Let’s start with a hard truth: SEO as you knew it is having a mid-life crisis. It’s still showing up to the party, but the cool kids (read: AI engines) have started drinking somewhere else.

Welcome to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)—where your audience doesn’t click through pages, they talk to AI. And instead of ranking #1 on Google, your goal is to be the voice in the AI’s head.

So pour yourself a decent glass of Bordeaux, because we’re about to dissect the most important shift in digital marketing since…well, Google.

1. The Great Algorithmic Awakening

We’ve officially entered the post-SEO era. Instead of optimising for Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), we’re now optimising for LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Perplexity.

They don’t rank. They don’t paginate. They just answer.

The goal? Not clicks. Citations.

Think: it’s no longer about shouting to get noticed. It’s about being whispered by the machine when someone asks a question.

Let’s demystify the three-letter acronyms marketers are panicking over:

• LLMO (Large Language Model Optimisation) – Tactical edits to make content easy for AI to read, parse, and quote.

• AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) – Focused on making sure entities (you, your brand) are defined and trusted.

• GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) – The full-fat strategy. You’re not just writing blogs. You’re sculpting your digital presence so AI sees you as the authority.

2. Why Rankings Are Dead (and Mentions Are Sexy Now)

In the good old SEO days, your KPI was a #1 ranking and lots of traffic. In GEO, your success is measured by:

• Frequency of citation by AI engines.

• Whether you’re mentioned in an answer.

• How often you show up in conversational AI responses.

Clicks? Meh. The AI might never send anyone to your site. But if your brand is part of the answer itself, you’ve just become the truth.

3. If AI Is the Brain, Bing Is the Memory

Here’s where things get geeky but important.

AI engines don’t “know” everything. They rely on retrievers—essentially search engines behind the curtain—who feed them snippets.

• ChatGPT & Copilot use Bing.

• Google AI Overviews use, well, Google.

• Perplexity has its own clever citation-first retrieval engine.

Translation? If you’re not indexed by Bing, you’re invisible to ChatGPT. You could write the Magna Carta of wine pairing and it’ll never be seen unless Bing can find it.

4. From Keyword Spamming to Chunk Sculpting

Let’s talk content. Not the fluffy, 2,000-word intros you wrote for Google. That’s deadweight now.

AI engines don’t read top to bottom. They hunt for quotable chunks—fact-rich, semantically clear nuggets of truth.

Your new writing style? Think “answer first” and structure it like this:

• H2: “What Wines Pair with Stilton?”

• Immediate answer: “Bold reds like Port or Barolo complement Stilton’s salty, creamy intensity.”

Short. Punchy. High signal.

5. Schema Markup: Still Nerdy. Now Non-Negotiable.

You know that code you used to add that made your devs grumble? It just got promoted.

Schema.org markup is no longer just for Google snippets. It’s now the main ingredient AI retrievers use to understand your content.

Think of it as a backstage pass for your data. You’re not just optimising for rankings anymore. You’re feeding the knowledge graph that AI relies on to build answers.

6. Where AI Actually Gets Its Info (Spoiler: Not Always Your Blog)

Brace yourself. AI engines love:

• Wikipedia – Clean, structured, and consensus-driven.

• Reddit & Quora – Real-world feedback from real people.

• G2, Yelp, TechRadar – Trusted third-party reviews.

That fancy blog post on your site? Might not even be considered unless you’ve built credibility off-platform.

This is the real kicker: off-platform visibility is now as important as your own website.

Want to be the answer? Don’t just publish. Get talked about—on Reddit, in industry journals, on review sites.

7. The Robots.txt vs llms.txt Drama

In 2024, someone proposed llms.txt—a sort of sitemap for AI bots.

Here’s the tea: It’s useless. AI crawlers don’t use it. Google doesn’t support it. It’s digital snake oil.

What does work? The original robots.txt and a well-structured, crawlable site. Boring? Yes. Essential? Also yes.

8. Welcome to AX: Agent Experience

Forget SEO. Think AX—Agent Experience.

As AI evolves from answering questions to doing things (think: booking, buying, summarising), the way to win is to become the tool the agent uses.

How?

• Write like instructions: Clear, step-by-step content is agent gold.

• Use Schema.org like it’s XML for AI agents.

• Be the default source: If you’re the top result for “best Rioja under £20,” make it so clear that even an AI doesn’t hesitate.

It’s not enough to be cited. You need to be usable.

9. What You Should Be Doing Tomorrow Morning

If you only skimmed this with a latte in one hand and a Slack ping in the other (we see you), here’s your punchy to-do list:

• Make sure you’re indexed in Bing Webmaster Tools.

• Add Schema.org markup to your products, services, FAQs, and reviews.

• Write “chunk-optimised” content—fact-dense, answer-first, with clear subheadings.

• Get listed or talked about on Wikipedia, Reddit, and trusted review platforms.

• Update old content with “Last Modified” dates.

• Kill JavaScript tabs hiding vital info.

• Forget llms.txt. Just… don’t.

Conclusion: GEO Isn’t a Trend. It’s the Terrain Now.

We’re in the middle of a seismic shift in how people find information.

You can either treat GEO like a new marketing buzzword—or you can lead the charge, ensuring your brand isn’t just seen, but remembered, recommended, and relied on by the machines we’re all increasingly asking for answers.

So, next time you hear someone say SEO is dead, smile and nod. Then quietly go and optimise for the AI that’s actually answering the question.

Because the future isn’t ranked. It’s generated.

If you want help with your GEO, email me [email protected] or checkout how my agency emotio can help with GEO here

If you want to read my detailed guide on GEO you can see my full article on AGI.co.uk