A Seemingly Innocuous Question about GEO
A client of mine recently asked me what they should do to build their generative engine optimization (GEO) authority. And how this differed from building traditional search engine optimization (SEO) authority.
This is an incredibly smart client. They wanted to separate signal from noise as they build their website’s authority.
Their seemingly basic question accidentally sent me down a rabbit hole. And for that I am incredibly grateful. So, let me explain why I descended said rabbit hole.
GEO Facts, Fiction, and Science Fiction
There is a lot of information about how to develop and implement a generative engine optimization strategy for your institution. A lack of information is not the issue.
The REAL issue is discerning what’s actually true versus what is most likely well-meaning misinformation, marketing hype, and fluff. Or simply claims that haven’t been systematically verified yet.
So I knew my standard answer on how to build GEO authority, even assuming it is correct, was not going to be enough for this particularly brainy higher education client. They wanted to see the proof in the pudding.
My client wanted to know that I’d done my homework. That I’d read the peer-reviewed studies. That I’ve analyzed the conclusions. And that I’d be able to convert what I’d learned into real-world advice on what’s been proven to work (surprisingly little), what most likely doesn’t work (“Hi!” keyword stuffing, welcome to 2026), and the big messy middle.
There are already some great studies on generative engine optimization, despite the field’s infancy. For starters, you have the classic initial GEO study by Pranjal Aggarwal and Vishvak Murahari et. al. that actually named the field.
There is also the outstanding recent critical survey of GEO work by Olivier Martinez. This study helps separate the wheat from the chaff in established GEO knowledge.
But overall, this is an emerging field and the true body of knowledge is light.
Do GEO Agencies Actually Know Anything about what Works?
Let’s look at a few examples of what commonly gets presented as “how to do GEO” in Google search results and content published by GEO agencies:
- Chunking. There has been a lot said about “chunking” your content. But is this an effective method for GEO content optimization compared to more traditional content writing methods?
Do you really need to break all of your content down into snackable bite-sized chunks? Or are long paragraphs still nourishing for the generative engine-soul? - Structured data. This is the code on your website that actually explains to AI engines what your content is all about. And it seems to be playing an increasingly important role in improving GEO. This is according to industry marketing materials, frantic blog posts, and very loud LinkedIn users.
Yet, Google itself recommends not overusing this tactic. Who’s right? Is the industry overreaching? Should you include twenty different types of schema on your site? Can Google’s countervailing conservative musings on structured data even be trusted? - Backlinks. What about backlinks? Once the veritable demigods of high SEO success, my higher ed client specifically asked me how well they could perform in GEO without acquiring a ton of high-domain-authority backlinks. Is this tactic still relevant to the AI era, or is this a fossilized remnant of early Jurassic-period-SEO?
Given the frustratingly little we have proven, and what we know in GEO as an industry, how do I advise my clients on what to do? Well, there are two different things right now that I think go a long way to both achieving GEO success and filtering out all the noise.
Thing 1: Following the GEO Research
For starters, I stay current and on top of the research.
If there is a major development in the generative engine optimization literature that goes beyond the usual marketing hype and fluff, I am going to know about it. And I’m certainly going to advise my clients to pay attention.
For example, the Olivier research flagged a paper from Alexander Wan et. al. The paper showed that one of the most important factors for getting cited by an AI engine is Query-document relevance. In other words, content that answers a question directly may be favored over content that is more credible.
That’s an interesting finding. Especially considering how much time Google has been telling users to be a credible source on the web.
Mind you, I’m not advising my clients to ignore the important work of being a credible source. Rather, I’m reminding them to also make sure their content is explicitly answering questions that are directly and clearly relevant to potential user prompts.
Thing 2: Implement The “Good Fundies” of Marketing, SEO, and Content Creation
The other thing I am currently advising my clients to do is to rely on the fundamentals (“good fundies”) of both marketing and traditional search engine optimization.
And when I say “fundamentals,” I don’t mean specific tactics like building backlinks or bolding important text. I mean the underlying strategies that shape good marketing practice, sound search engine optimization, and great content creation.
I’m going to go more in depth on this topic in a future blog post. But here is an example that I can give you:
I spend a lot of time nudging my clients to explain what they do clearly and concisely on their web properties: website, social media, email, etc.
I can tell you that many clients love sticking catchy slogans and jargony fluff in the wrong places. Homepage hero images’ H1 and H2 headers. Titles. And meta descriptions.
I get it. We all want to be David Ogilvy or Don Draper and sell “the summer” rather than “the sunscreen.” And there’s a time and a place for this kind of writing.
Your H1 copy isn’t it.
So if your business is selling sunscreen, don’t put something like “Bringing you the joys of the beach” in your H1. Put something like “We sell the world’s best sunscreen.”
You’ll thank me later.
What To Look for in a GEO Consultant
A good GEO consultant has lots of qualities. One is knowing the difference between what’s been shown to work in GEO. What’s worth testing. And what’s worth flat-out ignoring.
A good GEO consultant should not be afraid of telling you this. A good GEO consultant shouldn’t be shy about saying, “We have good reason to think that structured data helps improve your visibility in AI engines. But the science is young, and we are still learning. It’s worth testing.”
This means you also have to be open to the fact that your GEO consultant probably doesn’t know exactly what works in GEO. And that’s okay.
By staying on top of the cutting-edge research and applying the good fundamentals of basic marketing, SEO, and generative engine theory, your consultant is going to be far ahead of much of the pack.
If you’re looking for a GEO consultant for your university, college, or institution, I invite you to learn more about my GEO consulting services.