Over the past year, you’ve probably seen more and more people talking about GEO. We certainly have.
Some claim it’s replacing SEO. Others say it’s simply a buzzword. As with most things in digital marketing, the reality is somewhere in between. On top of, in fact.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is becoming an important part of online visibility as people increasingly use AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude to research products and ask for recommendations. At the same time, Google remains the biggest source of organic traffic for most businesses.
So which matters more?
The answer is both.
Long story short: Good SEO gives your business the foundations to be discovered online. GEO helps ensure you’re visible in the growing number of AI powered search experiences. They’re not competing strategies. In fact, one relies heavily on the other.
What is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the process of improving your website so it performs better in traditional search engines such as Google and Bing.
That includes technical improvements, creating useful content, earning backlinks, improving user experience and making it easier for search engines to understand your website.
The goal is simple. When someone searches for a product or service you offer, you want your website to appear as prominently as possible.
For most businesses, SEO remains one of the most effective long term marketing investments because it attracts people who are actively looking for what you do.
What is GEO?
GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation.
Instead of trying to rank a webpage, GEO focuses on increasing the chances of your business being referenced by AI systems when they generate answers.
Rather than typing “SEO agency Hull” into Google, someone might ask ChatGPT:
“Which SEO agencies in Hull have a good reputation with local businesses?”
Instead of returning a page of search results, the AI generates an answer based on information it has gathered from multiple sources.
If your business is mentioned accurately and positively, that’s a successful GEO outcome.
So, what’s the difference?
SEO is about helping search engines understand and rank your website.
GEO is about helping AI systems understand your business well enough to recommend it.
That sounds like a big difference, but in practice there’s a huge amount of overlap.
The same things that make a website perform well in Google also help AI systems build confidence in your business. Helpful content, technical quality, clear site structure, consistent business information and genuine authority all matter.
That’s why we see SEO as the cornerstone of GEO rather than an alternative to it.
SEO Still Comes First
One of the biggest misconceptions is that businesses should stop investing in SEO and focus entirely on AI.
We don’t agree.
Without a technically sound website, useful content and a strong reputation, there’s very little for AI platforms to work with. Most of the businesses appearing consistently in AI generated answers already have solid SEO foundations.
In other words, GEO doesn’t replace SEO. It builds on it.
If your website struggles to rank, loads slowly or provides little value, optimising for AI won’t solve those underlying problems.
AI Traffic Often Looks Different
One interesting trend we’ve seen is that visitors arriving from AI platforms are often further along in the buying journey.
Before clicking through, they’ve usually asked follow up questions, compared different providers and narrowed down their options. By the time they reach your website, they’re often looking for reassurance rather than starting their research from scratch.
That can lead to higher quality enquiries.
It’s still early days, and every business is different, but we’ve generally found that AI traffic tends to be more informed than traditional organic traffic. Looking purely at visitor numbers doesn’t tell the full story if those visitors are more likely to convert.
Measuring GEO Success Is More Difficult
SEO has always been relatively easy to measure.
You can monitor rankings, clicks, impressions and organic traffic.
GEO isn’t quite as straightforward.
There isn’t a universal ranking report showing where your business appears inside ChatGPT or Gemini, so success has to be measured differently.
We typically look at questions such as:
- Is our business being recommended when it should be?
- Are the answers accurate?
- Is the sentiment positive?
- Do AI platforms link back to the website where appropriate?
- Are different AI models saying broadly the same thing?
Traffic is still an important measure too.
Google Analytics 4 now reports visitors arriving from major AI platforms, making it easier to understand how AI contributes to your website’s performance. Shopify has also introduced an Agentic channel, giving ecommerce businesses greater visibility into how customers discover products through AI powered shopping experiences.
As reporting improves, we’ll undoubtedly get more sophisticated ways to measure GEO. For now, it’s about building a picture rather than relying on a single metric.
Visibility Is Only Half the Job
Whether someone finds you through Google or ChatGPT, they still need a reason to become a customer.
That’s why conversion rate optimisation remains just as important as ever.
If your website is confusing, loads slowly or doesn’t build trust, even the best GEO strategy won’t generate results. AI might help someone discover your business, but your website still has to convince them to get in touch, make an enquiry or place an order.
That’s one reason we’re cautious when people talk about GEO as if it’s completely separate from SEO. It isn’t. It’s part of a much bigger picture that includes website performance, user experience and conversion optimisation.
The Future Isn’t SEO or GEO
Businesses don’t need to choose between traditional search and AI search.
Customers use both.
Some will search Google. Others will ask ChatGPT for recommendations. Many will do both before making a decision.
The businesses that perform best over the next few years will be the ones that build strong SEO foundations while making sure they’re represented accurately across AI platforms.
For us, that’s what modern search marketing looks like.
SEO gets you found.
GEO helps you get recommended.
Your website turns that visibility into customers.