In 2024, 14 million U.S. adults used generative AI as their primary search engine. By 2028, that number’s expected to climb past 36 million, according to Statista.
We’re not just talking about adoption here. This is a major behavior change and a potential paradigm shift. Citing a Bain & Company study, the Clueless Company reported that “80% of consumers now rely on AI-generated content for at least 40% of their searches, leading to a potential 25% reduction in organic web traffic”.
Even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has acknowledged this evolution, having stated that ChatGPT has moved beyond being a simple Google alternative. While it initially "still felt like a more advanced version of search", its new focus is on helping users complete complex tasks and workflows.
As a B2B marketer, you may think: Why should I care?
Well, because this means that a significant portion of your audience will now discover your content via Large Language Models (LLMs) rather than Google searches.
So the question is: how do you show up when search becomes generative?
Understanding the shift: from SEO to GEO
Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s built around what Google defined in 2022 as “Helpful Content” – keywords, backlinks, metadata, and formatting.
But with LLMs, visibility works differently.
Welcome to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) – also known as LLM SEO or Share of Model (SOM) –, where the goal isn’t just ranking, it’s being cited, summarized, or referenced directly in AI-generated answers.
Let’s take an example. Someone is looking to add a new survey research tool to their research stack. They may go to an LLM and put in a prompt like “What are the top 10 brand tracking tools in the US?”, to which the LLM would return a bullet point list of 10 tools. If your tool shows up there, congratulations, you’re perceived by AI as authoritative.
Source: Google's Gemini
Although the goal of both SEO and GEO is the same – showcasing your content – this new paradigm requires a different set of tactics. While traditional SEO rewards keyword-rich, helpful content, GEO prioritizes authority and trustworthiness.
How to optimize your content for LLMs
What does this mean for your content strategy? Optimizing for generative engines builds on the existing SEO “rules”, but there are some adaptations.
Here are seven tips to future-proof your content:
- Focus on high-value, accurate content: cut the fluff. AI models prefer trusted, reliable sources. Invest in quality over quantity, and ensure every piece of content is backed by verifiable facts and data.
- Use structured formatting: it's no longer just for your readers’ benefit; headers, bullet points, and subheadings are essential for helping AI process your content efficiently. To optimize for generative search, break up long paragraphs and use simple sentences to explain concepts.
- Build trust through transparency: add author bios, publish date, link to credible sources, and fact-check your content rigorously. AI values transparency the same way your readers do.
- Offer direct answers: put the answer at the top. Q&As and FAQ-style sections make it easy for models to lift useful content for their generated responses. Think: “What is brand tracking?” followed by a 2-3 sentence explanation.
- Adapt for a conversational tone: AI tools often respond to more natural, question-based prompts. Tailor some of your content to reflect how people ask questions in everyday language.
- Don’t rely on AI-generated content (without a human touch): LLMs deprioritize generic, AI-written content – feels ironic doesn’t it? They favor expert-led, human-centered material. If you’re using AI to draft, always edit with a human voice.
- Use the right words: AI looks at more than just keyword frequency. It takes into account semantic clustering, which is an NLP technique that recognizes synonyms or related meanings often used in the same context. LLMs attempt to give you the best answers based on your intent, so someone searching for “survey research” may get meaningful results from articles containing “quantitative data collection” or “sampling methods”.
What else can you do?
Beyond optimizing the content itself, your brand presence plays a big role in how – or if – you get referenced.
- Polish your "About" page: include a clear mission statement, a list of services, and detailed team bios with links to social proof or media mentions. This adds a crucial layer of trust and authority.
- Audit your brand through LLMs: use LLMs themselves to your advantage. Try asking LLMs, “What do you know about [your brand]?” to evaluate how your brand is being discussed and where it appears in relation to competitors.
- Build context across the web: earn links and citations from reputable sources that reference both your brand and your core topics. This signals to LLMs that your brand is a relevant and trusted entity within its field.
How to measure content success in the LLM era
Measuring GEO success is different from traditional SEO, as it may not always result in a direct click to your website. Here are some ways to track your performance:
- Track traffic coming from AI tools: use your website analytics to identify referral paths from LLMs.
- Test your content in AI tools: regularly test how often your content is featured for specific queries in different LLMs.
- Measure engagement: look at time on page, scroll depth, and bounce rate. If users land from AI and stay, your content’s doing its job.
- Create a spreadsheet of target queries: make a list of target prompts where you want to be cited, test it monthly, and track your visibility.
The future of search is no longer just about showing up on page one, it’s about being the source that AI turns to.
Optimizing for generative search is a mindset shift: not more, but better content – more connected, trustworthy, helpful, and conversational.
Creating content that connects with readers and ranks with AI isn’t easy, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. If you want content LLMs actually reference, we can help!