As the world optimisation moves into 2025, digital marketing and SEO are also evolving. New and new concepts of optimisation are coming up, one of those being GEO. GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimisation and it is expected to change the way people search information on the web.

This does not mean that conventional SEO is not important anymore. Website and SEO always go hand in hand to ensure the best visibility on the search engine result pages. However, GEO has had a significant impact on SEO, bringing about a big change in the optimisation process to accommodate the increasing demand for generative AI and LLMs (Large Language Models).

The development of GEO has impacted the way people search for their queries and interact with the resulting information. In this blog, we will understand how GEO and SEO are different, and the former’s impact on the latter in 2025.

Let’s dive in!

What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

GEO is a new concept that has emerged recently. It accounts for the surge in the number of AI-based search engines and ensures the optimisation of content for them. GEO makes use of generative AI to draft content that functions as responses for real-time user queries and interactions based on their preferences and intent.

It ensures that LLMs pick your content to respond to user queries in AI systems such as ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. This can help these AI platforms to generate better, more relevant content. GEO makes sure that the content is conversational and provides solutions to user queries during real-time interactions.

Let’s talk about SEO –

As we all know, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which is a practice undertaken to enhance the online visibility of a website on the SERPs by improving the ranking of a website. SEO relies on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and more. The basic objective of SEO is to drive organic traffic to a website by making sure it ranks high for relevant queries.

Understanding the key differences between GEO and SEO

Strategy

When you write SEO content, the right keywords are crucial. It stays the same with GEO. However, the strategies can differ significantly. SEO is heavily dependent on keyword research – it is important to choose the right keywords that match the searches of the user.

However, GEO uses NLP (Natural Language Processing) for optimisation for LLMs, making it more important to analyse the user intent. You can incorporate semantic keywords naturally to make it easier for the AI to understand the context of your content.

Target

It is a fact that SEO optimises your content for search engines such as Google in order to get a better ranking on the result pages. The goal is to get your website on top of the results when the user searches for a query.

On the other hand, Generative Engine Optimisation or GEO targets AI-based searches, such as on ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and more. These are real-time, intent-based, conversational and dynamic answers that are generated through AI.

Content

As far as SEO is concerned, content created is heavily based on identified keywords that are based on a number of technical metrics derived through various SEO marketing tools. An in-depth competitor analysis can also help you create relevant content based on what your competitors are doing.

However, GEO centres on creating content that can act as a response to user queries. Content created for GEO has to follow a conversational tone and be relevant in context. This way, AI algorithms can generate better and more intent-specific responses to user queries.

Optimisation

When it comes to SEO optimisation is done based on technical elements such as metadata, keyword density, website backlinks, and more. This optimisation can ultimately help a website gain better rankings on the SERPs.

GEO focuses on the quality of your content, its relevance, and its context. This can help AI models select the most suitable information in order to provide better, relevant, and valuable responses to user queries on AI platforms.

SEO & GEO Optimisation: How to do both?

Use structured data

When it comes to marketing and SEO, structured data is very important. It helps the search engines understand your content and categorise it accordingly. Structured data can also help AI-based search engines to contextualise your information and interpret it correctly. This can ensure that its relevance stays intact and increases the chances of your content being picked up for AI-generated responses.

Keep content clear and relevant

To optimise your content for both SEO and GEO, focus on keeping it clear and concise. This can help search engines, AI-based and traditional, to pick your content for their results. Keep your content’s readability easy with a proper structure – this ease of interpretation can help you optimise your LLM results better. You also need to ensure the relevance and quality of your content is high, aligning it with content principles such as E-E-A-T.

Regularly update the content

It comes as no surprise that search engines prefer fresh content. The same is the case with AI-based search engines as well. This makes regularly updating your content a key practice in SEO and GEO. There are a number of AI tools for SEO available that can identify the latest trends in the industry and help you update your content accordingly. New and relevant content can significantly improve your chances of ranking in AI-generated responses and traditional SEO.

NLP optimisation is mandatory

NLP stands for Natural Language Processing, which is a technology that enables computers to understand and interpret human language. Its tone is generally conversational and incorporates long-tail keywords that closely mimic how people talk. This can help AI models significantly extract relevant information for user queries on AI-based search engines as NLP-optimised content can align with it better. This can make your searches more advanced as AI models can understand context much better than traditional search engines.

Utilise AI for SEO content

To make sure your content is up to the mark, you can utilise a number of AI tools to help you with SEO content. They can help you hone your content for better LLM optimisation. You can get valuable insights into the readability of your content, its relevance, its alignment with the requirements of generative AI models, keyword placement in your content and more.

Final thoughts

To sum it all up, generative engine optimisation or GEO is optimising your content in a way that shows up in the results of AI-based search engines. This is a big development in the field of SEO in 2025, as it is expected to play a critical role when it comes to defining winning strategies for digital success. 

With the rise of AI-based search engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and more, it has become important to optimise your content in a way that it is picked for real-time responses to user queries. Combining SEO and GEO can ensure that your site ranks on the SERPs and also in AI-powered searches. The key is simple – when you write SEO content, utilise long-tail keywords and focus on quality content that solves user queries. Such content is fundamental to your SEO and GEO success.