Generative Engine Optimisation

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) flow diagram illustrating the canonical query reformulation, retrieval, summarisation, and response generation pipeline defined in the Princeton GEO study. Why this is strong:
Canonical Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) system flow, adapted from the Princeton GEO study, showing how queries are reformulated, retrieved, summarised, and generated into final AI responses.

Written By Paul Rowe – Founder, Chief Generative Engine Optimisation Officer & CEO NeuralAdX Ltd. Published: May 30th, 2025       

Last Reviewed, Mar 31, 2026 @ 5:29 am

The marketing world has become a maze of new buzzwords — AI Search Optimisation, AI SEO, Google AI Overviews Optimisation, ChatGPT Citation Optimisation, Perplexity Optimisation, AI Content Citation Strategy, and even Generative Search Optimisation. They all point toward the same reality: search is no longer a list of blue links but a generative environment where answers are composed, not indexed. At NeuralAdX Ltd, we define this evolution correctly as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)

The following article created by NeuralAdX Ltd, will explain what Generative Engine Optimisation is and why it matters in 2025. We will follow on with answers to relevant questions that you may have, include a link to our Generative Engine Optimisation service page and provide seven links to a helpful step by step guide on how to implement GEO yourself.

Table of Contents

What Is Generative Engine Optimisation?

The full video transcript page: What is Generative Engine Optimisation

Video Summary:

  • Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the process of structuring digital content so AI-powered search engines can understand it, trust it, and cite it directly in their generated answers.
  • GEO is designed specifically for generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and Grok, rather than traditional search engine results pages.
  • The primary goal of GEO is to position content as a reliable source of truth that AI systems select and reference when responding to user queries.
  • Generative Engine Optimisation was first introduced through academic research conducted by Princeton University and the Indian Institute of Technology, which studied how AI systems decide which sources to trust and cite.
  • The research identified key GEO techniques including the use of citations, statistics, quotations, clear language, technical terminology, content fluency, and strong authority signals.
  • Applying GEO techniques has been shown to increase the likelihood of content being cited by AI search engines by up to 40%, according to the Princeton study.
  • Advanced and domain-specific GEO strategies can increase AI citation and visibility rates even further, particularly for websites that are not yet well established.
  • GEO enables newer businesses to compete with established brands by improving their chances of being referenced directly in AI-generated answers.
  • As AI-driven search becomes a dominant method of information discovery, GEO is now essential for achieving and maintaining online visibility.
  • Implementing GEO improves brand authority, expands customer reach, and increases the likelihood of being cited as a trusted source by AI systems.

How Generative Engines Technically Process Queries

Generative engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Co-Pilot and Google’s AI Mode, use a structured, multi-stage process to turn a user’s question into a coherent, grounded answer.


The diagram below is directly from the peer-reviewed paper that created and introduced Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)Generative Engine Optimization,” Aggarwal et al., Princeton University, ACM KDD 2024 

Diagram from Princeton University GEO paper showing how generative engines process queries through reformulation, retrieval, summarisation, and response generation. Original diagram from the Princeton University GEO paper illustrating the multi-stage architecture behind generative engines.

When a user submits a query, the Query Reformulating Model expands or rephrases it into several related searches. These reformulated queries are passed to a Search Engine Retriever, which gathers relevant web pages and documents.


A Summarising Model then condenses those sources into factual takeaways, and finally the Response Model generates a fluent, source-grounded reply for the user.

This flow diagram shows that modern generative engines don’t merely retrieve information… they synthesise it. Each step depends on structured, cited, and readable web content.


That’s why Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) focuses on building pages that can be found, summarised, and cited within this AI decision chain.

If you would like to dive deeper on this topic then visit our How does generative AI work page.

Why Generative Engine Optimisation Matters in 2025?

Video Summary:

  • Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) matters in 2025 because AI-powered search engines now dominate how users discover, evaluate, and engage with information online.
  • AI conversational platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, and Grok have fundamentally changed digital marketing, content delivery, and consumer behaviour.
  • More than half of internet users now rely on AI-driven discovery tools instead of traditional search engines to find products, services, and information.
  • In many cases, the customer journey begins and ends inside an AI interface, where users receive direct answers rather than clicking through lists of links.
  • Unlike traditional search engines, generative engines produce contextualised and synthesised responses instead of ranked result pages.
  • AI search engines actively select, reference, and cite content within their answers, making AI citation a new and critical measure of digital authority.
  • The rapid growth of AI platforms highlights this shift, with ChatGPT reaching one million users within five days of launch and scaling to hundreds of millions of active users shortly thereafter.
  • By early 2025, ChatGPT was reported to have approximately 400 million weekly active users, demonstrating how quickly users are adopting AI-based search and discovery tools.
  • This rapid adoption confirms that Generative Engine Optimisation is no longer optional and is essential for businesses that want to remain visible and relevant in AI-driven search environments.
  • As AI platforms continue to replace traditional browsing behaviour, GEO has become a foundational strategy for long-term digital visibility and authority.

Will Traditional SEO be Replaced by GEO?

The full video transcript page Will traditional SEO be replaced by GEO

Video Summary:

  • Traditional SEO will not be replaced by Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), but GEO represents a major evolution in how digital visibility is achieved.
  • SEO and GEO work together as complementary strategies rather than competing approaches.
  • SEO remains essential for helping content be indexed, ranked, and discovered within traditional search engines.
  • GEO enhances and accelerates SEO by optimising content for visibility within AI-driven platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and Grok.
  • While SEO focuses on ranking pages in search results, GEO focuses on making content the direct answer cited by AI systems.
  • GEO opens new visibility opportunities that traditional SEO alone cannot provide, particularly within conversational AI search experiences.
  • Research indicates that a majority of digital marketers now integrate both SEO and GEO strategies to remain competitive across all search platforms.
  • SEO provides the foundational signals that AI systems learn from, including structure, relevance, and authority.
  • GEO builds on this foundation by optimising content for AI-generated responses, citations, and attribution.
  • A simple way to understand the relationship is that SEO helps content get indexed, while GEO helps content get selected and cited by AI engines.
  • This complementary relationship allows businesses to maximise digital reach while adapting to the evolution of search behaviour.
  • Companies that have already invested in SEO can extend their existing authority by integrating a comprehensive GEO strategy.
  • Combining SEO and GEO enables businesses to retain visibility, grow their customer base, and remain competitive as AI-first search continues to expand.

What Are The Differences Between SEO And GEO?

The full video transcript page What are the differences between SEO and GEO

Video Summary:

  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) was created to help websites rank within traditional search engines such as Google.
  • Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is designed specifically for AI-powered search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot.
  • SEO focuses on keywords, backlinks, metadata, and technical optimisation to compete for clicks within ranked search results.
  • GEO focuses on structuring content so AI systems can understand it, trust it, and quote it directly within generated answers.
  • With SEO, websites compete for user clicks among lists of blue links, while with GEO the content itself becomes the answer delivered by the AI.
  • SEO is primarily about being indexed and ranked, whereas GEO is about being surfaced, cited, and attributed by AI systems.
  • SEO helps generate website traffic, while GEO helps content be quoted, trusted, and embedded within AI responses.
  • SEO typically requires long-term effort to build authority, while GEO can gain traction more quickly as AI models adopt new sources rapidly.
  • SEO relies heavily on backlinks and technical site health, while GEO prioritises clarity, context, authority, and question-focused content.
  • SEO targets page-one rankings, whereas GEO targets becoming the source behind what AI directly tells the user.
  • SEO performance is measured through clicks and impressions, while GEO performance is measured through mentions, citations, and AI attribution.
  • As more users search through AI tools instead of traditional browsers, GEO has become increasingly important alongside SEO.
  • Relying only on SEO limits visibility in AI-driven search environments where answers are generated without clicks.
  • SEO supports traditional search visibility, but GEO ensures content is included in AI-generated answers, which represents the future of search discovery.

The infographic below provides further explanation on the differences between GEO and SEO:

GEO vs SEO comparison infographic explaining the difference between Generative Engine Optimisation and traditional Search Engine Optimisation, showing how GEO focuses on AI citations, structured content, and generative search visibility. Created by NeuralAdX Ltd.
GEO vs SEO infographic comparing Generative Engine Optimisation and traditional Search Engine Optimisation across goals, content approach, success metrics, scalability, and AI visibility. Created by NeuralAdX Ltd.

How Does SEO Help With AI Search Engine Visibility?

The full video transcript page How does SEO help with AI search visibility

Video Summary:

  • SEO helps with AI search engine visibility by ensuring content is discoverable within the web index that AI systems rely on.
  • Content must be indexed through SEO before AI search engines can identify or retrieve it.
  • Indexing is a foundational requirement for AI visibility, accounting for a significant portion of whether content can be surfaced at all.
  • SEO increases website authority by earning backlinks from reputable sources, which signals trustworthiness to AI systems.
  • AI search engines prioritise authoritative sources when deciding which content to reference or cite.
  • SEO improves technical website health through faster load times, mobile friendliness, and clean URL structures.
  • Strong technical SEO ensures content is accessible to AI crawlers and retrieval systems.
  • Poor technical SEO, such as slow-loading pages, can prevent content from being considered by AI search engines.
  • SEO supports visibility for broad, high-volume queries by targeting keywords commonly used in traditional search.
  • Ranking highly for broad queries increases the likelihood of content being noticed by AI systems as a potential reference.
  • High traditional search rankings increase overall discoverability, which can influence whether AI systems evaluate content.
  • SEO alone does not determine whether content becomes the AI-generated answer.
  • Selection and citation within AI-generated responses are primarily driven by Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).
  • SEO now functions as the foundational layer that allows content to be discovered before GEO determines AI citation.
  • Maintaining strong SEO is essential for maximising visibility across both traditional and AI-driven search environments.

How Does GEO Help With AI Search Engine Visibility?

The full video transcript page How does GEO help with AI visibility

Video Summary:

  • Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) improves AI search engine visibility by adding structured geographic metadata that clarifies location and relevance to AI systems.
  • GEO embeds precise location signals that help AI associate services with specific geographic areas.
  • GEO uses clean, machine-readable formatting so AI systems can accurately parse and process content.
  • GEO structures headers and sub-headers to align with natural language queries used in AI search.
  • GEO aligns content with geo-targeted search intent through region-specific keyword usage.
  • GEO creates hyperlocal service pages that increase relevance in AI-driven local search results.
  • GEO applies semantic structuring using clear, well-defined language that AI models recognise and trust.
  • GEO implements schema markup to define business type, location, services, reviews, and operating hours for AI interpretation.
  • GEO reinforces trust signals through consistent local citations and NAP data across content.
  • GEO integrates location-based frequently asked questions that AI systems can quote directly.
  • GEO increases eligibility for zero-click AI summaries where answers are delivered without traditional links.
  • GEO improves page speed and mobile responsiveness to meet AI technical evaluation requirements.
  • GEO maintains content freshness and integrates local updates that AI systems prioritise for regional relevance.
  • GEO strengthens internal linking to guide AI through site authority and topical hierarchy.
  • GEO incorporates location-specific testimonials that provide user-based trust signals to AI.
  • GEO uses locally relevant examples and vocabulary to improve regional relevance for AI models.
  • GEO supports consistent cross-platform presence to increase visibility across AI training and retrieval sources.
  • GEO positions brands as local subject-matter authorities that AI systems recognise and prioritise.
  • GEO increases the likelihood that AI engines select content as a preferred regional data source.
  • GEO provides AI platforms with clear signals to reference and cite content for location-specific user queries.

Why is SEO 50-60% Important and GEO 80-95% Important

SEO’s Role: SEO is foundational, ensuring your content is in the web index (50-60% of the battle). Without it, AI can’t find your content, but it doesn’t guarantee selection for answers.

GEO’s Edge: GEO is more critical (80-95%) because it fine-tunes content for AI’s conversational and synthesis preferences, maximising the chances your content it’s chosen for answers within AI platforms.  

Overlap: Both share elements (e.g., authority), but GEO’s AI-specific focus gives it a higher impact. The percentages reflect their independent contributions, not a combined total

Is There Any Evidence That Generative Engine Optimisation Works

Yes. In addition to the Princeton study, NeuralAdX Ltd publicly documents real-world evidence that Generative Engine Optimisation works using live AI retrieval testing and ongoing third-party citation benchmarking.

These validation methods exist to remove ambiguity. GEO is easy to talk about and difficult to prove. This page links directly to independently verifiable evidence showing how NeuralAdX performs under real AI retrieval conditions.

Proof Page — Live AI Engine Screen Recordings

NeuralAdX publishes live, unedited screen recordings showing its website being surfaced and cited by AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and Google AI Mode for GEO-relevant queries.

Each recording demonstrates:

  • Real prompts entered into live AI engines

  • Unedited outputs showing citations or source references

  • Consistent retrieval behaviour across multiple AI platforms

This evidence is publicly available and can be independently reviewed.

👉 Proof that generative engine optimisation works (video) page

AI Citation Benchmarking — Ongoing, Third-Party Tracked Results

In addition to live proof, NeuralAdX operates a monthly AI citation benchmarking programme that tracks how often its entity is cited by AI engines compared to other GEO agencies.

This benchmark measures:

  • Citation frequency across AI platforms

  • Share of AI visibility for GEO-intent queries

  • Citation stability over time as AI systems evolve

The results are published transparently and updated on a recurring basis, providing longitudinal evidence of GEO performance rather than one-off examples.

👉 AI citation benchmark page

What is The Optimal Combination of SEO and GEO on a Website?

The optimal combination of SEO and GEO on a website is as follows:

Homepage
SEO ensures the site is clearly indexed and categorised through titles, meta descriptions, and headings.
GEO provides a concise, plain-language summary that immediately explains what the business does and who it serves, enabling AI systems to understand purpose and relevance.

Content pages (guides, blogs, resources)
SEO supports discoverability through structured headings, internal linking, and authoritative references.
GEO prioritises clear summaries, question-based sections, FAQs, and structured explanations that AI systems can reuse directly in answers.

Technical foundation
SEO ensures fast load times, mobile accessibility, clean URLs, and crawlability.
GEO builds on this by using schema markup and structured content to help AI systems accurately interpret meaning, relationships, and intent.

Authority signals
SEO builds authority through backlinks and topical relevance.
GEO strengthens authority through expert attribution, citations, and clearly defined authorship that AI systems trust when selecting sources.

Navigation and user experience
SEO uses internal linking and logical site structure.
GEO ensures content is scannable and extractable, allowing AI systems to identify answers without ambiguity.

Why this works
SEO enables content to be discovered and evaluated.
GEO determines whether that content is selected, cited, and embedded within AI-generated responses.
SEO is the prerequisite layer; GEO is the decisive layer.

How Do I Implement GEO Myself?

To implement GEO into a website or other online content, it would be best to start by focusing on the seven most effective techniques, which have been proven by esteemed researchers at Princeton University et al. (arXiv:2311.09735v3 [cs.LG)

NeuralAdX Ltd Infographics explaining the seven most effective GEO Techniques.

The following seven Generative Engine Optimisation techniques are the most effective as proven in the academic study carried out at Princeton University et al.(ArviX.org) 

Table from the Princeton et al. generative engine optimisation study showing the top seven highest-performing GEO factors, including quotation addition, statistics addition, citations, fluency, technical terms, authority, and easy-to-understand content, measured on GEO-BENCH.
Absolute performance results from the Princeton et al. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) study, showing that quotation addition, statistics addition, source citation, fluency optimisation, use of technical terms, authoritative tone, and easy-to-understand language are the seven highest-performing factors for improving visibility and selection in AI-generated answers across GEO-BENCH metrics.

These seven specific techniques are explained below via bullet points and supporting infographics.

Using Citations For Generative Engine Optimisation

Diagram showing citation practices for Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) by NeuralAdX Ltd including immediate citation, linking to publications, in-text optimisation, source diversity and statistical citation used to improve visibility in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd’s citation framework for Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), demonstrating how structured referencing, statistical validation and multi-source linking increase AI answer engine citation rates.

Use High Quality Quotations For Generative Engine Optimisation

Infographic showing high quality quotations strategy for Generative Engine Optimisation including expert quotes, supporting claims, recent quotes, position quotes and highlighted reviews used by NeuralAdX Ltd to increase authority and AI citation visibility across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd quotation framework for Generative Engine Optimisation, showing how expert quotes, recent sources and positioned testimonials increase authority signals and AI engine citation trust.

Use High Quality Statistics For Generative Engine Optimisation

Infographic showing high quality statistics framework for Generative Engine Optimisation including bar charts, infographics, numerical statistics, reference to prior results and up to date data used by NeuralAdX Ltd to improve AI citation trust across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd data framework for Generative Engine Optimisation, demonstrating how statistical evidence, historical comparison and current data improve AI engine citation credibility.

Authority Building For Generative Engine Optimisation

Circular authority building framework for Generative Engine Optimisation by NeuralAdX Ltd showing user feedback, citation worthy content creation, strong citation practices, external authority signals and cross platform visibility used to improve AI citation rankings across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd authority building cycle for Generative Engine Optimisation, demonstrating how continuous content, citation and external signals compound AI visibility and citation dominance.

Fluency Optimisation For Generative Engine Optimisation

Diagram showing fluency optimisation techniques for Generative Engine Optimisation by NeuralAdX Ltd including simplifying sentences, direct question answering, active voice, conversational language, hierarchical headings and numbered lists to improve AI answer extraction across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd fluency optimisation model for Generative Engine Optimisation, showing how structured language and formatting improves AI answer readability and citation selection.

Make Content Easy To Understand For Generative Engine Optimisation

Infographic showing how NeuralAdX Ltd makes content easy to understand for Generative Engine Optimisation using clear headings, bullet points, shorter paragraphs, Q and A sections and plain language to improve AI comprehension, summarisation and citation selection across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd easy to understand content framework for Generative Engine Optimisation, showing how clarity, simplicity and structured formatting increase AI understanding and citation likelihood.

Technical Implementations For Generative Engine Optimisation

Infographic showing key technical terms for Generative Engine Optimisation including Google indexing, XML sitemaps, canonical tags, fast loading performance and WebP image optimisation used by NeuralAdX Ltd to improve AI understanding, crawling and citation retrieval across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
NeuralAdX Ltd technical terms framework for Generative Engine Optimisation, highlighting the core SEO and GEO vocabulary that supports AI understanding, indexing and citation retrieval.

Step By Step Guides for Further Education

If you would like to dive deeper, a dedicated page with a step by step guide on how to implement each of the seven GEO factors can be found below.

When should A Company Implement Generative Engine Optimisation

A company should implement Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) now, because AI-driven answer engines are already reshaping how people discover and consume information online.

By late 2025, independent industry analysis shows that AI-generated overviews now appear in approximately 50% of Google searches, meaning a large proportion of users receive AI-written answers instead of traditional lists of links (Similarweb, 2025).

Research into search behaviour also shows that organic click-through rates decline sharply on searches that trigger AI overviews, in some cases by more than half, because users obtain answers directly from AI interfaces rather than visiting websites (SparkToro, 2024; Similarweb, 2025).

Beyond Google, conversational AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Perplexity have become mainstream discovery tools. ChatGPT alone now serves hundreds of millions of weekly active users, positioning AI-generated answers as a primary interface for research, learning, and decision-making (Reuters, 2026).

Industry forecasts confirm that this shift is structural rather than temporary. Gartner predicts that traditional search engine volume will decline by approximately 25% by 2026 as users increasingly move toward AI assistants and conversational search experiences (Gartner, 2024).

At the organisational level, enterprise adoption of generative AI is accelerating rapidly. McKinsey reports that over 70% of organisations are already using generative AI in at least one business function, signalling that AI-first information access is becoming standard across industries (McKinsey, 2025).

Because AI-driven discovery compounds over time, companies that act early gain a structural advantage. Businesses that establish clear definitions, authoritative explanations, and AI-readable content now are more likely to become the sources that AI systems repeatedly cite in future answers, while late adopters struggle to displace already-recognised authorities.

In practical terms, any company that relies on online visibility, education, authority, or trust should treat Generative Engine Optimisation as an immediate priority, not a future experiment. The evidence shows that AI-mediated search is already dominant, and delaying adoption increases the risk of being bypassed as AI engines determine which sources to surface and cite.

For A Deeper Technical Understanding of GEO (aka AI Search) Watch This!

Well, back in the day, search engines were pretty simple because they were based more or less just on keyword search.They matched words in a user’s query to words in documents.Several methods that they would use for that, including things like boolean keyword matching.
That was one method to do it.Now keyword search has moved on since then, algorithms such as TF-IDF,
they rank documents by term frequency and inverse document frequency and that helps improve relevance by assigning more weight to important terms.
And Google’s breakthrough in the late 1990s was called PageRank and that added link analysis to judge a page’s authority,
but traditional keyword search has some clear limitations. It can’t truly understand context and synonyms and user intent.
So when my search string includes the word Apple, am I referring to the fruit or the tech company?Well, enter machine learning and the world of ai search.
So technologies like BERT from Google in 19′ or 2019
that introduce a transformer-based language model into search, helping better understand the context of natural language queries.And that was followed two years later by MUM, that’s Multitask Unified Model, a much more powerful model than BERT to both understand and generate language,
and then Today we have large language models.
Where the AI generates an answer rather than just retrieving links.
So how does AI Search powered by large language models actually work?
Well, we can think of it in four stages and at the top here, first of all, we’ve got the natural language that’s coming in. Specifically, we’re gonna perform natural language query processing.
So when a user asks a question in plain language, the system uses an LLM to interpret the query.
That uses the LLM’s Natural Language Understanding capabilities, it’s NLU, to parse the query’s intent and nuances.So if I ask what’s the best way to peel an orange, well, the system recognises I’m probably looking for a method or a tutorial, even though the query doesn’t explicitly contain those words.
We’ve moved far beyond the old days of keyword matching here.
Now, with intent established…
we move to the next stage, which is retrieval.
Now, instead of relying solely on keyword matching, although that does still play a part, AI search often uses vectors. Specifically, it uses vector search to find relevant documents semantically.Now, how does that work?Well, text, both search queries and documents are encoded into numerical vectors.
Those are called embeddings.
And vectors capture semantic meaning.
The user’s query vector is then matched with vectors of documents in a vector database to find the content that is conceptually related.
This allows, for instance, a query about puppy play things to retrieve an article that talks about dog toys, even though the wording differs because these terms are semantically similar.
Who’s a good boy?
Now the next stage is answer generation.
So this is where we have now gone to retrieval
and we’ve retrieved some relevant documents or actually more likely not entire documents but really snippets of those documents. And now an LLM is given the query along with those retrieved snippets and it generates a cohesive answer in natural language. Using those sources of information.
Now regular viewers of this channel probably recognise what this is. It’s our old friend RAG or retrieval augmented generation where the LLM’s knowledge is augmented with up-to-date retrieved data.
By grounding its answer in retrieved facts the AI search system can provide current and accurate information.
The generated answer it can include citations
linking back to the original sources, which is a level of transparency that’s important for gaining a user’s trust, showing that this answer is not just hallucinated by the model.
Now, the final stage in all of this is the feedback stage.
Many AI search implementations learn from feedback to improve.
So users might give a thumbs up or a thumbs down, or the system observes follow-up queries to figure out if the answer was helpful. This data can fine-tune the LLM and the retrieval component over time. So how do traditional search and AI search powered by large language models compare?
Well in response format traditional search what does that return? It typically returns a list of links for a user click through,
but AI search doesn’t provide a list of links,
it provides a direct answer to whatever it is you were searching for to your query, in natural language.
It’s generated original content on the fly now as for the query understanding traditional search as we’ve already mentioned that is kind of primarily keyword based Whereas AI search, that is based on NLU or natural language understanding to derive context and intent.
And speaking of context, when it comes to contextual awareness, a traditional search, that is pretty independent.
What I mean by that is it has a limited memory of a user’s previous interactions.
Whereas, AI search, that really keeps the context in mind. It maintains context, allowing a multi-turn conversation, allowing follow-up questions that understand references to earlier parts of a dialog.
And when it comes to information synthesis, well, traditional search, that really separates results out.
So, different sources,
different lists, whereas AI search, it really combines information. It takes information from multiple sources and puts them into one coherent answer.
Now AI search isn’t just changing how results are displayed, it’s really challenging how the entire web has been built, because for years websites have been optimised for traditional search engines using a practice called SEO,
search engine optimisation, to rank as high as possible in results pages, but
What happens now when the result of an AI search isn’t a list of links, but instead is written text incorporating snippets from multiple web page sources?
Well, that’s a good question for Donna Bedford.
Donna Bedford, Global SEO at Lenovo. Now, for years, Donna has been making sure that her company’s web pages rank as highly as possible in search engine results. So Donna, if somebody wanted to make their content a bit more AI-friendly today, where would they start?Well, the great news is they don’t have to start afresh. What they’re already doing for traditional search is gonna work for them. What they need to do is like up the game, but have a narrow focus. So what you’re gonna do is focus on two real things. One, think human. And two, think like the machine. So what do I mean about that?
So AI is still a machine.
It still has to come and find your information.
It still has to work it out.
So you want to make it as easy as possible, bite-sized chunks, good structure, good navigation, so it understands. And you want a complete journey.
You want everything in there so it understands.
But you also have to tackle the human element, whereas traditional search tends to be singular words, couple of words. This is more conversational.
It is definitely more a personal journey.
So you need to start writing like a human might ask.
Okay, so addressing both sides of it now that makes me think about keyword counts because I know in the old days you would kind of want to stuff a webpage with as many keywords as possible to get as high a count as possible.
Is that old news now?
It’s kind of old news but there is a variable in it that works. So what you’re talking about is like keyword density, how many times can you write the exact match word on the page.
What we’re now extending out is using an algorithm update that Google came out with a number of years ago
and is commonly used which is called EEAT.
EEAT so and it’s actually two E’s in here originally it was just a one So we’re talking about experience, expertise, authority, and trust, right? So as you mentioned, traditionally, the site change ensures a number of links and all sorts of things. Here, what you’re trying to do is give the full experience to the machines, to the AI, to tell them that you have the expertise, the authority, the experience, the trust, and you’re a trusted source for this information. So you write like a human, but you give the information that a machine needs to logically make the response.
Okay, gotcha. So one more question for you. Okay
I want to know how much formatting matters.
So formatting, like making sure you’re using H1s and stuff like that. When we think now that AI is putting information from all sorts of different web pages rather than just a single page, so does formatting stuff still matter? So it does, but not in the same way. So traditional search engines, you’ll use like H1 to tell the search engine how important an element is or what your page is about.
In most cases, whatever you do for the AI is gonna benefit your traditional search and traditional search is not going away, right? But there’s a gotcha in here that you have to watch out for. I’m saying you make it better every time, there’s one particular element that you’re actually gonna have to step back on.
And that’s JavaScript.
Traditional search engines at the beginning had a problem with JavaScript.
They’ve managed to solve that. The AI models haven’t.
So they have an issue with the JavaScript. So you just wanna make sure that, again, going back to the very first question, crawl-able, navigable, can find the information, and that they can find it. Because if they can’t find the information about you, They can’t have a story about you. That makes a lot of sense. Well, thank you, Donna. So that’s AI Search. It’s changing both how users locate and consume information online, and even how that information is represented online in the first place.

 Frequently Asked Questions:

 

What is Generative Engine Optimisation?

 

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the process of structuring content so AI-powered answer engines can clearly understand it, trust it, and reuse it as a cited source in their responses. GEO focuses on clarity, definitions, and structured explanations rather than traditional keyword rankings.


 

How is Generative Engine Optimisation different from SEO?

 

SEO focuses on ranking pages in traditional search results, while GEO focuses on making content retrievable and citable by AI systems. GEO prioritises explainability, consistency, transcripts, and entity clarity so AI engines can reuse the content accurately.


 

Do AI answer engines actually use websites as sources?

 

Yes. AI answer engines regularly retrieve and cite information from websites when the content is clear, well-structured, and authoritative. Pages that explain topics in depth and provide supporting context are far more likely to be used as sources.


 

Why are video transcripts important for AI visibility?

 

AI systems rely heavily on text. Video transcripts provide a clean written version of spoken explanations, making it easier for AI engines to quote, summarise, and accurately reference the content. Pages with transcripts are significantly easier for AI to retrieve than video alone.


 

Can Generative Engine Optimisation work alongside traditional SEO?

 

Yes. GEO does not replace SEO. SEO helps content get discovered, while GEO ensures that once discovered, the content can be understood and reused by AI answer engines. The strongest strategies combine both approaches.


 

What type of content performs best for Generative Engine Optimisation?

 

Educational content that clearly explains concepts, defines terms, answers specific questions, and is supported by videos, transcripts, and diagrams performs best. AI engines favour clarity, depth, and consistency over promotional content.


 

Is Generative Engine Optimisation only relevant for large companies?

 

No. Any business that relies on being understood, trusted, or cited by AI systems can benefit from GEO. Smaller and specialist businesses often see faster results because their content can be more focused and easier for AI to interpret.

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© 2025 NeuralAdX Ltd — The UK’s Leading Generative Engine Optimisation Agency Registered Office: 313B Hoe Street, London, E17 9BG, United Kingdom

Company No: 16302496 (Incorporated 9 March 2025)

VAT No: 495 1737 55

Serving clients across the United Kingdom and worldwide through remote Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). Boosting businesses citations and visibility in all AI search platforms. 

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 203 355 7792

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