A client called us last month, irritated. He owns a B2B services firm doing about $8M a year, and he had just asked ChatGPT to recommend the top providers in his category. The list it spit out included three of his competitors. He was not on it.
His website ranks on page one of Google for his core keywords. He has been investing in SEO for six years. His traffic is up. His backlink profile is solid. By every traditional measure, he is winning.
And yet. The buyer he was sitting next to at a conference, phone in hand, asked an AI assistant who to call, and our client was invisible.
That is the problem generative engine optimization is built to solve.
What Generative Engine Optimization Actually Means
Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the practice of getting your business mentioned, cited, and recommended inside the answers that AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews generate.
It is not the same thing as SEO, even though there is overlap. SEO is about ranking on a list of blue links. GEO is about getting pulled into a synthesized answer that often does not show a list at all. The user asks a question, and the AI responds with a paragraph or two that may or may not name your business. If you are not in that paragraph, you do not exist for that buyer.
The shift is bigger than most people realize. When someone gets a clean answer from ChatGPT, they usually do not click through to verify it. They act on it. They book a call, they make a list, they move on. That means the click you used to compete for is being replaced by a citation you have to earn.
Why This Matters Right Now
Three things are happening at the same time, and together they change the math on every dollar you spend on content.
First, AI search adoption is moving faster than mobile did. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude are all routing meaningful query volume that used to go to Google. Younger buyers in particular are starting their research in an AI tool, not a search engine.
Second, Google itself is putting AI Overviews above the organic results for a growing share of queries. Even when someone uses Google, they are often reading an AI summary first.
Third, B2B buyers are using these tools to shortlist vendors. By the time you get on a sales call, the buyer has already asked an AI assistant for recommendations and walked into the conversation with a mental shortlist. If you were not on that list, you are starting from behind or not starting at all.
This is the same dynamic we covered in our writeup on Claude SEO and how AI tools are changing the game. The visibility channel has split in two, and most companies are still only optimizing for one half of it.
How GEO Is Different From Traditional SEO
A lot of agencies are slapping a “GEO” label on the same SEO playbook they have been running for a decade. That is lazy and it does not work. Here is what actually changes with generative engine optimization.
Citations matter more than rankings.
AI engines pull from sources they trust and synthesize. The win is being one of the sources cited in the answer, not being position one on a results page that the user never sees.
Structure beats keyword density.
Generative engines parse content for clear, factual, well-organized information. Walls of keyword-stuffed text underperform. Direct answers, clear definitions, and structured comparisons get pulled into responses.
Brand mentions carry weight even without backlinks.
When your brand is mentioned across enough credible sources, AI engines learn to associate you with your category. You do not always need a hyperlink for that signal to register.
Your content needs to answer the actual question.
AI tools are answering specific user questions. If your content does not directly address the question a real buyer would ask, it does not get pulled into the answer. Vague thought leadership posts that meander for 1,500 words before saying anything useful are useless here.
Reviews and third-party content matter more.
AI engines often weight what others say about you more than what you say about yourself. Reviews, directory listings, podcast mentions, guest posts, and press all feed the model.
If you want a deeper look at how this connects to what we already do for clients, our post on SEO copywriting covers the writing side. GEO takes those principles and pushes them further.
What A Real GEO Strategy Looks Like
Here is the working model we use at Foxtown Marketing for our clients with their generative engine optimization efforts. It is a system, and the pieces have to work together.
1. Audit your current AI visibility.
Before you do anything else, figure out where you stand. Run your category queries through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. Ask the questions a real buyer would ask. Note who gets mentioned, the sources cited, and what is being said about your competitors that is not being said about you. This is your baseline.
2. Identify the questions buyers actually ask.
Questions, not keywords. AI engines respond to natural language. Build a list of the 30 to 50 questions a real buyer in your market would ask before making a purchase. Pull these from sales calls, support tickets, and your own research. These become the spine of your content plan.
3. Build content that answers those questions cleanly.
Each piece should answer one question, lead with the answer in the first 100 words, and back it up with structure, examples, and data. No fluff. No 800-word intro before you get to the point. Generative engines reward clarity.
4. Earn third-party mentions.
This is where most companies stop, because it is the hardest part. You need to be cited on sites the AI engines trust. That means industry publications, niche directories, podcast appearances, guest posts, and the occasional press release that has actual news in it. Reviews on credible platforms also feed this signal.
5. Optimize your structured data.
Make it easy for AI crawlers to understand what you are, what you sell, and who you serve. Schema markup, clean meta descriptions, FAQ sections, and clear about pages all help.
6. Track your AI mentions over time.
This is the part traditional SEO tools are still catching up on. There are now tools that track brand mentions across AI responses (we cover several of them in our Claude SEO tools roundup). Pick one. Watch the trend. Treat it like rank tracking, because that is essentially what it is now.
7. Update relentlessly.
AI engines favor recent, well-maintained content. A post that ranked in 2023 may not get cited in 2026 if it has not been updated. Set a quarterly cadence to refresh your top pages.
The Mistake Most Companies Are Making
They are treating GEO as a side project. A blog post here, a directory listing there, maybe a half-hearted attempt to get listed in a “best of” roundup. Then they wonder why nothing changes.
Generative engine optimization is not a tactic. It is a positioning strategy that touches your content, your PR, your reviews, your sales enablement, and your brand. Done right, it pulls all of those into one effort. Done wrong, it is a line item that nobody owns.
The companies that are winning at GEO right now are the ones that decided early to take it seriously. They are publishing tightly written, useful content, getting cited in places that matter, showing up when an AI engine summarizes the category, and starting sales conversations that begin with “ChatGPT recommended you” instead of “we found you on Google.”
That is a different kind of pipeline.
Where To Start With Generative Engine Optimization
If you are reading this and realizing your company is the one not getting mentioned, do not panic. The window is still open. Most of your competitors are still chasing rankings and ignoring the AI side entirely. You can move fast and catch up.
Start with the audit. Run the queries. Figure out where you stand. Then build the content plan around the questions buyers are actually asking. The rest follows.
If you want help with this, that is what we do. We work with B2B companies and professional services firms on fractional CMO engagements that include both traditional SEO and generative engine optimization as part of one strategy. You can read more about how that engagement works on our fractional CMO page, or take a look at how we evaluate the field in our writeup on fractional CMO companies.
Either way, the time to start optimizing for AI search was 18 months ago. The second-best time is right now.
Ethan Priest is a cofounder of Foxtown Marketing and the creative force behind everything visual. From digital ads and video to full brand refreshes, Ethan makes sure every piece of content looks sharp and fits the bigger marketing picture.
But Ethan’s not just a designer. He brings serious analytical chops to the table, with deep expertise in SEO, PPC, website optimization, and the data that ties it all together. He’s the guy who can build you a beautiful landing page and then tell you exactly why it’s converting (or not).
More recently, Ethan has become one of the team’s go-to specialists in AI marketing and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), helping clients show up not just in traditional search results but in AI-generated answers and recommendations. As the way people find businesses continues to shift, Ethan is already ahead of the curve, making sure Foxtown’s clients don’t get left behind.
His background spans graphic design, motion graphics, and multimedia production, and he’s known for turning complex ideas into visuals that actually land. He works closely with the entire Foxtown team to make sure every project hits the mark and looks great doing it.
While many dream of being digital nomads, Ethan proudly calls himself a “digital slow-mad,” taking his time as he explores the world one country (and coffee shop) at a time, currently based in Lisbon. When he needs to recharge, you’ll find him nose-deep in a fantasy novel, chasing mountain trails with his camera, hunting for local art scenes, or experimenting with new animation techniques just for the fun of it.
Ethan lives by the belief that creativity isn’t just a job. It’s a way of life, and every adventure feeds the next project.
