AI is changing our world, it’s a fact. It’s not going to go back in the bottle, no matter how much we try.

If we don’t act, our competitors will, and we’ll lose market share.

With AI, just like any new technology, there are some good sides and opportunities, and there are some bad sides and risks. But let’s see how AI can help get more brand visibility and play in our favour.

AI opportunities: more brand visibility

We ask AI stuff we would have never asked Google before. LLM’s are an extension of traditional search marketing, not a replacement, giving us more opportunities for brand visibility.

People don’t use AI search the same way they use Google search. They now know which platform is best for any question they might have.

They keep AI searches for long research, that would require a couple of hours or more using the traditional Google searches (for example organising a trip somewhere with many parameters).

But they also know that some queries will get them an answer quicker on Google.

AI overviews are only available for about 30% of queries, and some are still unique to Google (tools related keywords for example).

AI opportunities: easier to do research and write content

For people in charge of writing content, LLM’s are an incredible help. You can research and write an article in less than 30 minutes if your prompts are right. Marketers can now write their content themselves, or at least brief the content expert very easily, saving both time and budget.

Much much easier fro us to write content, or create any type of content – but it is also the case for our competitors. It is virtually impossible to get visibility with sloppy or average content. Content written about proprietary data, unique point of view, polls or stats is even more crucial than before.

Should you optimise for Google or for LLM’s?

Why not do both?

You shouldn’t change your SEO optimisation to replace with LLMs optimisation, because a blue link on page 1 will bring traffic and conversions, which brand mention or citation won’t. But they can complement each other.

Common optimisations

The good thing is that traditional SEO optimisations also work for GEO or AEO. Clean code, page speed, quality content, topical expertise, PR & backlinks, information architecture … They are all required for both SEO and GEO.

Optimisations specific to GEO/AEO

Prompts

Users type prompts instead of keywords that you can track the same way you do for keywords. Tracking on all LLMs can be pricey – current tools charge $200 per LLM

Query Fan Out

An LLM bot will execute what is called a “query fan out” meaning they will look ay many sources to get their answers: many queries on search engines, and other source of information like reddit, social media or YouTube videos. Make sure your brand is at its best on all channels!

Freshness and preferred format

AI uses training data (updated every 6 month) and live retrieval. Freshness is a more a important parameter in AI than on Google, and recent publication will get a head start in the race for visibility.

AI prefers short, straight to the point formats: listicles (Top 10 / Best), comparison (x vs y), numbers (250 people did this).

To get a chance to get quoted, start a section with an affirmative statement and make sure every section is self contained with clear headers. 

Ready to embark on the SEO/GEO journey? get in touch