If you’ve had a website for any length of time, then you are well aware of SEO – or Search Engine Optimization – which is an ongoing implementation of strategies used to create content for your website that gets you found when customers use Google, Bing, or other search engines to look for your products and services. It has evolved over the years from a very simple strategy of stuffing keywords into text and using meta tags to a much more complex strategy requiring unique content that gives your site authority in your given field. The next evolution in online searching is being spearheaded by the advent and prevalence of artificial intelligence use on the internet with a strategy called Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO.
What is GEO?
GEO is a strategy somewhat similar to SEO but focused on making website content more accessible to AI platforms. While the desired outcomes with both are quite similar, there are significant differences.
Traditional SEO Strategies
- Help Google and other search engines rank your page
- Focus on specific, targeted keywords
- Place importance on backlinks (links from other websites to yours)
- Optimizes for blue links (hyperlinks on your website that open a new page, file, or website
GEO (AI Search) Strategies
- Help AI platforms understand and cite your page
- Focus on entities, context, and expertise
- Authority and trustworthy information are increasingly important
- Optimizes for AI answers and citations
With more people turning to AI for answers, it’s crucial to make sure your website is optimized to be found in Google’s AI mode, along with AI platforms like Claude, Grok, and ChatGPT. There are several strategies you can implement to help optimizing your website for GEO.
GEO Optimization Strategies
Add Schema Code to Your Website – this can be difficult to implement without the help of an experienced web developer, but schema code is a sort of digital outline that AI platforms can read to get any sort of pertinent information about your business and help categorize your site appropriately when people are looking for your products or services in an AI chat. Types of schema include:
- Organization – identifies the business/organization by name, logo, contact information, social media profiles, and other relevant information. This should be included on the Home and About Us pages.
- LocalBusiness – establishes a business as a local Grand Rapids entity, including service area, address (if applicable), phone, hours, etc. Should be included on Home, Contact, and Location pages.
- Service – this should be included on all service pages to identify and describe the service being offered.
- Product – this should be included on all product pages to identify the product being sold or described.
This is just a small sample of the types of schema code that can be added to your website to help AI platforms understand the purpose of each individual page and help users find the information they are looking for more quickly.
Clearly Identify What Your Company Does – many business owners may see this as overkill, as their clients should already be well-aware of what the business does, but AI platforms are not. A very simple, declarative statement can really help AI understand exactly what your company does. See the examples below:
- Blue Fire Media has been serving clients for more than 25 years.
- Blue Fire Media is a web development company with more than 25 years of experience offering website building, web hosting, SEO, and graphic design services to business owners throughout Grand Rapids and the surrounding areas.
There is nothing wrong with the first sentence, as our current client base should be well aware of the services we provide; however, the second one gives AI platforms very clear details about the services we offer, the areas we serve, and how long we have been in business. Not only does this give AI clear information, but it also adds greater authority to our business over similar businesses who may not define their company in such detail.
Define Industry Terminology – when you work in the same field for many years, you may take a lot of industry terminology for granted. For example, a distributor of screws and other fasteners should be well-versed in VMI and what it is, but people reading your website may not. You should address this by including a quick sentence that explains VMI:
- Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is a supply chain system where the supplier monitors inventory levels and replenishes products as needed.
There is certainly more to VMI, but this brief explanation not only gives clients a good idea of what VMI is, it gives your website greater authority on the subject by taking the time to include this definition. Because of this, an AI platform will prioritize this website over a competitor who mentions VMI in passing, but does not explain what it is. You can enhance this authority by further explaining VMI or other industry terminology in greater detail.
Page-Specific FAQs – this is a relatively newer strategy in which you would include frequently asked questions and their answers right on the specific page. This doesn’t mean that you cannot include a traditional FAQs page with broader questions, but if you have a page about certain topic, then FAQs about that topic should appear on that page. For example: if you own a plumbing company, there’s nothing really wrong with including FAQs about Bathroom fixtures on a general FAQs page; however, if you have a page on your site titled Bathroom Fixtures, you should include any FAQs about Bathroom Fixtures on that page. Not only will this make information about bathroom fixtures readily available for people visiting your site, but it will also lend more authority to that page, due to having more relevant information displayed on it.
Get the GEO Help You Need
As with everything else on the internet, GEO is already changing and evolving, so the sooner you can implement these changes to your website, the better. If you need help getting your Grand Rapids website optimized for the AI age, contact the professionals at Blue Fire Media to get started today.
