GEO: The Most Powerful SEO Secret

Are you missing the biggest change in digital marketing right now? Most of the businesses are. But today, I'm going to show you how you can stay ahead with a strategy that is not just saving SEO, it's changing it. This isn't just an idea, it's a way to capture attention and drive traffic and results in an AI-driven world. So what is that? Let me show you why focusing on generative and gene optimization could be one of your best assets for your digital marketing strategy in 2025. For years, SEO has been all about Google, ranking high in search results, building backlinks, and using the right keywords. But now, AI tools like ChatGPT, BARD, and DeepSeek are changing how people search. And user behavior is evolving faster than ever. These tools give users answers directly, without needing to click on websites. This means less traffic in some cases, which means also fewer sales, mainly for those businesses which rely only on traditional SEO. But this change also creates new opportunities. AI-generative answers make it easier for people to buy by offering direct recommendations, turning those links into the most valuable digital real estate. To stay ahead, your brand needs to adapt and get featured in these AI recommendations. SEO is no longer about Google. It's about optimizing for an AI-powered world, and that's where Geo comes in. So what is Geo? Geo, or generative and gene optimization, is the next big shift in how businesses optimize their online presence. Think of it as an intersection of traditional SEO and the algorithms behind AI-powered tools. Now, success isn't just about achieving your rank on page one anymore. Increasingly, it's going to become about whether or not you are featured in a generative AI-powered answers. But it's simple. SEO is about being found, while Geo is about being included. And why is this important? Well, these tools are becoming the go-to for how users search and make decisions. Just look at Perplexity's new Buy with a Pro feature that was rolled out before the holiday season. The AI-powered shopping tool allowed shoppers to get quick, curated recommendations and buy directly with just one click. Imagine if your brand was the one recommended to the millions of users shopping on the platform. That's what Geo can do for your business. So, how do you ensure you are included in these COVID AI recommendations? First, you must understand that, unlike traditional search, tools like Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT rely on a blend of structured data, content quality, and contextual relevance. This means that just by tailoring your content to meet these criteria, you can significantly increase your chances of getting featured in AI responses with Geo. Now, here's where it gets good. Geo is still an emerging topic, which means early adopters will have a huge advantage. One of the things you are going to want to do is to create AI-friendly content. Remember, AI-prioritized consists of structured content. If you are writing a blog, start by answering questions directly at the top of your content, just like AI does. Then follow up with detailed explanations. For example, let's say you are writing a blog on the safest car in the market for new drivers. Rather than listing all your pros and cons on your top 5 cars and then giving your answer in the conclusion, start by answering the question and providing your recommendation at the top. Then get into all your reasons why you choose that specific car. It's not enough just to create fluff content either. When it comes to Geo, you always want to create content that provides real value. Think about how your content can take things up a notch for your audience. Let's say you own a bike shop. Can you add some information about the bikes to each product description? Or perhaps you can create some detailed how-to guides that clearly explain how to assemble the bikes. Or maybe you create some online quiz where users can answer a few questions and get a bike recommendation. One quick note here. As with any marketing strategy, you always want to measure results to make sure you are on the right track. One metric that's going to become extremely important to keep an eye on as you start implementing this change is how you track Google's AI overviews, which is one of the generative answers that you want to be included and mentioned, for sure. Free tools like Same Rush Position Tracking can help you easily monitor which keywords on your website are showing up in an AI overview. All you have to do is to add keywords, hover over the SERP and select AI overviews. This will show which of your keywords or your competitors are showing up in an AI overview. It's that simple. Now, while Geo might prefer concise content that gets to the point, there's one area where you are not going to want to be so concise. I'm talking about keywords. Specifically, long tail keywords. With SEO, our main goal was always try to rank for keywords with high search volumes. Generally, that means broad keywords. Geo will require a much different approach. Rather than focusing on generic keywords, you are going to want to get highly specific. Why? Well, think about it. When people are searching on AI, they are often not typing best coffee makers. Instead, they are talking to the bot as if they were like close friends, and they are asking, what is the best coffee maker under $200? So, your content needs to reflect this conversational tone and get super niche. The good news is there are free tools that tell you exactly what your audience is searching for online. This way, you can tailor your content to that and increase your chances for getting future in AI-generative answers, such as AI overviews. Let's stick with our coffee maker example for a second. With SEMrush's topic research tool, you will be able to get recommendations for subtopics that relate to the broader trending topic. So, if your keyword is coffee makers, the tool might recommend long-tail keywords, such as Power Over Coffee Makers or Best Cold Brew Coffee Makers of 2025. These are perfect capturing AI-generated results tailored to niche audience. And if you really want to take things to the next level, structure these topics as informational queries, such as how to decide which coffee maker is right for you. Or maybe you are curious to see what keywords your competitors are ranking in, so that you can start ranking alongside them. Using SEMrush's Keywords Gap tool, you can identify the exact keywords where competitors are visible, but you are not. For example, let's say you are an interior designer trying to get your recent blog to rank for Home Décor Trends 2025 in Google's AI overview. This tool will help you to see that opportunity, so you can create content to target it directly. Another thing Geo loves? Credibility. Or, as we like to say, E-E-A-T. Experience, expertise, authoritiveness, and trustworthiness. Much like traditional SEO, where Google prioritizes websites that have been mentioned by third parties, Geo works in a similar way. And as search engines and AI models become even more dynamic, chances are your website will be included in these answers if you have a higher website authority. As Geo becomes the new norm, we will start to notice that authority is no longer just about backlinks. Of course, backlinks will always work to improve our authority, but it is still important to show it up in different channels and content publications, such as media. This means your brand needs to be mentioned on credible platforms, whether it's industry blogs, forums, or media outlets. So now is a great time to start thinking about PR, and how you can generate some buzz for your brand online. And if PR feels out of reach, perhaps you can get creative with surveys or studies that gain media attention, or create shareable resources such as infographics or white papers that people will share and backlink to you. Think about your audience, what's going to motivate them to click, read, and share, and go from there. Now, let's address the elephant in the room. What happens if you don't adapt? What we have been hearing is that declining organic traffic is just the tip of the iceberg. AI tools are already shaping user behavior, and businesses that fail to optimize for Geo risk being left out of the conversation entirely, not to mention you could lose sales and customers. Does this mean abandoning SEO? Absolutely not. Geo builds on traditional SEO. It's a natural evolution. Mainly AI tools still rely on web search to inform their answers, so ranking on platforms like Google remains essential. Think of Geo as a layer that complements your existing strategy, not a replacement. And if you want to stay ahead of your competition and make 2025 one of your best years yet, you'll want to check out this video on how to leverage new marketing and SEO strategies in this new area.