Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Services
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
SEARCH TRAFFIC WILL FALL BY 50% BY 2028.
COMPETE FOR ITS REPLACEMENT NOW WITH BUZZThEORY GEO ACCELERATOR
AI-based chatbots and generative search engines are disrupting the search landscape, cutting traditional search engine traffic by 50% by 2028, according to Gartner.
BuzzTheory GEO Accelerator helps you capitalize on this disruption. Here are some quick facts:
- BuzzTheory was the first agency to announce a proven generative engine optimization (GEO) methodology to compete for AI search and chatbot traffic successfully.
- Our practice has kept proof-case clients featured in AI snippets and search results amid myriad updates from multiple AI engines.
- We simultaneously help clients improve their SEO positions while securing GEO placements to capture revenue opportunities that would otherwise be lost through traditional search displacement.
GEO Accelerator
Why use BuzzTheory GEO Accelerator for your AI Search optimization?
Proven methodology
It pays to work with nerds. The team behind GEO Accelerator was first in the game and continues to deliver high-value results today.
We’ve got the goods
Our firm’s been globally recognized for high-value, original and authoritative content. That’s what AI engines are looking for.
Comprehensive strategy
Macro- and micro-level tactics blanket our SEO and GEO practices for maximum reach while optimizing for detailed, targeted engagement that converts.
Data-driven optimization
The rumors are true — we’ve got an amazing team! But we take nothing for granted. We analyze search trends, user intent, and algorithmic behaviors to develop strategies that keep your brand visible amid AI search evolution.
Features & Components
About GEO ACCELERATOR
Content Architecture
- Content structure analysis
- Implementation of AI-optimized hierarchies
- Ongoing optimization and measurement
Technical Implementation
- Professional schema markup deployment
- Entity relationship mapping
- Semantic clustering optimization
Voice and Multimodal Search Compatible
- Voice-search
- Strategic multimodal content alignment
- Conversation pathway prediction and analysis
Performance Optimization
- Continuous measurement and refinement
- AI visibility tracking
- Conversion optimization
GEO Accelerator is Plug-N-Play Compatible with BuzzTheory RevGen 2.0
- Inclusion in the market’s most comprehensive revenue generation and optimization framework
- Channel and end-user campaign compatible for seamless PX and UX
- Excels with disruptive, emerging and evolutionary technology rollouts and services
A Forrester study of 25,000+ agencies named BuzzTheory a Global Top 5 Channel Marketing & PR Firm.
Generative AI will strip away 50% or more of search traffic by 2028.
Source: Gartner, December 2023
The future of search
What is Generative Engine Optimization?
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) establishes and optimizes visibility within generative search engine results.
Why does GEO matter?
According to Gartner, AI chatbots and generative engines like Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, Deep Seek and others will reduce traditional search engine traffic by as much as 50% or more by 2028. GEO provides an opportunity for companies to appear as featured sources in those generative results.
How can BuzzTheory help my company adapt?
AI is fast-moving and highly disruptive. Few agencies know what GEO is, never mind how to compete for it. BuzzTheory is already winning high-value generative engine placements for clients. And we’re logging SEO wins for those same clients. That’s important because search traffic will continue to present a significant revenue opportunity for years to come.
Compete For High-Value Placements
GEO SUCCESS INVOLVES On-Page & Off-Page Factors
The probability of securing a featured GEO result – in generative text copy, lists or featured sources (think: generative snippets) – is influenced by both on-page/site and off-page/site factors. For BuzzTheory clients, the foundational practices we’ve built into in RevGen 2.0 significantly influence GEO results. Additionally, many factors that influence GEO are complementary to SEO optimization.
What Do GEO Results Look Like?
The examples below from two leading generative engines (Perplexity and Google SGE) are real-life results featuring BuzzTheory clients as top reference sources.
You Need to Act Now
Early days or not, you can’t afford to take a wait-and-see approach to addressing generative AI disruption. Analysts forecast rapid reductions in search traffic, which will impact your organic traffic and your PPC game. Act now and make adjustments as the market evolves.
frequently asked questions
explore More about geo
Why do I need to optimize for AI search?
In a nutshell, AI is chipping away at traditional search and you need to optimize for it because there are far fewer featured slots available than with traditional search.
Is it true that Google penalizes or de-ranks you for using AI-generated content?
There’s a lot of confusion about the impact of AI in content generation, even among longtime SEO practitioners. The answer to your question is yes and no. It’s not that Google objects to AI, per se. The company has long considered itself an AI-first company, developed the transformer models that underpin LLMs used by firms like OpenAI and Anthropic, and its own product, Gemini, is one of the market’s leading AI tools. (Bad jokes about the supposed personality traits of the Gemini zodiac sign aside, it wouldn’t make much sense for Google to promote a product on one hand and penalize its use on the other.)
Google cares about the helpfulness of content, not whether it’s AI-generated. The problem is that AI-generated content is not unique or helpful because it’s built from data sets of content others have already published. (This is also why companies with copycat blogs written by humans are suffering from HCUs.)
Content, engagement and conversion experts warned that using AI to generate content was fraught with peril and that Google didn’t need to explicitly search for and penalize AI content for website owners to be hurt by AI-generated content. The unoriginal content and plummeting engagement signals would lead to that outcome on their own. But, human nature being what it is, companies hit the “easy button” in droves and not only fell into the AI-generated-pablum trap but also compounded the problem by making even more essentially the same content (if HCUs have hit your company, see our FAQ note below).
As for confusion, we believe that confusion over AI’s impact on HCUs stems from two primary factors. First, generic human-generated content (e.g., copycat blogs) have been de-ranked along with de-rankings associated with AI content (unhelpful content is unhelpful content, period). Second many SEO firms haven’t adjusted to a world in which content genuine rules the day. Their orientation and understanding of what is or isn’t valuable is inverted to this new reality and they have no workarounds to succeed when they don’t have relevant or meaningful content.
Does E-E-A-T still matter in an AI-driven search world?
Absolutely. E-E-A-T, or “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness,” serves you well for both traditional and AI searches and helps you connect with and convert customers.
Does AI search traffic convert?
Yes. In fact, the deeper contextual alignment offers a de facto qualifying filter that passes through users who convert at higher rates. We hypothesized this would be the case early in the running (lower total traffic but better alignment). Our early results aligned with this hypothesis. Later, industry studies and reports from others bore this out. Natural language optimization for AI users also helps you develop pathways past (or through) the top-of-funnel mess that’s emerged from pay-for-performance agencies gaming the incentive system, but don’t get us started on that can of worms!
What does “natural language search” mean, and why does it matter for generative engine optimization (GEO)?
Natural language search means search aligned with or stemming from the way people speak naturally. There are two reasons it matters. The first is how humans interact with chatbots. We don’t truncate or shorthand our search strings like we do when using a traditional search engine. It’s much closer to a natural conversation, even from our keyboards. Second, the rise of voice interactions with AI models drives truly natural conversations. The more your prospects and customers talk with their AI assistants, which will only expand from here, the more you need to expand your search strings to align with their query intents.
What’s more important for search rankings — structure or content quality?
It’s not even close. Original, human-led content wins every time, provided it’s relevant and helpful (you can’t be generic!). This said, why not give structure to quality content and get more from it?
Do you have to use schema markup to succeed with GEO?
No. We were the first agency (we think! – we couldn’t find another at the time) to announce a successful GEO methodology and have achieved high-ranking placements based solely on the strength and relevancy of content and consistency of structure. However, schema markup is emerging as a best practice for AI search signals, and you’ll be well served to incorporate it into your content maintenance and update routines.
Do I have to use JSON-LD in structured data markup?
No. However, JSON-LD Google recommends JSON-LD for its ease of use in deployment and establishing relationships between entities when compared to microdata or RDFa.
My company’s website traffic has been hammered by HCUs (Helpful Content Updates). Is that related to the emergence of generative search, and what can I do about it?
We encounter this query regularly, sometimes from companies that have experienced breathtakingly steep drops in website traffic following HCUs. Sometimes, the traffic drops ladder downward with successive HCU updates. Other times, a single update creates a plummeting traffic cliff. These aren’t directly related to generative search, per se, but they reflect the reality that Google has to compete with generative engines. Also, if you rank poorly in traditional search, your chances of ranking well with GEO are low.
These are content problems. You need to develop original, relevant and helpful content. There are methods of engineering your content for this new reality that don’t necessarily mean finding a Hemingway-in-a-haystack SME or deploying massive content teams. In fact, if you do it right, you’ll do better with a lean, tech-enabled team. (Our boutique revenue agency has more than $40 billion-with-a-B in revenue generation and support under its belt as of the time this FAQ section was updated.) But if you’ve been walloped by HCUs, you likely need to reorient yourself from stuffing “easy-button” filler into search strategies and automations, and toward quality content with tech-enabled expansion and distribution.
Note: As Google adjusts its business model to (external and internal) competition from AI, its HCU updates sometimes create wild swings. There are cases wherein companies have been de-ranked and recovered. If you’ve been suddenly de-ranked (the overnight plummet, not the successive decline across multiple HCUs) and want to gauge the likelihood of it being a blip with recovery, look at your content. Is it original, helpful and relevant, or is it generic, copycat or AI-generated?
How does AI-generated content affect GEO strategy?
While AI can help with content ideation, a successful GEO strategy requires human expertise, oversight, and original insights. AI can be powerful in distribution, not origination. Getting your horse-and-cart order right can help with engagements and conversions, too.
How do you measure success in GEO differently from traditional SEO?
GEO success combines traditional metrics (rankings, traffic) with new measurements like snippet inclusion, proof-point visibility, and conversational alignment testing. You still need to track conversions and keep an eye on SEO performance. SEO and GEO aren’t either-or propositions. You need them both.
What tools are available to help measure GEO success?
At this point, many of the tools you currently use, like Google search console and CRM integrations, can help you obtain many of the metrics you need. Additionally, some of the SEO software suites (SEMRush, Ahrefs, etc.) are starting to offer rudimentary visibility data.
How often should GEO content be updated?
Just like traditional SEO, you should optimize your GEO-optimized content based on performance metrics, search landscape and technical changes, product updates and developments in your industry vertical(s). We recommend including structured data markups during your content updates if you haven’t started them.
Is AI detection software helpful to SEO and GEO operations?
You might expect us to endorse AI detection software since we have built a successful revenue practice around high-value content. We don’t. There’s a lot of misinformation about this subject, so here’s a rundown on why.
When AI detection software first emerged, we found it buggy but potentially promising with iteration because it flagged poorly written content as likely being AI-generated. In testing, our content team took high-value content and rewrote it poorly to make AI detection software think it was AI-generated— an incorrect result but a screen against lousy content (hence why we thought it might have promise if it could get actual detection down).
But as of the time we updated this section of these FAQs, it also thinks too-well-written content is AI-generated—to the point that using grammar-checking software (an unquestionable best practice that helps with humans and Google) will generate erroneous flags. You don’t have to take our word for it. OpenAI is on record saying what most content specialists know all too well – the detectors simply don’t work:
“To elaborate on our research into the shortcomings of detectors, one of our key findings was that these tools sometimes suggest that human-written content was generated by AI.”
In our own firm’s most recent test, we swayed the market-leading tool’s (which boasts self-proclaimed accuracy of 99% despite a wall of disclaimers) assessment of an entire 1,400-word document’s AI probability by more than 50 points by simply rewriting a catchy CTA. The snappy writing apparently colored the software’s analysis of the rest of the content on the page because replacing it cleared other sections that it previously found suspect. Needless to say, we kept the catchy CTA to capture conversions instead of making the detector happy.
Perhaps more importantly, the premise of AI detection software – that it protects you from Google detecting and de-ranking AI-generated content – is incorrect. Google has very deliberately explained that it cares about helpfulness, not origination. Here again, it’s easy to become snared in the confusion over AI’s impact on search results (as discussed in FAQs above). AI-generated content doesn’t generally perform well because it has nothing new and insightful to say, not because Google thinks it’s AI-generated.
Our advice? Use grammar and plagiarism checkers, have your SMEs check your content for helpfulness and original insight – which is what Google’s actually looking for – and move on to whatever’s next on your list. Chasing detector clearance is a waste of time at best, and if you’re good at what you do, it might degrade your work (and results).
More Questions?
Have more questions about GEO? We’ve got answers! Set up a meeting with us to learn more.