The old playbook for content visibility is repurposed and it is changing quickly. If you were a marketer in the noughties you could be forgiven for thinking, “well I’ve been here before”, thinking back to when social media was first brought into the marketing mix and feeling that it very much was another frontier to explore in the pursuit of possible customers. It seems to you that making yourself visible is once again like the wild west with new acronyms and tactics for AI content engines or large language models (LLM) every week. Worry not, we will make sure to break it all down for you—quickly!
A new acronym has popped up, so before we jump in, let’s clarify what we mean:
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is optimizing the words on your site so it’ll be cited or used by a generative engine like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s Gemini (AI Overviews), Anthropic’s Claude or other engine > GPT. This is in addition to classic search engine optimization (SEO), which usually deals with Google positions or, a little less often, Microsoft Bing.
PEACE OUTSEO is not dead, and it’s not being replaced — SEO is evolving. Global Google search still represents the lions share even of web traffic — but a new age is starting to come into view, and innovative SEO and content marketers are striving to find out how to tech it — how lets bring GEO actions with search visibility plan in order tap into AI engine layouts. They actually go hand in hand!
If there’s a silver lining, a great many of the tactics you’re familiar with from the traditional SEO world are still relevant in terms of optimizing for LLMs. Five of the best content tactics for generative engine optimization:
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. Google describes it (opens in new tab) as passing your content through the barometer of “helpful, reliable, [and] people-first”
When referencing research or data ensure to link to reputable sources — LLMs love well referenced information (opens in a new window)
do you have any content on your website that needs to be updated since it was published like pricing and other information?
Establish your authority by tackling new subjects ahead of your competition
Just as it has for traditional search engine optimization (SEO), quality inbound links to your brand from around the web matter deeply in making you visible.
Even unlinked mentions create contextual relevance between a topic and your brand
Headings, subheadings, and bullet points
Above all, the key is to always give content that brings value. Know what your audiences are asking — and tell them the answer, simply, completely, yet briefly.
This is a technical generative engine optimization checklist Helpful for your website
One can even take a difference between monolithic and headless CMS solutions, where you will clearly understand its advantage- Headless CMS, by the very nature of being separated presentation from data is designed in a way to support structured data
Headless composable architecture means you can show the data and website (humans) as good it is by designing on the frontend but also capable to create a JSON-LD schema/ “llm” for AIs. txt” file for bots!
i.e., How can the generative engines be used to measure your brand’s visibility.
New tools, new tactics and no AI company quite yet is going to just hand over their data for research. However, there are some proven techniques you can implement for measuring your brand AI-search visibility today:
Well, testing prompts in LLMs — your target keywords, the questions buyers ask most often about the product or service you sell, and any query that you know should be showing up for. Track: brand mentions, if your content was used as a paraphrase or quoted, the position of that mention in the answer generated (first mention, middle or last). Maintain a spreadsheet or document for historical comparison
Use an AI visibility tracking tool — there are companies and platforms available that already provide this. A few are general SEO tracking platforms that have just introduced new functionalities, while a couple of them have emerged out of this new search visibility niche. Monitoring of brand mentions and citations in generative engines
Brand mentions, another SEO classic that is still paying off today. Alert for mentions in Google Alerts or your preferred brand visibility tool. Monitor: unlinked mentions of your brand in the digital space
Site conversion rate — as web traffic becomes harder to drive, and people find their answers without ever clicking through to your site, your conversion rate will become more important for understanding how well your content is performing in generative engines for those who are ready to purchase
Still need a website — In some ways, most of your visitors will never even make it to your website in this “zero-click” world where users get their answers before they ever reach your door.
Don’t forget:
Be written for machine discovery: LLMs require a source from which to pull, so if no content exists AI models will not be able to locate or cite such content for users.
Own Your Brand: New website = secured brand. Prevent AI from writing misinformation or old material about your brand
Quality better than quantity: Even if a less number of people click, the ones clicking will be with greater intent, and tend to be far more likely to sign up for download, free trial or get in touch. The user has no place to do these actions without a website.
Implementation of correct tools: For generating searchable structured content, an API first CMS– will surely help. Why your existing CMS may be unprepared for the age of AI — and what you can do about it?
The age of AI is here. It is time to finally pivot and deliver AI-powered experiences. Try Storyblok headless API-first CMS for flexible, AI-first content.
