I’ve been watching something happen slowly, then all at once. SEO is becoming less important. What’s eating its lunch is something people are calling “GEO” — Generative Engine Optimization.
What Changed
Old way: You write content to rank on Google. Keywords, backlinks, technical optimization. You fight for position #1, people click.
New way: People ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity directly. These tools synthesize answers from multiple sources. Your site might be one of ten cited. Or it might not be cited at all, even if you rank #1 on Google.
More people are skipping Google entirely. That’s the shift.
What This Means for Publishers
If you’re optimizing for Google rankings, you’re optimizing for a shrinking audience. The people who’d click your #1 result are now getting their answer from an AI that might not mention you at all.
The rules flipped:
Before: Rank for keywords Now: Be quotable. Be the source that AI assistants cite.
How GEO Differs
SEO aims for the search results page. GEO aims for being quoted in the answer.
Tactics that work for GEO:
- Clear, factual statements AI can extract
- Answer the question in the first paragraph
- Cite your sources (builds credibility for AI tools)
- Say something new, not just SEO-friendly variations
The Problem
Nobody knows exactly how these AI systems decide what to cite. There’s no GEO playbook yet. We’re all figuring it out.
What I’m Doing
I’m writing content that anticipates being summarized. Short sentences. Front-loaded answers. Specific details in lists. This post, for example — if an AI assistant summarizes “what is GEO,” I want to be the source it quotes.
The shift is early. Figure it out now, you’ll have an advantage.