How do you optimize your content for AI systems? Which “GEO rules” apply here? Regarding this central question, we observe an interesting phenomenon in the SEO industry: Many are certain that already known SEO rules apply.
Motto: Those who optimize their content for Google will also be considered more frequently by AI. Everything continues as before. It is a form of path dependency. One gets stuck in familiar patterns because one is familiar with this — and one’s own daily work also depends on it.
From our perspective, this falls significantly short. GEO — i.e., optimization for ChatGPT and similar systems — is different from search engine optimization. We discuss the differences we observe in our podcast and in this article.
Therefore, “SEO optimization” falls short
The argument that one only needs to optimize their texts for Google falls short on several levels:
- Short Paragraphs: A typical recommendation is to work with many h2 headings and write compact paragraphs. However, an AI system can inherently “understand” complex texts and structure them into meaningful sections. Simply pull a challenging book from the shelf, open a page, and have ChatGPT summarize it — you’ll see it immediately (see image). It is no advantage to make your website content “bite-sized for AI.”
- Keywords: The entire keyword system is geared towards how users utilize Google and other search engines. However, AI systems clearly prompt users to enter the most detailed and individual prompts possible, similar to spoken language. Furthermore, in many AI responses, neither brands nor sources are mentioned. Keyword systems only help partially.
- Grounding: AI systems like ChatGPT, Copilot, AI Mode, MetaAI, and similar systems use a search engine for support in certain situations. However, several, sometimes dozens, of search queries are performed here and further processed through a complex process. The old rule “We rank high on Google and get traffic” applies only very conditionally here.
Conclusion: Optimizing content for SEO to also be visible in AI systems — this argument is flawed. These are placebo pills — which will not work.
A GEO Strategy is the Foundation for GEO Content
Moreover, these are purely operational tips. A GEO strategy is lacking. This is an error we have observed for many years in our SEO consulting. Marketing managers hope to “SEO-optimize” their existing content retrospectively. However, a systematic analysis of which keywords are relevant in the entire topic area and how one intends to cover them in their website structure and content is missing.
Often, individual keywords are focused on, and it is not recognized that there are tens of thousands of other relevant keywords, patterns in search behavior — and that one has much more traffic potential through a systematic alignment and an SEO-founded content plan.
Precisely these questions should now also be asked for GEO (Generative Engine Optimization):
- What are the relevant prompts?
- How visible is our company in the competitive landscape there so far?
- Which content is used as a source by AI systems?
Through an analysis, fundamental patterns of AI systems and when which content is used can be identified. Subsequently, we can optimize content — but now with a clear focus on AI visibility and AI relevance. Here, SEO and content skills are again helpful. Part of the GEO strategy is also to define concrete GEO goals.
For those who want to delve deeper: In our Academy workshop on “GEO Content,” we tested various prompt methodologies and thus demonstrated when which website content is used (here is the workshop recording for Academy members).
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