Generative Engine Optimization and it’s effect on SEO

You may have noticed over the last few months a new type of search result appearing when you use Google to try and find something. A small box now appears at the top of your search page titled “AI Overview”. This is now being referred to as “generative Engine Optimization”. This new result type gets answers to searchers faster than having to scroll through long web pages that are designed to keep users on as long as possible. This new search result is powered mainly by an unexpected social media site: Reddit. Google saw that many people were adding the keyword “reddit” to the end of their searches, since people were tired of fake, paid for answers on certain sites. Now, instead of having to scroll through a site titled “Top 10 biggest mountains in the world” on a site that is riddled with ads, a simple AI overview appears, instantly answering the searchers question. This new search optimization, being called GEO for short, is quickly working it’s way up the ranks, with Google expecting one billion AI overview searchers by the end of this year. This does not mean that marketers should forget about traditional SEO; GEO and SEO must be used hand in hand to optimize the power of search through Google. As of right now, SEO is still much easier to measure and record metrics for. GEO is going to take a while to get to the easily trackable metrics we have with SEO. Marketers should work to increase their presence on sites like Reddit to slowly try and work their way into AI overviews. Research by Terakeet also shows that SEO heavily influences whether or not a site’s content shows up in the AI overview, so SEO should certainly not be left behind. As long as digital marketers continue to work on traditional SEO as well as they can, they can be assured that they can eventually work their way into AI overview results, leading to greater page visits than before. Marketers should embrace GEO, as it can lead to greaters site visits and new customers in the long run.