Remember when SEO success meant carefully placing keywords into a blog post and waiting for the rankings to roll in? Those days are behind us.

Today, platforms like Google and TikTok aren’t just crawling content—they’re generating answers. Whether someone is asking “Where can I find the best concierge doctor?” or “How do I start a marketing agency?” they’re often met with AI-generated summaries that pull from a select handful of sources.

The catch? If your content isn’t structured in a way that’s easy for AI to understand—and summarize—it may not even show up.

Welcome to the new frontier of lead generation: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

What Is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?

As AI-powered search tools become the norm, especially with Google’s AI Overviews and TikTok’s increasingly question-based search bar, brands need to rethink how they create and structure content.

GEO is all about making your content easy for AI models to recognize, prioritize, and surface in their responses. That means producing content that is:

• Clear and structured (think Q&A or list formats)

• Filled with relevant keyword variations, naturally used

• Designed with both people and AI in mind

What Matters Now for Visibility

The rules of the search game are shifting. Here’s what smart brands are doing to stay visible:

• Strong on-screen text and captions: Especially in video content, captions help reinforce keywords and improve accessibility.

• Q&A and list-style content: These formats are easy to scan, easy to summarize, and loved by both users and AI.

• Spoken keywords in short-form video: Saying your keywords aloud in TikToks and Reels helps train platforms to serve your content in related searches.

• EEAT: Google’s emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust is bigger than ever—make sure your publishing sources are credible.

• Answer questions clearly: Don’t bury your key message in fluff. Get to the point in a way that both AI and real people can quickly understand.

How to Keep Showing Up

Generative search is here to stay—and if your brand wants to stay competitive, your content strategy needs to evolve.

Here’s how to start future-proofing your content today:

• Repurpose a blog into a Q&A or listicle

• Use spoken keywords in your next short-form video

• Start your captions with a real question your audience is asking

• Think like a search engine and a person—balance clarity with authenticity

Need help turning your content into something both AI and humans love? We’d love to chat about how to make your brand more searchable in this new era of discovery. Schedule a Discovery Call today.