GEO, SEO and AI: the new approach for digital visibility

If you want to be visible online, optimising your own content for search engines (SEO) is a must. However, with the increasing use of AI services, the way in which people search for information is changing. A new standard is being established: generative engine optimisation (GEO).

Traditional search engine optimisation (SEO) has proven its worth for many years: with the right keywords, backlinks, meta tags and more, websites have landed at the top of the search engine rankings. But more and more people are using AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini for their searches. These provide the answers directly without the need to click on links. In addition, OpenAI and Perplexity have launched their own browsers – in direct competition with Google Chrome. It is now important not only to optimise content for SEO, but to prepare it in such a way that it is recognised, understood and quoted by generative AI. And that comes with its own set of rules.

Generative engine optimisation (GEO) refers to the optimisation of online content for generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and others. This is becoming increasingly relevant as more and more users now expect direct, concise answers instead of lists of links. These days, a growing number of people are typing their question into ChatGPT and other AI platforms before they go to the effort of using traditional Google searches. This option is fast, they can enter the request in natural language and they do not have to click through various links to find the answer. The aim of GEO is to prepare content in such a way that it is given priority and quoted in AI-generated answers. Anyone who is not present in this space loses visibility and relevance.

No. Google is still the top dog among search engines: according to a representative survey by Comparis published in March 2025, Google Search is the most commonly used online service among Swiss people. More than 80% of the population use it to research online. Yet according to the survey, 65% of respondents have already communicated via a chatbot. While only 27% of chatbot users performed searches on ChatGPT or other AI tools in 2024, this figure rose to 33% in 2025. Internet searches were the most commonly cited application for AI chatbots in 2025. 

Even Google isn’t safe from the fundamental shift in user behaviour. Google SGE (Search Generative Experience) is the company’s in-house approach to delivering AI-based, generative answers at the top of search results. To do this, Google SGE analyses multiple sources and summarises the information from them concisely to form an answer. This is also changing the user journey for the search engine giant: although the sources used are listed transparently, the need to visit individual websites is significantly reduced. For many users, Google’s AI-generated answer is sufficiently informative. Search traffic is dropping.

Both approaches aim to increase visibility on the web. SEO focuses on traditional search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, while GEO prepares content in such a way that it can be used and quoted by generative AI services such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. In addition to keywords, SEO now primarily considers relevance, search intent, content quality, authority and technical factors such as loading speed or structured data. GEO also focuses on natural language, contextual depth and a structure that AI models can handle particularly well. It’s important to be aware that GEO is not replacing SEO, but expanding it with requirements for AI-based answers.

Instead of search engine algorithms, AI language models are now increasingly deciding which sources are classified and cited as trustworthy. For website operators, this means visibility no longer results from high rankings, but from inclusion as a cited source in SGE responses or in the responses of AI services.

Content creation for GEO is based on new rules that can be divided into three areas.
 

1. Natural language and context
   GEO prefers natural language and contextual relevance. Explanatory texts that answer questions directly and clearly are more likely to end up in AI-generated answers. Interrelationships and background information on the topic that are explained in detail are also ranked better by AI.
2. Expertise and trust
   Content depth is becoming more important: superficial content doesn’t stand a chance in the AI era. Content must create added value and provide comprehensive answers to questions, not just contain keywords. Up-to-date information with verifiable sources is preferred.
3. Structure and technical optimisation
   For GEO, content needs to be clearly structured with concise headings and subheadings, paragraphs, lists and info boxes for better readability. Technical factors such as clean, semantic HTML, meaningful URLs, structured data (e.g. Schema.org) and logical page architecture also help AI crawlers to capture and classify content correctly.

GEO is not a one-off check, but an ongoing process. What is GEO best practice today may be outdated tomorrow (just like this article, which was written in August 2025). To remain permanently visible and relevant, you need to constantly monitor current developments – or seek professional assistance.