand your content so they can use it to answer the right questions.

Be More Accessible - Just like with SEO, accessible sites are more structured and, therefore, more readable by both search engines and AI bots.

Test and Measure - GEO is still very new. The playbook is still being written and is likely to change. What works well for one brand’s content may not work as well for another. That’s why it’s important to test and evaluate your results. The major players in SEO are already offering tools and features to help with this, such as Semrush’s AI Toolkit and Ahrefs’ Brand Radar. Both track your brand’s brand presence and audience sentiment across AI platforms and use AI to recommend improvements.

Take Action Now. Don’t Let Your Brand Get Left Behind.

Is your content appearing in AI-generated answers? Is your company ready to adapt to the new rules of digital visibility? Now is the time to act. At CI&T, we understand the complexities of the generative search revolution. Our team of Content Strategists and SEO specialists can help with:

- A content and competitive analysis
- A deep dive into your analytics
- Content restructuring and schema markup implementation
- Ongoing performance monitoring and AI response analysis
- Training and resources to help your team stay ahead of the curve

Reach out to CI&T today and secure your success at the forefront of the GEO revolution.

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