Generative Engine Optimization Guide

A slow shift to using AI search engines by consumers is underway. It means small business owners must create a different kind of content experience on their websites, this time organized for the needs of these AI-powered info sources.

AI search engines offer a different experience for search users (your customers). Which is why we need a new perspective on how to design our content strategy and assets for ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, CoPilot, and other AI LLM search engines. They respond differently to user’s queries than Google or Bing do. They look for a unique set of signals within a structured data environment. The they focus on what are called “entities” — relevant, authoritative and trustworthy elements in the text. Then deliver a text response, sometimes containing a few links to websites. Some are reporting high conversion rates from AI search engine referals. Let’s find out how you might have that good fortune.

In this guide to optimizing content for Generative AI search engines, you get a glimpse into a slightly different way of winning the search engine wars. AI is here and we must master it, or see our visibility online disappear.

GEO is a new technique that can help us create:

improved content clarity and coherence
Improved content structure (for GEO/SEO)
Greater voice of authority, trust and credibility
Increased visibility (and clicks) from fast-growing AI search engines

GEO’s focus is on optimizing text copywriting to synchronize with concepts and topics rather than on keywords and links as it is in SEO. For us as SEO/Content specialists, GEO demands a new, evolved content creation approach that involves making your content contextually relevant to questions and answers.

In this GEO Optimization Guide, you get a simplified glimpse into a more complex framework for GEO practices/priorities which may result in substantial visibility in ChatGPT, CoPilot or Gemini. The value might be vague at this point, but it won’t be long before the full weight of generative AI hits your business and marketing success. It’s worth it to understand it well enough so you can feel confident in investing in it.

What GEO Means to Your Business

In a business/sales context, GEO helps to make your brand, website, UVP and offers visible on AI search engines, which are an immersive experience. GEO helps you stay top of mind with customers too who are using search engines such as ChatGPT.

In our SEO audit/opportunity review, we unearth your prospect’s interests, goals and the questions they might be asking AI search engines.

GEO means we have to be more mindful of the topic itself and what questions users are asking and whether your content is part of the answer AI search engines will give to users. This is not as organic as it is with Google’s algorithm, and instead it’s more technical based on the constructs the AI engine has been programmed to reference. This is why GEO pros are focusing on what’s called structured data, which categorizes and connects data. This library science of GEO defines hundreds of content “types,” such as Product, Article, and Event, and the “properties” that describe them. You can rely on me to understand the technical elements and how to weave this into creative copywriting, that will also impact, engage and persuade.

Think of it in Terms of Personalization in a Science Kind of Way

GEO downplays the human experience aspect and focuses on the topic itself and what its training model gears its understanding of the topic (e.g., best vacations in the USA). However, LLMs increasingly integrate user experience signals (clarity, readability, engagement) and these are elements that lend themselves to clever optimization. Currently, their algorithms weight high authority info sources higher along with a resonance with the topic of conversation.

For the question asked in the graphic below, “where is the best place live right now in the USA?” ChatGPT’s response balks because it wants more context, because its training model has programmed it to be more helpful and specific based on individual perspectives. It correctly answers that “best” is unique to each visitor. And users don’t ask “where is the best place for me to live in the USA?” It begins by dissecting the meaning of the word “best” which to it, is a concept. It then responds with what the WWW suggests are the places, and within its answer, we discover what it believes is meant by the concept “best.” We learn by using ChatGPT and asking it about its responses.

Generative engines will often ask related questions to users so they can produce more valuable responses. Users will respond to that quality by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down in the search prompt interface. GE’s try to understand the context of a user’s inquiry (e.g., where is the best place to live right now in the USA?). The context is most livable cities, neighborhoods, and what the search user wants in a new city/neighborhood. That requires more questions and in that conversation, the AI LLM learns what the user is really wanting to know.

This is much more in-depth than the usual Google search.

Our GEO Quest

Our GEO quest is to create an optimization model framework, and to have your content considered as part of an important conceptual topic/context that AI LLM engines are focused on. Because this topic is important to potential customers and your site may be cited. As mentioned in the GEO optimization post, it’s about more than keywords and links. The GEO search engines think relative to entities such as topics, words, people, places, products, product categories, events, and more. Because any question customers ask is relative to these entities. It’s the underlying purpose of their search. They’re all connected in some way to the users search (e.g., what is causing high home prices in Boston Massachusetts?)

Our quest is to research and creatively design our content in a relevant, trustworthy, credible fashion so the AI LLM believes it is important to the conversation. We need to build in the right entities, connecting them with the best topics/ideas/solutions/stories/data, demonstrating topical authority, and then like a spider web, prove semantic proximity to important industry terms, concepts, and authoritative entities. Sorry about the technical lingo.

Creating Better, More Credible and Useful Content for Prospects

Reading or engaging in your content is considered an experience. We want that to be enjoyable and valuable.

Some refer to GEO as generative experience optimization (GXO). At a higher level, this means creating content that provides a credible, authoritative, informative and helpful user experience so that AI LLMs will refer to it or cite it in its responses to users. The “experience” then is the overall quality of engagement for the user. So we’re optimizing the end product for users for better engagement and results, rather than just matching the AI LLMs algorithm.

With a more comprehensive and enjoyable experience, our content is better validated and it may produce a larger number of citations in searches and new customer leads.

The AI LLM Friendly Creation Process

We create our AI engine friendly content via research as usual and creatively produce some engaging and accurate/relevant content pieces (blogs, guides, new releases, charts with data, surveys, and product pages).

With SEO it’s about keyword relevance, impactful content, clickworthy narratives/info, pushing users through a conversion funnel and sales.

Our GEO framework helps us master all of the GEO engine’s needs and wants.

Appearing trustworthy and authoritative isn’t easy. This is where promotion in industry magazines, and reaching influencers can be helpful. Through promotional campaigns, we look to create brand mentions (especially in semantically rich and authoritative contexts) are now just as critical. Think of this as semantic reputation. If AI sees you and your brand cited consistently alongside top concepts and credible voices, it deems you trustworthy.

Thought leadership means producing thought leadership, engaging with industry leaders, connecting with them on social media and getting their views on your content. It’s how you get associated with these topics/ideas/concepts that AI search engines respect.

In essence, your new GEO content gets your brand/website/content included into that sphere of highly trusted and significant entities (people, companies, topics, keywords, thoughts, concepts etc.).

GEO positions your content as relevant to these complex conversations AI LLMs are having with todays consumers and business owners.

We can implement GEO and advanced SEO side by side, keeping signals and content clear as a bell for each channel. Ideally, we might create separate content for each so they don’t contaminate or water down effectiveness for the other channel.

Using this new GEO search framework for content development, we can ensure your company is building up a presence in the AI LLM database and is relevant to the growing customer conversations taking place in them. And our efforts here will help your Google search strategy results too with more trustworthiness and topic relevance.

GEO Content Optimization Guide: 10 Steps to Visibility in Generative Engines

This 10 step guide gives us an actionable plan to design and implement content specifically for ChatGPT, Google Gemini etc. that will fulfill all of their demands.

Let’s begin:

Step 1. Define the Core User Questions

Action: Identify what users actually ask in conversational form, not just keywords. Provide clear, direct answers and reference relevant entities to those topics.
Travel Example: Instead of “Best Italy tours,” list questions like: “What’s the best Italy tour for food lovers in 2025?” or “How much does a guided Tuscany trip cost?”
Realtor Example: Instead of “Toronto condos,” target “Is now a good time to buy a condo in Toronto?”

Step 2. Build Context-Rich Pages

Action: Write content that fully answers those questions with background, explanation, and supporting details. Generative engines reward “completeness.” Don’t just give answers—show cause, effect, comparisons, and examples, using explanations, scenarios, and perspectives.
Travel Example: A page on “Best Italy tours for food lovers” should cover regional cuisines, tour lengths, costs, and sample itineraries.
Realtor Example: A blog titled “Should I wait to buy in Toronto’s condo market?” should explain mortgage trends, supply data, and affordability.

Step 3. Use Conversational Structure

Action: Write in natural Q&A form. Break content into user-style questions and answers.
Travel Example: FAQ like: “What’s included in an Italy food tour?” “Is airfare covered?”
Realtor Example: “What’s the minimum downpayment in Ontario in 2025?”

Step 4. Strengthen Topical Authority

Action: Build clusters of related content that interlink naturally. Generative engines recognize “topic depth.” Build clusters of content around a core pillar (e.g., “Toronto real estate market guide 2025” + subtopics: mortgages, neighborhoods, taxes).
Travel Example: A travel site with guides for Italy food tours, Tuscany wine tours, and cooking classes → cluster around “Italian Culinary Travel.”
Realtor Example: Cluster pages: “Toronto condo market 2025,” “GTA mortgage rules,” “Best neighborhoods for young buyers.”

Step 5. Add Local & Temporal Signals

Action: Include location details and dates/timeliness so content doesn’t feel generic. Utilize entities such as local restaurants, tourist venues, farms, transit, cultural events, to build context.
Travel Example: Mention “2025 Italy tour prices may rise with inflation” or “Florence’s 2025 food festival.”
Realtor Example: Use local MLS stats or “Toronto condo inventory has dropped 12% in 2025.”

Step 6. Provide Evidence & Sources

Action: Cite stats, local news, or expert authority sources. Generative engines often summarize content with citations.
Travel Example: Reference travel market stats or a TripAdvisor traveler survey.
Realtor Example: Quote NAR or CAR housing reports or MLS housing stats.

Step 7. Optimize for Readability

Action: Use short sections, bulleted points, and tables for easy summarization by generative engines.
Travel Example: Quick comparison table of “3 Tuscany Food Tours – Cost, Length, Highlights.”
Realtor Example: Table showing “Condo Prices vs. Rent Costs in 2023–2025.”

Step 8. Incorporate Human Perspective

Action: Engines prefer content with a unique, human voice or lived experience.
Travel Example: Add a short first-person story like: “On our Tuscany food tour, we cooked with a Michelin chef in Florence.”
Realtor Example: Case study: “A young couple bought a condo in Mississauga with 5% down – here’s how.”

Step 9. Encourage Engagement

Action: Add calls-to-action, checklists, or interactive elements so content is “active,” not static.
Travel Example: Checklist: “What to Pack for a 7-Day Tuscany Tour.”
Realtor Example: Interactive affordability calculator embedded on a blog.

Step 10. Continuously Refresh & Expand

Action: Update content every few months to keep it fresh; generative engines prefer recent, evolving content that’s connected to the questions your users are concerned about this year.
Travel Example: Update with “New Italy tours launched for 2026.”
Realtor Example: Update with latest Toronto condo price charts.

That’s a simple 10-step action plan for an AI search engine optimization strategy makes your real estate agency or travel business website significant to AI LLMS like ChatGPT or Google Gemini.

GEO is an exciting new practice, definitely an advanced form of SEO, and one that’s going to keep you ahead of your competitors.

When you hire a freelance digital marketer or SEO/GEO Content strategist with this acumen in search engine practices, you’re giving yourself a shot at success in a crowded marketplace. Let’s kick it up a notch and win!

If you’re interested in advanced SEO services, please contact me Gord at 416 998 6246.

Title image courtesy of Stockcake.

Generative Engine Optimization Guide