You must’ve used Google’s AI Mode, ChatGPT, or Perplexity to search the web. These tools find specific answers to your deeply personalized questions.
Moreover, as you have already gotten the relevant answer or information in the chat interface, you don’t even need to click on the links!
While that’s great for internet users across the globe, it is not so ideal for B2B brands.
Businesses, worldwide, are losing organic traffic due to AI-powered search. Recent research suggests that the drop can range between 15-64%. This reduces brand visibility and prevents B2B content teams from knowing whether their articles are helping their audience.
Additionally, it is drastically shaping buying decisions, especially in B2B environments.
Decision-makers are often busy, and using AI to find products and services saves a chunk of their day. Research conducted by Forrester reveals that 90% of B2B buyers leverage LLM-powered search engines in their discovery and evaluation processes.
Now, companies must optimize their content to ensure they show up in AI summaries to increase reach and earn high-value clicks.
The strategies and processes leveraged to achieve that goal are called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
In this article, let’s understand GEO, its significance, and how you can implement the corresponding strategies and processes effectively.
What is Generative Engine Optimization?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of enhancing digital content assets so they surface within AI search results in tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Mode.
Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) focuses on designing content so it shows up in keyword-first search results in tools like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo. Compared to that, B2B GEO creates intent-first content.
There is a prevalent myth that SEO and GEO are two very unique and distinct practices. The fact is that GEO is simply an extension of SEO. And SEO provides the foundation to ensure healthy returns for your GEO efforts.
LLMs receive the user’s query in natural language and determine the intent. Then, based on the intent, they search the web to find relevant information. Finally, this information is stitched to return a conversational answer.
Broadly speaking, LLMs use search engines for you.
Furthermore, B2B technical SEO is crucial for enabling AI-powered search bots to scan your website’s pages efficiently.
GEO builds on the SEO foundations to make sure the content, apart from ranking high, also shows up in AI summaries. It emphasizes clarity and structure, which helps LLMs “understand” your blog posts and landing pages.
The objective of GEO is different from that of SEO. It makes a portion of your article a part of AI’s answers with a citation. Let’s take a closer look at the marketing advantages.
Why B2B Brands Need GEO
LLMs have fundamentally shifted how users look for information and make decisions, including your target audience.
1. Change in Audience Behavior
Audiences want tailored answers to their specific questions quickly, without going through ten blue links. This is pivotal for making their purchase journey personalized.
As noted above, more and more buyers are heading to AI search tools to discover and evaluate their options. Therefore, you need to use GEO to ensure your content shows up in AI-written summaries.
B2B companies must produce content that LLMs can easily find and parse through to provide their potential customers with the relevant information. Ignoring this shift can lead to reduced visibility at first-touch AI responses.
2. Competitive Advantage
AI-powered search tools have recently become mainstream. Now, they are used by decision-makers and senior executives in businesses and enterprises across industries.
However, most of your competitors are still prioritizing traditional SEO. B2B content marketers need some time to understand GEO in the context of their business and make the necessary changes.
By moving fast, you can boost your chances of being referenced and cited by LLMs. GEO will help you leapfrog more established brands stuck in older playbooks in terms of visibility.
3. Authority Through Citation
A website ranking on the front page of traditional search results signalled authority. That impact is enhanced with AI search tools.
Solutions like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Google’s AI Mode go through tens, if not hundreds, of web pages to answer a user’s query. The LLM’s answer contains a few references, which are web pages that are most relevant to the user.
Intuitively, this signals authority and trustworthiness more strongly compared to traditional search rankings.
Even if it only leads to impressions, your brand’s name still remains at the top of your audience’s mind. This familiarity can increase the chances of brand recall when they are ready to buy.
4. Future-Proof Brand Positioning
AI is curating content for everyone across platforms. Earlier, it used to be social media, which used recommendation algorithms to suggest content. Now, it has transformed search engines to shape how users look for information on the web.
This also makes it less likely for spammy, keyword-stuffed content to get in the way of key B2B activities, such as researching, learning, and making purchase decisions.
When you invest in GEO, you make a commitment toward offering clear, concise, and useful information to your audience. It allows you to focus on content that delivers value rather than targeting popular keywords, which will build brand credibility over time.
How GEO Works
The broader objectives you need to keep in mind when enhancing content for AI-powered search engines.
1. Focuses on Context and Semantics
AI search tools receive users’ queries in natural language. Then, LLMs identify the context and look for answers. When searching the web, these AI bots focus on semantics and intent rather than exact keywords alone.
For instance, if you ask Google’s AI Mode, “how can I manage B2B outreach better,” it can provide you with productivity tips to streamline your outbound process and recommend CRM tools, such as HubSpot and Salesforce.
The platform will focus on the intent, which is to “improve efficiency of B2B outreach.” The answer will contain related subtopics of similar intent. Hence, GEO makes your content in-depth by adding complete and well-structured information.
2. Values To-The-Point Answers
Users prefer LLM-driven search tools over traditional search engines because they can get specific answers to their personal questions. On top of that, users can instruct AI to give an answer within a word limit.
To ensure your content shows up within those constraints, GEO emphasizes the removal of fluff, filler content, and encourages the usage of short paragraphs, bullet points, and clear headers.
This helps AI search bots scan through your articles and pages to answer your B2B audience’s unique queries. Moreover, blurbs from your content in short AI-generated summaries increase the chances of getting clicks.
3. Cites Unique Content
It is difficult to stand out when you are targeting broad keywords. This is a challenge most B2B companies face when competing for search engine rankings against larger, more established websites and publications.
GEO, because it focuses on context and semantics, gives an opportunity for growing B2B brands to stand out.
If you share your unique perspective, data, or insights, you can reach your audience via AI-summarized answers. LLMs enrich their responses with diverse information related to the user’s query, making your content a top choice due to its originality.
GEO Strategies for B2B Marketing Teams
You need to do five things to increase your content’s presence in AI-summarized answers.
1. Simplify Content Structure
Your articles and pages should be well-organized through headers, subheadings, paragraphs, and bullet points. This helps LLMs find snippets that are relevant to the user’s query quickly, increasing your brand’s visibility in AI-generated search responses.
The body of your B2B marketing content should be clear and contain in-depth information directly related to the topic being discussed. Explaining concepts in conversational English can be advantageous as LLMs communicate with users in that tone.
2. Create Linkable Assets
Linkable assets refer to unique content pieces such as original research, industry benchmarks, case studies, and thought leadership. These assets provide original, high-value information that is often cited across the web, increasing your B2B site’s domain authority.
Consequently, AI search tools deem your content reliable and are more likely to cite it in LLM-generated answers.
You can also create different types of linkable assets, such as multimedia (infographics and webinars) and downloadable content (whitepapers and eBooks).
3. Consider Content Lifecycle
Digital content pieces, such as blog posts, evolve through time. You may need to add more information, update stats, or include more visuals to make it more engaging and useful.
This ensures your content continues to become more in-depth, improving semantic and contextual relevance. Additionally, one content piece can help different B2B audience groups, increasing its value further.
AI models prefer such types of comprehensive pieces that can answer multiple queries in one place. Moreover, the content stays useful throughout its lifecycle, boosting its GEO visibility further.
When planning content pieces, visualize how they may evolve in the future. This will help you build an authoritative source of information that maintains relevance over time.
4. Focus on the Right KPIs
GEO’s impact can be measured by impressions, citation frequency, and branded mentions in AI-generated answers. Also, look at homepage traffic and conversion metrics to get a full understanding of how LLM-powered search engines have impacted your B2B brand.
Note that traditional SEO metrics, such as traffic, dwell time, and bounce rates, are still relevant to gauge your content’s relevance and brand’s authority.
5. Test Multiple LLMs
Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and use different AI-powered search engines, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Mode. Ask educational and commercial questions to see which type of results show up.
This will help you plan your B2B content marketing strategy for GEO, and down the line, you can determine the efficacy of your efforts.
Test through multiple devices and operating systems to ensure that your content is sourced and cited appropriately.
Best Practices While Scaling B2B GEO Efforts
Keep these points in mind while optimizing your content to increase LLM visibility.
1. Establish Organizational Alignment
Content marketing and product or services teams in your B2B company should collaborate to define your core value propositions. This will make your messaging consistent across channels, enabling LLMs to identify your brand effectively.
Moreover, it’s also useful to include the core team members in the content review process. The goal is to produce copy that is easy to understand while upholding factual accuracy. Consequently, your message will be semantically clear, increasing visibility in AI search.
2. Use the Right AI Tools to Stay on Track
As briefly mentioned above, B2B content teams should run various prompts and queries in popular AI-powered search tools. They can see which type of responses are provided by the LLMs, which can shape the GEO strategy.
Additionally, you should also use AI to enhance your content assets. For instance, platforms like Clearscope and Frase help assess the clarity and topical coverage of your drafts. Using the insights from these solutions during content creation can help you produce LLM-friendly articles.
3. Set Up AI-First Editorial Standards
Expand your current SEO checklist for blog posts and landing pages to include pointers for GEO. Guidelines such as writing in short sentences, avoiding filler language, and providing direct answers can be included.
Note that the principles around GEO are constantly evolving. As B2B marketers understand more about how LLMs search the web to answer specific questions, there will be better AI-first editorial practices.
4. Follow SEO Tips As Well
SEO provides the foundation for your GEO initiatives.
For example, if a website has poor content structure and slow loading speed, AI bots will fail to parse through it effectively. Similarly, articles with stuffed keywords, filler content, and missing metadata can be deemed less useful and relevant by LLMs.
Focus on all four pillars of SEO: keyword research, technical, content creation, and link building, to maximize the ROI of your GEO efforts.
Growfusely: Your Trusted GEO Partner
AI is already transforming how your audiences find solutions to their problems. B2B brands can use this opportunity to invest in GEO to leapfrog their competitors stuck in traditional content marketing workflows.
Growfusely’s B2B content marketing services have always evolved to meet our clients’ needs of the hour.
We did it with SEO, and Generative Engine Optimization is no different.
How does Generative Engine Optimization impact our existing SEO strategy?
GEO complements, not replaces, your current SEO. It shifts the focus from ranking to citation, prioritizing clear, structured content that AI tools can easily understand and summarize, while still relying on core SEO practices like keyword use and link building.
What kind of content is most likely to be cited by generative AI tools?
Content that is concise, well-structured, and original tends to be cited. AI prefers definitions, how-to guides, unique data, and expert insights that directly answer user queries in a clear and factual manner.
How do we measure the ROI of GEO compared to traditional marketing tactics?
Instead of traffic volume, GEO’s ROI is measured by brand mentions in AI summaries, citation frequency, increased brand authority, and influence over early buying decisions—even if users never click through to your site.
Do we need specialized tools or vendors to implement GEO effectively?
While not mandatory, specialized agencies and tools can significantly improve your GEO outcomes. They help test AI responses, structure content effectively, and stay current with how LLMs evaluate and cite content across platforms.
How can GEO help position our company as a thought leader in our industry?
Frequent citations by AI tools enhance brand credibility and visibility. By consistently sharing original insights, research, and clear messaging, your company becomes a trusted source in generative responses, reinforcing thought leadership at scale.
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