Generative AI is transforming how consumers discover and engage with content, making it essential for brands to rethink and adapt traditional SEO strategies.
Leading this shift is generative engine optimization (GEO) – an evolution of SEO that leverages AI-driven insights to optimize content for visibility and authority across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews.
This article will dive into the five key strategies to help you implement GEO effectively:
Let’s explore these strategies so you can boost engagement, increase visibility and achieve lasting success, positioning your brand as a leader in AI-driven search.
1. Generative AI research and analysis
Generative AI research is the foundation of your GEO strategy, focused on gathering insights to optimize your content and enhance visibility.
By knowing what your audience is looking for and how your brand matches up with AI algorithms focusing on relevance and authority, you can ensure your content meets their needs.
Let’s break down GEO research into these core components:
GEO keyword research.
AI Overview response analysis.
Competitor research and analysis.
Brand perception intelligence.
GEO keyword research
GEO keyword research identifies the keywords, queries and conversational phrases that AI-driven search engines prioritize.
AI algorithms favor content that mirrors natural language and comprehensively addresses user intent, so creating contextually rich, conversational content has become more essential than ever.
With over a billion voice searches occurring every month and 8.4 billion voice assistants expected to be in use by the end of the year, optimizing for natural language is no longer optional – it’s crucial.
By effectively leveraging GEO keyword research, you can ensure your content gives users what they’re looking for and aligns with AI preferences, enhancing user engagement and creating stronger connections with your audience.
Actionable tips:
Understand your target audience:
Start by gaining a deep understanding of what drives your audience’s searches – are they looking for information, products or solutions?
Focus on the words, phrases and questions they use to craft content that effectively meets their needs.
Identify relevant keywords, phrases and entities:
Find keywords and phrases that resonate with your audience while aligning with AI’s focus on natural language processing:
Long-tail keywords and conversational queries: Longer, more specific phrases that capture user intent and reflect natural, conversational search behavior.
Semantic keywords: Related terms, synonyms or variations that add context and depth to your main keyword, making your content more meaningful and relevant.
Entities: Recognizable people, places, things or specific concepts that enable AI to accurately categorize and reference your content.
Contextually relevant phrases: Phrases that naturally occur within discussions around a topic and reinforce your content’s overall theme, helping AI understand the overall context of your content.
Incorporating these elements into your content will help meet user needs while making it easier for AI to interpret and categorize effectively.
Example: “best wireless headphones”
Long-tail keywords: best wireless headphones under $200, best wireless headphones for working out, wireless headphones with long battery life
Conversational queries: what are the best wireless headphones in 2024, which wireless headphones are best for noise cancellation?
Semantic keywords: Bluetooth headphones, wireless earbuds, over-ear wireless headphones
Entities: Apple, Bluetooth, Bose, Sony
Contextually relevant phrases: crystal-clear sound quality, long-lasting battery, comfortable fit for all-day wear
Example: “digital marketing strategies”
Long-tail keyword: best digital marketing strategies in 2024, digital marketing strategies for small businesses
Conversational query: what are the most effective digital marketing strategies, what type of marketing is best for small businesses
Semantic keywords: digital marketing channels, digital marketing tips, online advertising strategies, inbound marketing strategies
Entities: search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing
Contextually relevant phrases: grow your business, increase brand awareness, drive qualified traffic, reach your target audience
Explore SERP features and use AI tools:
Explore SERP features: Use tools like Google’s “People Also Ask” and Autocomplete to find long-tail queries and related search terms. Tools like AlsoAsked can extract additional insights from this data.
Leverage AI tools for topic research: Use platforms like ChatGPT to generate relevant concepts, phrases and queries. This will deepen your content’s relevance and align with AI’s understanding of the topic.
Prompt example
“Generate a list of long-tail keywords, conversational queries and contextually relevant phrases related to ‘[KEYWORD]’ that address different types of user intent (informational, navigational, commercial, transactional). Include common user queries, semantically related terms and key entities that should be emphasized to create comprehensive, user-focused content. Also, highlight areas where users often seek deeper insights, specific pain points or actionable solutions.”
AI Overview response analysis
AI Overview response analysis involves:
Identifying the queries that trigger AI-generated overviews in Google.
Understanding the prioritized topics and structures.
Ensuring your brand is well-represented.
As these overviews grow in popularity and become the go-to choice for users seeking personalized, quick and concise answers, they are becoming critical touchpoints with the power to significantly influence your content’s visibility and credibility.
Expanded visibility: AI Overviews are visible to all U.S. users, including those in incognito mode, offering broader visibility and new opportunities for content discovery. Google also expanded AI Overview availability to six new countries, increasing its global reach and potential impact on content visibility.
Semrush AI Overview tracking enhancement: Semrush has enhanced its tracking for AI Overviews, simplifying large-scale analysis. While not all keyword data is fully integrated, the Organic Research report can help track the performance of queries triggering AI Overviews.
Actionable tips:
Track your key queries triggering AI Overviews:
Pinpoint the queries that trigger AI Overviews using a combination of tools to assess content performance and prioritize topics in your GEO strategy.
Keyword rank tracking tools: Use tools like Semrush, BrightEdge and others to track keywords, keeping in mind that visibility may still be limited for less frequent triggers.
Google Search Console: While it lacks direct AI Overview tracking, GSC provides valuable insights when used alongside other tools.
Google Chrome extensions
Google AI Overview Impact Analysis: This free extension tracks AI Overviews and cited sources across multiple keywords. You can export data, identify trends and refine your strategy.
Google AI Overview Citation Analysis: Use this free extension to compare links cited in AI Overviews with traditional SERPs, allowing for side-by-side comparisons, competitor tracking and trend identification.
Analyze your brand’s placement in AI Overviews:
Ensure your content appears in AI Overviews for key queries, especially if it ranks well organically. AI doesn’t always pull from top-ranking SERP content, so being featured in overviews is essential for maintaining visibility.
A recent seoClarity analysis by Mark Traphagen revealed that 99.5% of AI Overview citations now match one or more of the top 10 Google search results. However, the correlation can vary, making it essential to monitor regularly.
Tip: Use a regex pattern with ChatGPT to filter top queries from a ranking export likely to trigger AI Overviews. As seen below, run these keywords through the AI Overview Impact Analysis extension to identify which queries generate overviews and the sources cited.
By combining the downloaded report with your ranking data using VLOOKUP, you can effectively analyze AI Overviews in relation to your organic performance.
With conditional formatting, you can easily track your brand’s placement and monitor the sources being cited.
Analyze AI Overview response structures and content elements to:
Optimize your content for AI Overviews, it’s essential to understand how AI structures its responses to your key queries.
Identify the common formats – whether lists, tables or videos – and tailor your content to incorporate elements like data points, topics, multimedia and key phrases that AI deems relevant.
Examples:
“What is SEO” AI Overview: Begins with a concise paragraph, followed by headings and lists that cover the reasons SEO is important and ways to improve a website’s SEO performance. To increase chances of being featured, content should comprehensively address these core aspects.
“Best digital marketing strategies for small businesses” AI Overview: Combines text, images and a bulleted list that covers specific digital marketing channels, strategies and actionable tips. If you aim to target this AI Overview, adjust your content to mention similar topics and actionable tips.
Competitor research and analysis
GEO competitor research helps you identify how competitors perform in AI-driven search results. By analyzing their successes, you can uncover effective strategies, spot content gaps and refine your approach to improve visibility and stay competitive.
This research is an opportunity to learn from those excelling in AI-driven search. Analyze how competitors are referenced, then adapt their strategies to improve your own content.
Focus on areas where you can offer more insights or add value while always showcasing your brand’s unique perspective.
Actionable tips:
Track competitors cited by AI:
Start by identifying competitors frequently appearing in AI-generated overviews for your target keywords.
Use monitoring tools: Use the free tools mentioned above, like the AI Overview Impact Analysis and Citation Analysis Chrome extensions, to track competitors.
Leverage Advanced AI Tools: Integrate tools like the ChatGPT API with Google Sheets to build custom solutions that allow you to efficiently track and analyze your brand’s visibility in AI-driven responses.
Monitor trends and shifts in sources cited over time:
Stay updated on AI’s evolving content preferences, such as shifts toward newer publications or specialized sources and adjust your strategy to maintain relevance and competitiveness.
Analyze competitors’ source content and adapt successful strategies:
Analyze competitors’ content to uncover gaps and opportunities where you can offer more value.
Look at both the structure and depth of their content and adapt successful strategies to improve your own.
Evaluate structure and format: Identify the content formats competitors consistently use (e.g., lists, tables or multimedia) that AI may favor.
Assess the depth of coverage: Determine if competitors provide comprehensive coverage of key topics or if there are gaps you can fill by expanding on neglected areas.
Incorporate multimedia: If competitors frequently use visuals like infographics or videos, enhance your content by including similar elements to engage both AI algorithms and users.
Adopt effective formats: Pay attention to how competitors use structures like bullet points, QandA sections or visual elements that improve AI-driven content discoverability.
Enhance with your unique perspective: While adopting successful strategies, maintain your brand’s voice and insights to stand out from competitors.
Example:
For the keyword “benefits of content marketing,” if AI often references competitor content with numbered lists and visuals, consider using similar elements while incorporating your unique perspective to increase your chances of being featured.
Dig deeper: Entity-based competitor analysis: An SEO’s guide
Brand perception intelligence
Brand perception intelligence involves gathering insights from AI platforms on how both AI systems and users perceive your brand.
In an AI-driven world, brand perception and customer sentiment heavily influence search visibility. AI systems favor brands viewed as authoritative, credible and trustworthy, improving visibility and building customer trust.
Actionable tips:
Conduct research about your brand on AI platforms:
Regularly assess how AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity portray your brand.
Analyze AI-generated summaries, user queries and brand representation in user-generated content (UGC) to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
Use UGC insights:
Analyze how AI platforms use UGC to gauge customer sentiment and overall brand perception.
Automate UGC collection and analysis with AI tools to refine your brand strategy.
Tip: Use tailored prompts and custom-built GPT solutions to automate the collection and analysis of brand perception data.
Example research output: Showcases a comprehensive sentiment analysis report, including key elements like general sentiment, specific aspects of product/service perception, comparisons with competitors, emotional connection and communication effectiveness.
Why this is useful: Helps quickly assess where your brand excels and where it needs improvement. By leveraging these insights, you can make data-driven improvements to your brand’s strategy, both in terms of product/service offerings and customer communication.
Adapt to customer sentiment:
Monitor AI-generated queries and responses to understand customer sentiment. Adjust your content and communication strategies to maintain a positive brand image across digital platforms.
Monitor brand perception on AI platforms over time:
As AI systems evolve, so will the perception of your brand. Continuously track how AI platforms represent your brand and adjust strategies to maintain a consistent and positive narrative as AI systems evolve.
Integrate insights into your brand strategy:
Use AI-driven insights to inform your overall content and brand strategy. Ensure consistency across all channels to enhance your brand’s perception, visibility and credibility.
Example: If AI frequently mentions your brand in connection with specific keywords or topics, analyze these mentions to ensure they align with your desired brand image. Adjust your content strategy as needed to emphasize key aspects of your brand.
Dig deeper: How to become a recommended solution provider on Google entity lists
2. Optimizing content for generative AI
Once your research is complete, the next step is putting those insights into action by optimizing your content and applying insights to ensure your content is relevant, structured and accessible for AI systems.
Today, high-quality content alone isn’t enough. Your content must be optimized for AI algorithms to maintain visibility and authority.
Content quality and relevance
Crafting credible, contextually rich and engaging content that meets user needs is essential. By aligning your content with AI systems, you ensure it remains relevant and trusted by both AI platforms and users.
Actionable tips:
Expand contextual relevance:
Incorporate relevant keywords: Use long-tail, conversational and semantic keywords identified during research to optimize your content. Integrate these keywords naturally to match how users search and interact with AI-driven platforms.
Expand related concepts: Apply insights from research to deepen your content, making it more comprehensive and valuable to users. Align with AI’s preference for in-depth content by filling market gaps and offering unique value.
Integrate key entities and phrases: Use key entities, phrases and concepts identified during research to build a narrative that resonates with AI’s contextual algorithms, ensuring relevance and authority.
Establish authority and credibility:
Citations: Reference credible, up-to-date sources to validate your claims and connect your content with established research.
Quotations: Incorporate authoritative quotes from industry experts to add depth and authority.
Statistics: Include relevant and timely data points presented in impactful formats like graphs or charts.
Align with E-E-A-T principles: Build websites demonstrating experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
Craft comprehensive and engaging content:
Provide thorough, engaging and varied content that fully addresses user queries and aligns with AI preferences for diverse content types.
Provide comprehensive responses: Offer thorough answers that fully address user queries, as AI favors in-depth content.
Make content informative and engaging: Focus on creating content that is informative, easy to understand and provides clear, actionable insights.
Use varied multi-modal formats: Incorporate a mix of formats – blog posts, guides, videos and interactive content – to keep your audience engaged and align with AI’s preference for diverse content.
Maintain content freshness:
Regularly update your content to signal to search engines that the information is current and relevant. Fresh content aligns with current trends and user interests, improving your content’s relevance.
Example: Update a blog post on “2023 Digital Marketing Trends” to reflect the latest trends in 2024, ensuring it remains relevant, timely and more likely to be prioritized in results.
Content structure and clarity
A well-organized, clear structure is essential for engaging users and ensuring alignment with AI.