Generative AI optimization misses the mark
There's no such thing as GEO, it's just SEO.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by North Star Inbound and ScrunchAI.
Scrunch AI is a platform that empowers businesses to understand and optimize their presence across AI search to convert their best customers.
Marketers love a good acronym, and one buzzword making the rounds on marketing social media is "GEO": Generative Engine Optimization. This term describes the practice of optimizing content for generative AI systems, which, to those using this term, is the only future of SEO.
On the surface, it seems like a natural evolution of SEO, but renaming SEO as GEO and shifting the focus to optimizing for AI-powered engines continues the colossal mistake that has plagued digital marketing for years of focusing on the engine, not the user.
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At least a decade ago, SEO was a technical effort. Search engines (not just Google) relied on simple algorithms that needed keyword density, HTML structure, and many links to rank content. Optimizing for these engines made sense because their limitations left gaps that creative marketers could exploit. Stuffing a webpage with keywords or building a network of links might not have improved the user experience, but it often boosted visibility. This engine-first approach worked for years because visibility was the best proxy for reaching real people. Many people made fortunes with the simple advancements that others were ignoring.
This is 2025
Over the years, however, Google and other search engines evolved. Algorithms grew smarter, incorporating user behavior signals like click-through rates, dwell time, and bounce rates. (See this newsletter on the DOJ decision for how much more than just keywords Google incorporates.) The Panda update in 2011 was an SEO earthquake because, for the first time, Google unleashed an update that assessed quality and not just spam. No matter how well it gamed the system, content that didn’t serve users would be penalized.
SEO, of course, adapted, but the mindset lingered. Too many still saw the engine as the primary target, with users as a secondary consideration. The flood of content and links to manipulate SEO changed course but remained relatively unabated. That was a mistake, but it wasn’t always apparent that these tactics didn’t pay off.
Generative AI changes everything
But here’s where the colossal mistake resurfaces. Optimizing for generative AI assumes that the key to success lies in understanding and exploiting the quirks of generative AI systems, such as a preference for specific phrasing, reliance on structured data, or a tendency to favor social media content (like Reddit or LinkedIn). This is spammy SEO: find the engine’s blind spots, optimize for them, and hope to win the visibility game.
This approach might yield short-term gains, but it’s a losing battle. Generative AI is designed to mimic human reasoning and preferences, not to remain static like old search engines. Constant feedback modifies the models. Gaps in these systems, such as a bias toward overly formal language or a weakness in contextual understanding, will close as the technology improves. Optimizing for today’s AI quirks is like building a house on rented land.
Focus on the users
As before, the focus should always be on the user. Generative AI’s ultimate goal is to serve people, not to exist as an isolated optimization puzzle. This should be even more obvious now as no one would ever brag about being included or “ranking” in response to a prompt no one ever used. In contrast, ranking on an obscure keyword in traditional search was considered an accomplishment.
Traditional search engines function as gatekeepers between users and content, while AI responses aim to anticipate and fulfill user intent directly. When you ask an AI engine, “What’s the best way to reduce stress?” it doesn’t just parrot a list of websites; it synthesizes an answer based on what it deems most helpful. The better it understands real human needs, the better it performs.
Again, this is where the need to consider generative AI optimization as a new initiative falls short. By fixating on the engine and its technical processes to rank content, you risk losing sight of the human on the other side.
Visibility is less critical than clicks.
Renaming SEO to align with generative AI might feel progressive, but it is distracting. The fundamental shift isn’t about swapping one acronym for another; it's about shifting mindsets that align with the user experience. AI doesn’t need a new optimization framework; it requires you to double down on what’s always mattered: creating experiences that resonate with people. The engines will follow, whether Google, ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity or anything that shows up.
In this new realm of AI and SEO, knowing as much about your audience as possible is critical because even if your brand is in a generative response, there may be no reason for that user to ever click through or directly navigate to your website if their query intent is fulfilled by what comes out of the generative engine’s response.
To illustrate with one last example, if a user is seeking treatment for the stress we mentioned above, and your solution appears, you may even be cited. Still, if the user has relieved their stress by whatever the response said, they do not need to follow up by going to your website.
Think Midfunnel
Optimizing in an AI world means focusing on the middle of the funnel. Any AI engine can quickly answer generic answers and topics at the top of the funnel. It is in the middle of the funnel where users are looking for offline solutions, or at least not in AI responses, that businesses will continue to serve, and this is where you want to make sure you are visible.
The bottom of the funnel is also an excellent fit for an AI-first world, but the user may find you there if you don’t interrupt and place them in your funnel first.
More than ever, stop chasing the next algorithm tweak or AI quirk. Instead, invest in understanding your audience.
Understanding what they care about, what keeps them up at night, and what delights or frustrates them is so much more important than the nuances of the models and the sources of content.
Build not just content but solutions to those issues, not fluff the algo might like.
In a world of generative AI, the user isn’t just royalty; they’re the entire kingdom.
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