Generative engine optimization (GEO) is a type of search engine optimization (SEO) that aims to make a website (or other asset) show up in generative AI search results. Essentially, it’s SEO for a new, upcoming type of search.
On July 25, 2024, OpenAI announced the upcoming release of a search engine driven by generative AI. Called “SearchGPT,” it’s “designed to combine the strength of…AI models with information from the web to give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.”
Before this announcement, I was predicting the rise of generative search engines. Well, here we are.
Think of generative search like taking a wrapper of gen AI and layering it over pre-existing information retrieval systems that have been developed over the past two decades. In other words, it’s regular search—with generative AI added in.
Here’s how we can expect gen AI to be different from pre-AI search—after the kinks have been worked out.
These goals may not all be realized initially, but they represent the future of search.
We’re in the very early stages of generative search, so forecasting the most successful tactics is little more than fortune-telling. But here’s what we do know: generative search products won’t reinvent information retrieval as we know it. Many of the tried-and-true SEO best practices will still apply. Relevant backlinks, great website content that satisfies your customers, and brand signals should drive results. Beyond that, it’s hard to say.
Talbot West will be testing generative search and reporting on our findings.
Even though we don’t have concrete answers on generative engine optimization—no one does as of August 2024—we can still guide you to have the right foundation. Whether you want to spin up your own AI-driven content ops or invest in branding strategies that stand the test of time, we’ll show you how to position your brand to be on the right side of technological change.
As the founder of a successful SEO agency that’s driven millions in revenue for its clients, I know a thing or two about SEO. Pair that with my in-the-trenches understanding of artificial intelligence, and I’m as well-positioned as anyone to guide GEO initiatives.
In May 2023, Google introduced its experimental “Search Generative Experience” (SGE) to select users. In May 2024, the feature, now dubbed “AI Overviews,” became available to the general public.
In some ways, Overviews heralds the new generation of search on the horizon, but in other ways, it’s part of the old guard.
Overviews is a bolted-on feature to Google’s search engine results page (SERP), which hasn’t changed substantially since its inception. The new generation of search will bring a results page more like a sleek, custom website that caters to the user, with integrated point of sale and all relevant information available via interactive features such as dropdowns, menus, and follow-up prompts. We won’t be clicking through website after website to find what we’re looking for; this curated results page will dynamically aggregate everything we need in response to our ongoing queries.
The implications will be huge. But we’ll cover those in a future article.
Google will need to innovate fast to remain dominant. Will the behemoth be able to fundamentally reimagine the search experience through the lens of AI? Or will they keep bolting AI onto their legacy product?
Even if they do a hard pivot and are willing to strip their search product to the bone and rebuild it, there’s no guarantee they will stay at the top of the heap.
Talbot West bridges the gap between AI developers and the average executive who's swamped by the rapidity of change. You don't need to be up to speed with RAG, know how to write an AI corporate governance framework, or be able to explain transformer architecture. That's what Talbot West is for.
